391st planes arrive home

by Amanda Rull

Mountain Home News

The bright sun shining on Mountain Home Air Force Base Saturday couldn't begin to match the faces of the family members as they waited for the men of the 391st Fighter Squadron to appear in the sky.

After being gone three months, the eight F-15E Strike Eagles would be the first of the fighters to return from Operation Enduring Freedom.

As the fighters were spotted in the sky, the crowd began to cheer and flags were raised.

"I'm shaking so freaking bad," said one woman as she videotaped the approaching fighters.

The crowd fidgeted with their flags and signs welcoming their men home until the planes were parked and they were allowed to rush onto the flight line and into their loved one's arms.

"It feels great to be home," said 1st Lt. Ryan Blake. Blake and his wife, Vicki, had never been apart more than a few weeks at a time prior to his deployment.

"This was so much different because of him being overseas and especially because of it being an actual war," Vicki said. "I knew this wasn't just some training mission in North Carolina."

Kathy Micer's son, a B-1B pilot, is still deployed, but she was there Saturday to welcome home her other "son."

"I'm his second mom," Micer, of Boise, said of Jeff Donnithorne, a weapons system operator. "I just kept calling his roommate to find out when he was coming home."

Her son and Donnithorne became friends at Seymore Johnson Air Force Base in North Carolina and then were stationed together here.

"I'm not sure if he knows we're here to meet him today," Micer said. After seeing him she said, "he was surprised to see us and he looks good."

The 16 men who came home Saturday weren't the first or the last to return. The base, which has deployed more people than any other Air Force Base, at least 1200 personnel, welcomed home 150 maintenance and support personnel last Sunday and more have trickled in over the past week. Everyone is expected to be back by March or April.

The fighters are not only the first planes brought back to the base, but also one of the first for all bases. Other bases rotate airmen and send out planes to carry on the mission in place of the Gunfighters.

Vicki Blake said she had known for several weeks when Ryan was coming home and he actually got to call her Saturday morning to assure her he was on his way.

"It was so nice to know for sure," she said. "It seems like every time it's time for him to come home something breaks and he's delayed. I just couldn't have stood it."

On the way back, Ryan Blake, a pilot, said he still had to concentrate on just getting home.

"But I was still really excited to finally get home," he said.

In the war in Afghanistan, the fighters, carrying laser-guided munitions and air-to-air missiles, attacked Taliban and al Qaeda facilities, cave complexes, armored tanks and terrorist training camps. The sides of their aircraft are filled with the hash marks denoting bombing missions. Aircraft from Mountain Home have dropped more bombs than any other squadron in Operation Enduring Freedom.

"I feel we did what we were sent there to do," Ryan Blake said. And the planes' nose art signs showing the many bombing missions proves that. Painted twin towers, the squadron's mascot "The Bold Tigers," and American flags also adorned the planes.

The men now get some much deserved time off to relax and spend time with their families.

"I'm looking forward to watching American TV and going skiing," Ryan said. "Just doing the many things there are to do in Idaho I haven't got to do for three months."