Vance instructors helping build Iraqi training program -- from the sand up

  • Published
  • By Joe B. Wiles
  • 71st Flying Training Wing Public Affairs
VANCE AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. --  Five Vance instructor pilots are among the 29 air advisors helping the Iraqis rebuild their pilot training program - from the sand up. They are deployed to the 52nd Expeditionary Flying Training Squadron, the first of its kind in U.S. Air Force history, at Forward Operating Base Warrior, Kirkuk, Iraq. 

Because daytime temperatures often exceed 120 degrees at the former Iraqi military facility, about 140 miles north of Baghdad, flying starts at 5 a.m. "Every single sortie is a combat sortie, outside the wire," said Maj. Joseph Markusfeld, the 52nd EFTS assistant director of operations and chief of Safety. 

"Outside the wire" means every time Major Markusfeld, deployed from the 33rd Flying Training Squadron at Vance AFB, climbs into an aircraft, he is wearing body armor, survival gear and his weapon is locked and loaded. 

By 6 a.m., training flights are launching at FOB Warrior. The other four IPs from Vance AFB working with Major Markusfeld are Maj. Terry Bloom, 32nd FTS; Capt. Brian Riggle, 32nd FTS; Capt. Leon Butler, 33rd FTS; and Capt. Pat Thomason, 8th FTS. 

The 52nd EFTS flew its 2,000 hour July 13. "That's pretty exceptional considering we began in September, 2007, with no aircraft, no regs, no checklists, one desk, two chairs and one computer," said Major Markusfeld. "We literally wrote the book." 

Their primary students are young Iraqi officers commissioned after 2003. "They are all volunteers who put their lives on the line to be here," said Major Markusfeld. "They go home under cover stories and cannot even tell their families what they are doing." Some of the students have lost family and friends to Al Qaeda or the militias, he said. "Yet they are ready to fly every day." 

The first three Iraqi students to fly solo since Saddam Hussein was deposed in 2003 were soloed by Vance IPs, wearing Dragon, Ghostrider and Liberty Bell squadron patches. 

Rebuilding the Iraqi pilot training program means creating everything most Air Force members take for granted. "After the two local sorties or one out-and-back sortie each day, we work on the programs and regulations that make up an air force," said Major Markusfeld. 

Nothing remains of the former regime's air force. The Vance IPs are either flying, teaching an academic class or they are building the foundation of the new Iraqi training program. 

The IPs use the Cessna 172 Skyhawk, a four-seat, single-engine, high-wing airplane, as a primary trainer for the Iraqi student pilots. For advanced training, they use the Cessna 208 Caravan, equipped with a single turboprop engine and fixed landing gear. 

"The students come to us with at least six months of English language training," said Major Markusfeld. "So most of our challenges are more cultural than communication."
Major Markusfeld tells the story of flying with one student while making a comparison to driving a car. "In the Arab culture, it is considered a serious offense to say 'no' to a teacher or admit to not understanding a concept," said Major Markusfeld. The student kept smiling and saying he understood. 

Turns out he had never driven a car. "Most of our students solo before they can drive. We have to ask questions from angles to get an accurate answer," said Major Markusfeld. "The only answer to a straight question is 'yes.'" 

All the instructors from Vance AFB are on 365-day tours, most at the six-month mark. Major Markusfeld has about seven weeks to go before returning home. And he is very proud to be a part of the 52nd EFTS, and a part of "an incredible success story for the Iraqi Air Force," he said.