Whidbey Island Naval Air Station will welcome home 140 members of Electronic Attack Squadron (VAQ) 142 this weekend, when the Prowler squadron returns from a three-month deployment in Afghanistan.
Approximately 25 officers and 115 enlisted personnel from the squadron, along with an expeditionary logistics unit from the air station’s Aircraft Intermediate Maintenance Detachment, will fly into Oak Harbor just before 6 a.m. on Saturday, base spokeswoman Kim Martin said.
The squadron of EA-6B Prowlers, the military’s radar- and communications-jamming jets, left for deployment in December. But they didn’t have much time to prepare and pack up.
The Gray Wolves were given seven workdays to get ready for the deployment, a trip that covered more than 9,700 miles, 12 times zones and five flight legs. Unlike most of the Prowler squadrons at Whidbey, the Gray Wolves are land-based and do not deploy from aircraft carriers.
The squadron flew more than 230 missions to support the war in Afghanistan. Prowlers from the Gray Wolves, piloted by Air Force officers, logged more than 550 hours during the deployment.
The flights were credited in the capture of three terrorists wanted by the United States, but Navy officials had no details Thursday.
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