Patriot Wing tallies another busy year

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  • 439 AW/PA
WESTOVER AIR RESERVE BASE, Mass. - --  The 439th Airlift Wing, one of the largest units in the Air Force Reserve, tallied another busy year in 2009 while supporting national objectives around the globe.

Patriot Wing C-5s from Westover fly worldwide strategic airlift missions that primarily originate from Dover Air Force Base, Del., and Charleston AFB, S.C.

Most of these missions support American and coalition warfighters in Operations Enduring and Iraqi Freedom. Other common missions in 2009 included Avionics Modernization Program (AMP) training, counter-drug support missions for the Air Force's Southern Command, and channel missions to the areas of responsibility (AOR) at overseas bases including Joint Base Balad, Iraq, and Ramstein AB, Germany.

By mid-December 2009:
>> Aircrews with the 337th Airlift Squadron flew more than 4,600 hours and hauled more than 16,200 tons of cargo.
>> Patriot Wing aerial port reservists processed more than 2,100 passengers and moved more than 1,240,000 pounds of cargo through Westover.
>> Air Force commitments to the Global War on Terror kept more than 20 reservists deployed worldwide.
>> The base supported more than 30 base tours from April through December. Some of the groups that visited C-5s, the fire station, and the control tower included Cub Scouts, Rotary International, Junior ROTC and ROTC cadets from local high schools and colleges, an NCAA basketball team, and local schoolchildren.

More than 2,300 reservists are assigned to the 17 squadrons of the 439th AW.

(Statistics compiled by Tech. Sgt. Andrew Biscoe, 439th AW Public Affairs)