Maj. Gen. Paul Knapp, Wisconsin’s adjutant general, and senior Wisconsin Air National Guard leaders will join family and friends in welcoming home approximately 90 Airmen from a deployment in support of Operation Inherent Resolve at an 11 a.m. ceremony Tuesday, Oct. 25 at Volk Field Combat Readiness Training Center in Camp Douglas, Wisconsin.
The Volk Field-based 128th Air Control Squadron spent more than six months in various undisclosed locations throughout Southwest Asia and the Middle East, though a portion of the unit was stationed at Shaw Air Force Base in South Carolina. The deployed Wisconsin Air National Guard members supported the 9th Air Force Headquarters as attached members of the 727th Expeditionary Air Control Squadron, performing air surveillance, aircraft tracking, and overall command and control of tactical coalition aircraft operations throughout the Middle East in support of Operation Inherent Resolve and the Combined Defense of the Arabian Peninsula.
The returning members of the 128th Air Control Squadron comprise roughly half of the overall unit.
The 128th Air Control Squadron last deployed in 2017 to Al Dhafra Air Base in the United Arab Emirates in support of Operation Inherent Resolve and Operation Resolute Support. Over the past year, unit members have supported the state’s COVID-19 response effort and Operation Allies Welcome, aiding Afghan refugees entering the United States. Unit members also responded to civil disturbance missions as part of the National Guard Reaction Force, and supported security missions in Washington, D.C.
