One Last Hurrah

More than 190 members of the New York Air National Guard’s 174th Fighter Wing left Hancock Field ANGB in Syracuse June 4 on the unit’s final F-16 deployment to the Middle East before transitioning to a new mission later this year. The four-month tour is the unit’s eighth to Southwest Asia since 1991 and its first since January 2007, Syracuse’s Post-Standard reported June 4. In all, about 500 wing personnel will rotate in and out of the combat theater on this deployment, the newspaper said. Upon returning, the wing will begin to convert this fall from flying F-16C Block 30 aircraft to operating MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aerial vehicles, wing spokeswoman 2nd Lt. Greta Lewis told the Daily Report June 4.