MSgt. Jerry O. Edwards

Age 41, from Nickerson.

Stationed:

Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany.
22d Fighter Squadron
 

Dear Hutch,

Well here I am, starting my 22nd year in the USAF. Time flys when you are having fun. I am stationed at Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany, about 20 minutes from the German town of Trier and about 30 minutes from the Luxemborg border. We have been here since Sep 98 and plan on leaving Sep 04.

Needless to say there is more to see here than we'll ever have the time to see. So my wife Chris, stepson Ryan, and I are making plans on seeing many places this summer, including Paris, Venice, Munich, Berlin, Normandy and Holland among others. We can drive to just about anywhere in Europe so that makes it even more exciting.

I have just returned from a 3 month long deployment to Incirlik Air Base Turkey. There were about 100 of us from my F-16 Squadron called the 22nd Fighter Squadron or "Big 22". We fly the F-16CJ, and are responsible for a mission called Suppresion of Enemy Air Defenses (SEAD). That means we wait until a bad guy locks his Surface to Air Missile (SAM) onto one of our planes then we blow him/it up. Sounds easy but nothing is as easy as it sounds!

We have alot on our plate right now just like every other unit in the Air Force (and military). We are on constant alert for any bad guy uprising, especially in the middle east. We didn't get a chance to shoot any bad guys during our deployment, but our sister squadron managed to blow a few things up not long after they replaced us back in March.

I want to thank EVERYONE who wrote or sent emails during my last deployment. Try leaving your family and friends for 45-90 days and you'll understand how important one single card or letter can be. Email is a wonderful thing for those deployed, so please feel free to contact ANY military member who is deployed far from home. It's just one of the things that help us cope with the lonely places and long extended hours we must work to keep you safe.

If nothing much changes in the next week or two to make this more exciting I'll send information on the many places I've seen over the last 22 years, Alaska, Hawaii, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Sardinia, to name a few.

Please feel free to comment or make suggestions on what YOU want to know about the USAF or maybe the military. Understand that I can only voice MY opinion and do not speak for the USAF or DOD. But I will galdly answer any question that I can, unless it deals with a security issue that is deemed classified.

Hope this find Hutchinson, Nickerson and the surounding areas well and enjoying life to the fullest!

Jerry.
(Jerry O. Edwards, MSgt 22 FS/MAGP)