Indiana �Blacksnakes� and their A-10s taking the fight to Middle East

link: http://www.examiner.com/article/indiana-blacksnakes-and-their-a-10s-taking-the-fight-to-middle-east

September 23, 2014
The wrangling over mothballing the 40-year-old A-10 Thunderbolt had barely wound-down in Congress when the military said said, �You�re up!� Today, as the United States takes the fight to the terrorist group ISIS/ISIL, the old gray angel of the skies will soon be in the middle of the attack.

Twelve A-10 combat jets and 300 Airmen from the 122nd Fighter Wing, Indiana Air National Guard, are preparing to leave Terre Haute for the Middle East and will be in place in a matter of days. Current plans are for a six-month deployment for this unit.

Although A-10 Thunderbolts are most typically used to support ground combat troops with close air support, the President has said many times that U.S. ground troops would not have a combat mission in this campaign. In times of war, declared or not, things change and change rapidly. The �Blacksnakes� are ready if that should happen.

Col. Patrick R. Renwick, 122nd Fighter Wing commander:

"I don't know of a time in Blacksnake history we have taken this kind of aviation footprint forward. The A-10 'Warthog' is uniquely suited for the Combatant Commander's needs, and the Blacksnakes are the right team to bring that capability to combat."
The twin-engine A-10, fondly referred to as "Warthog" is essentially a �machine gun� that aerospace engineers built a plane around. While civilians would never call her sleek or beautiful, combat troops on the ground since the late 1970s would disagree. Fairchild Republic maker of the A-10 went out of business in 2003.

This morning news reports say there have been some 200 airstrikes inside of Syria since the air campaign began overnight. Hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees have flooded the border into Turkey to escape the bombs.


Member, Clan of the Border Rats
-- “Sometimes I wonder whether the world is being run by smart people who are putting us on or by imbeciles who really mean it.”- Mark Twain