Counter where I met the enlisted personnel
who took care of posting the flying schedule
on a grease board behind the desk. There
was a sign at the top of the flying schedule
that read ‘Squadron Commander – Lt Col
Greg Feest’. I was amazed that they were
able to make the sign in the last 12 hours. It
looked good.
For the next several months, I learned the
challenges of squadron command. Having
already been an operations officer, I was
entirely familiar with that side of the squadron,
so I spent most of my time learning the
ropes of being in charge of the maintenance
personnel. Thankfully, I had an outstanding
chief master sergeant willing to train me. I
relied on my first sergeant and chief to guide
me. After two months, my indoctrination was
complete and I was comfortable in my role
of squadron commander of one of only two
operational F-117 stealth fighter squadrons
in the world. The squadron was running
smoothly and things were going great.DELIBERATE FORCE –
THE PASTA DEPLOYMENT
On August 30, 1995 the Operation Deliberate
Force air campaign against Serbia began
and, as it progressed, it became obvious the
Allied coalition bombs were not adequate to
take out some of the harder targets, like the
Banja Luka integrated air defences. The US
and NATO command structures remembered
how F-117As had destroyed the Iraqi IADS
during Operation Desert Storm. So, onSeptember 9, the US Secretary of Defense
authorised the deployment of six F-117As to
Aviano AB in Italy. Because of our success
in Iraq, senior air force leaders chose my
squadron, the 9th FS, to execute the task.
It would take all my command skills and
everything I had learned during my careerto make this deployment a success. Most of
the squadron pilots, maintainers and support
personnel had never taken part in combat
operations, as they were not part of the
F-117A programme during Desert Storm. It
was my job to make sure they had everything
they needed to succeed. I had to ensure they
were able to say goodbye to their families
and take care of any issues at home before
departing New Mexico. Since we were going
to send only six aircraft, not all the pilots
would deploy. I had to decide which ones to
take and who would stay home and continue
to train to be ready to deploy if needed. The
hardest thing I had to do was talk to the pilots
who were not deploying, to convince them
they would get their opportunity to fly combat
sorties at another time; they would still be
important to our overall effort.
Twenty-four hours later, we sent an
advanced echelon of almost 200 squadron
personnel to Aviano. This team included the
pilots who would fly the first combat sorties,
the mission planning cell (tasked to plan all
the F-117A missions) and the maintenance
and support personnel. The latter would
make sure the aircraft were refuelled and
ready to fly combat missions as soon as
possible after arrival in Italy. As the squadron
commander, it was my job to ensure the
intelligence operations and the mission
planning cell were established, so we were
ready to receive the jets. My operations
officer was tasked with leading the flight of six
F-117As from Holloman AFB to Italy.
However, there were political obstacles.
Although NATO had approved the request
to accept the F-117As into Aviano, the Italian
government was not in agreement. The
Italians were unhappy that operations were
being flown out of their country while they
had little say in the entire execution ofAbove: Three F-117As receive final checks before departing Holloman AFB for Kuwait in
support of Operation Desert Strike. USAF/MSgt Val Gempis
Below: Nighthawks being prepared for a training sortie from Ahmed Al Jaber AB in Kuwait.
USAF/TSgt James D Mossmanhttp://www.aviation-news.co.uk 25Brigadier General Bruce Carlson, 49th Fighter Wing commander, presenting the Nighthawk
Trophy to 9th FS CO Lt Col Greg Feest. The bombing competition involving the three F-117A
squadrons took place every quarter. via Greg Feest22-27_f117_part_2DC.mf.mfDC.indd 25 01/12/2017 13:56