Air Force stepping into war zones on the ground

[Barrett808]

Air Force stepping into war zones on the ground
BY RICHARD WHITTLE
The Dallas Morning News

WASHINGTON - The insurgents of Afghanistan and Iraq have no air forces and rarely manage to fire a missile at a U.S. aircraft, but that hasn't kept the names of Air Force personnel off the casualty lists.

In a departure from the past, however, when the officers who fly the U.S. Air Force's planes were most at risk, in these wars the service's enlisted men and women have paid the ultimate price more often. With the Army and Marines stretched thin, Air Force enlisted personnel have been called on to do jobs previously done by ground troops.

"You expect the Marines and the Army to be taking most of the risk, but this war has changed that," said Aymber McElroy. A roadside bomb killed her husband, Staff Sgt. Brian McElroy, 28, of San Antonio, an Air Force policeman, as he escorted a convoy near Taji, Iraq, on Jan. 22.

"Air Force cops are used to standing out by a plane with a gun and making sure nobody comes near it," McElroy said. "Now all of a sudden they're out there engaging people. It's a whole new ballgame."

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