About 40 airmen with the Delaware Air National Guard will leave Sunday and Monday to begin a two-month stint in Southwest Asia and the second half of a four-month unit obligation that began in February.
Once on station at an "undisclosed base" that the state Guard's top officer, Maj. Gen. Frank Vavala, has publicly identified as being in Kuwait, a scheduled swap-out of some airmen and aircraft currently at that base will take place, with "a number" of airmen returning home. The Air Guard did not specify the total.
Around two dozen airmen will leave each morning, traveling aboard C-130H transport aircraft taking off from the New Castle Air National Guard Base.
The deploying airmen are from two groups within the 166th Airlift Wing: the 166th Operations Group, which includes all C-130 aircrew as well as airmen with various support function skills, and the 166th Maintenance Group, which includes crews who maintain and repair the aircraft. All will operate under U.S. Air Forces Central Command and could operate anywhere within the 20-nation U.S. Central Command area of responsibility.
All will perform what mission commander Lt. Col. Chris Kilcullen in February called the "typical mission set" for a cargo aircraft: tactical airlift and aeromedical evacuation.
“Our airmen will seamlessly step in and continue the great work our aircrews and maintainers have been doing so well the last couple months to support our warfighters,” said 166th Airlift Wing Commander Col. Mike Feeley.
