Wednesday, April 28, 2004

Local pilot serving in Kyrgyzstan MANAS AIR BASE, Kyrgyzstan - The war on terrorism can make for some strange bedfellows. Just ask the son of a Fayetteville man as he serves his country from behind the old Iron Curtain among Soviet relics like rusted bombers, missile launchers converted into fire trucks and tarnished statues of Vladimir Lenin. Air Force Reserve Lt. Col. Norman R. Ham Jr., son of retired Maj. Norman R. Ham of Fayetteville, is deployed to a former Soviet bomber base in Bishkek to help fuel the world's war on terrorism as an airlift squadron commander supporting the work of 40 coalition nations in Afghanistan. “I’m the squadron commander of a combat C-130 Hercules cargo aircraft unit from Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala.,” he said. “I’ve been assigned to command the transporting of personnel, supplies and ammunition into Afghanistan.” Ham and other members of the 376th Expeditionary Airlift Wing are the prime suppliers of refueling and cargo flights used to support the full range of operations against terrorism and the U.S. military's routine presence in the mostly Islamic Asian 'stan nations of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan. “The most critical part of the mission is making sure that food supplies and ammunition are transported to our soldiers in Afghanistan to ensure a smooth operation for them,” said Ham, who earned a master’s degree in education from Assumption College in Worcester, Mass., in 1978. “It’s vital that all of our airlift missions go as planned to ensure the troops on the ground fighting the enemy have everything they need to succeed and survive.” While the war on terrorism is the primary reason members of the 376th are here, they don't often turn down an opportunity to make new friends with the locals. Military members are restricted to the base because the terrorist threat level is high, but occasionally go into surrounding communities to do humanitarian projects, once building a playground at a children’s tuberculosis research institute, to show that Americans aren’t quite the menace they're sometimes made out to be. Ham's bunk, belongings and footlocker are in a tent 300 miles west of China, 1,100 miles north of Afghanistan and 30 miles from a new Russian air base that opened up after he arrived. Most people here find the camp to be typical of Soviet style: impersonal, yet sturdy enough to survive the harsh elements and just enough to get the job done. “Back home, I’m a captain for Delta Air Lines and live just south of Atlanta,” he said. “I never dreamed as a reservist that I would be celebrating my promotion to colonel in a part of the former Soviet Union. Other than raising my three daughters, this is the most important thing I’ve ever done in my life.” While the war on terrorism brought Ham to a place he’d never have dreamt of being just a few years ago, he understands the importance of the mission to build new friendships in this part of the world and to help protect the U.S. from behind the old Iron Curtain.