Family, friends to welcome 10th Airlift Squadron home

MCCHORD AIR FORCE BASE, Wash. - About 120 Airmen from McChord's 10th Airlift Squadron will be greeted by family and friends here Wednesday evening after a 120-day deployment in support of Operations Enduring and Iraqi Freedom. The 10th AS Airmen were deployed as the 817th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron to Incirlik Air Base, Turkey and Ali Al Salem AB, Kuwait.

The C-17 squadron flew a record-breaking 3,400 sorties, equaling more than 8,100 hours, moved more than 150,000 passengers and delivered more than 117 million pounds of combat sustainment cargo for U.S. military forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. They also transported 76 critical patients from theater to advanced medical care in Germany.

The McChord-based Airmen broke another record by flying 144 combat airdrop missions and delivering more than 3,500 bundles of resupply material to remote forward operating bases in Afghanistan. The combat airdrop missions aided in improving force protection by eliminating some resupply convoys to forward locations.

"We are extremely proud of our deployed accomplishments. Our Airmen put Team McChord's 'Airlift Excellence.Right Here, Right Now!' on full display!," said Lt. Col. James S. Shigekane, 10th Airlift Squadron commander. "We would like to sincerely thank our families, friends, and all of Team McChord. We could not have succeeded without their outstanding support, love, and sacrifice. We are truly honored to have had this opportunity to serve."

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