Posted on 10/08/2002 8:02:58 PM PDT by txzman
Posted on Tue, Oct. 08, 2002
F/A-18 squadron receives orders for mobilization By Chris Vaughn Star-Telegram Staff Writer
FORT WORTH - The U.S. Navy has mobilized all of a Fort Worth-based Naval Reserve F/A-18 squadron -- a rare step -- and ordered it to begin workups for deployment to an aircraft carrier next year.
The activation of about 200 personnel in VFA 201, which began Monday at Naval Air Station Fort Worth, is likely to last at least a year, officials said.
The call-up is not directly related to Afghanistan or Iraq, Navy officials said, but is necessary because one active-duty squadron is unavailable for deployment while it makes a transition to the F/A-18 Super Hornet.
Still, the mobilization is unusual because Naval Reserve tactical squadrons almost never join active-duty carrier wings.
"It's huge," said Cmdr. Tom Marotta, the squadron commander. "This squadron has been in existence for 31 years, and it's never happened."
The squadron becomes part of the Oceana, Va.-based Carrier Air Wing 8, although it will remain physically in Fort Worth for the next few months.
During that time, the squadron will begin workups for a six-month deployment aboard the USS Theodore Roosevelt with extensive combat training at Fallon, Nev.
The Navy is compressing the training timetable for the USS Carl Vinson -- presumably in case it is needed for an attack against Iraq -- but could not rush the Super Hornet training of VFA 102, a squadron that would normally deploy with the Vinson.
That led to the switching of several squadrons and the call-up of VFA 201.
The Fort Worth squadron is about half traditional reservists and half full-time Navy or Naval Reserve personnel. All but one of the squadron's pilots work in the airline industry.
Almost all of the officers and many of the enlisted personnel have previous active duty status, Marotta said, making the squadron "very experienced."
"Everybody in the squadron is excited and ready to do their jobs," he said.
The squadron last deployed to a carrier for training in March in what is at least an annual event. The squadron also deployed to Aviano, Italy, a few years ago in support of operations in Europe.
Based at Naval Air Station Dallas until 1996, the squadron relocated to Fort Worth and made a transition from the F-14 Tomcat to the F/A-18 in 1999.
Base officials cautioned that residents who live in west Fort Worth are likely to notice more noise in the next several months as planes practice carrier landings.
"They have to do some of the landing practice here before they're even qualified to go to the boat," base spokes-man Don Ray said.
Chris Vaughn, (817) 390-7547 cvaughn@star-telegram.com
Pull away..
No. They get it in person from the Baghdad Three. Hussein probably has a direct line to McDermott, Bonior, and The Byrd-Brain, Kennedy, and Tom Daschle.
I'll never understand why these people want our country to suffer more, and more, and more; just for their political gain.
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