Air Guard

daniels@herald-mail.com MARTINSBURG, W.VA. - Aboard the cavernous C-130 packed with tired and weary souls somewhere between Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport and Yeager Field in Charleston, W.Va., Loadmaster Douglas Ferrell had the chance to step back and absorb his precious freight. "This is what this job's all about, right here," Ferrell said past nightfall Saturday. More than 12 hours earlier, at about 8 a.m., Ferrell knew anything could happen that day, but this was the best of all possible outcomes for the tired crew of the 167th Airlift Wing of the West Virginia Air National Guard.

MARTINSBURG, W.Va. -- The 167th Airlift Wing of the West Virginia Air National Guard is slated to receive $4.3 million for a C-5 avionics shop, U.S. Sen. Robert C. Byrd, D-W.Va., announced Friday. The 12,500-square-foot facility at Eastern West Virginia Regional Airport will be used for the repair and testing of C-5 navigation equipment, according to a press release from Byrd's office in Washington. Completion of the project will reintegrate critical maintenance facilities, which were separated during initial construction of the C-5 hangar complex, Byrd said.

The open house planned as part of the Thunder Over the Blue Ridge Air Show in May will not be held due to Defense Department budget cuts and “fiscal uncertainty,” organizers said Tuesday. With the change, the air show on May 11 and 12 now will be staged on the civilian side of Eastern West Virginia Regional Airport and the 167th Airlift Wing of the West Virginia Air National Guard will no longer host the event on their base at Shepherd Field, officials said in a news release.  “Unfortunately, the uncertainty in our national financial picture has forced us to consider the possibility of some rather dramatic cuts in our funding,” Col. Roger Nye, the Airlift Wing's commander said in the news release.

All possibilities are being explored to determine whether the 167th Airlift Wing of the West Virginia Air National Guard will host another air show next year, the unit's commander said Wednesday.  “We are definitely looking at the possibility of holding another air show,” Col. Roger Nye said. The 167th Airlift Wing, along with the Eastern West Virginia Regional Airport Authority and the United Way of the Eastern Panhandle, have partnered for the past three years to hold the Thunder Over the Blue Ridge Open House and Air Show.

By DAVE McMILLION Staff Writer, Martinsburg MARTINSBURG, W.Va. - The West Virginia Air National Guard base here has decided to use the Eastern West Virginia Regional Airport for its air drop training missions, officials said. The Air Guard used to conduct the missions at the airport, but it had to find a new area to train because the site it had been using is where the Sino-Swearingen LP jet plant is being built. The Air Guard wanted to conduct training flights over a 300-acre site in the extreme northwest corner of Clarke County, Va. But some residents there opposed the plan because they were concerned about safety, noise from the airplanes and a potential decline in property values.

Editor's note: Certain jobs seem to run in some families. In this series of stories that began Monday and ends today, we feature families in which members share the same or similar professions that serve the public. MARTINSBURG, W.Va. -- Senior Master Sgt. Ron Glazer joined the Army in 1985 for college money. When his son, Airman 1st Class Ron Glazer Jr. joined the Air Guard in 2006, his father was relieved. "I knew he would have the great benefits of education and training.

The 11 C-5A aircraft assigned to the Air National Guard unit based near Martinsburg will be replaced with eight, C-17 Globemasters, a smaller aircraft that isn't nearly as wide or cavernous, military officials said Friday. The transition slated for the 167th Airlift Wing at Eastern West Virginia Regional Airport in fiscal 2015 is part of an Air Force plan to retire 191 Air National Guard aircraft following $487 billion in budget cuts announced by the Pentagon last month, officials said.

167th Airlift Wing thanked for showing support at Civil Air Patrol's encampment MARTINSBURG, W.Va. - On Aug. 27, two sections of the 167th Airlift Wing of the West Virginia Air National Guard were recognized for their support to the West Virginia Wing of the Civil Air Patrol. Over the past several years, the 167th's Life Support Section and the Security Forces Squadron have generously provided instructors for the West Virginia Wing's Summer Encampment, held annually at Camp Dawson, Kingwood, W.Va.

charlestown@herald-mail.com MARTINSBURG, W.Va. - In a celebration filled with emotions, holiday cheer and patriotism, about 70 members of the 157th Military Police Co. returned home Monday after a 10-month mission that involved helping to rebuild Iraq. Cheers went up from a crowd of relatives and friends outside a hangar at the West Virginia Air National Guard base Monday afternoon as a C-130 cargo plane carrying 157th Military Police members made a pass over the base.

Navy Seaman Apprentice Randy J. Saylor, son of Kelly D. Williams of Myersville, Md., and Gerald Kunde of Myersville, along with sailors and Marines from the Bataan Amphibious Ready Group (BATARG), Norfolk, Va., and 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU), Camp Lejeune, N.C., recently departed the 5th Fleet and entered 6th Fleet's area of operations after traveling through the Suez Canal and entering the Mediterranean Sea. The BATARG is preparing to return to the U.S. as it nears the end of a six-month deployment.

The open house planned as part of the Thunder Over the Blue Ridge Air Show in May will not be held due to Defense Department budget cuts and “fiscal uncertainty,” organizers said Tuesday. With the change, the air show on May 11 and 12 now will be staged on the civilian side of Eastern West Virginia Regional Airport and the 167th Airlift Wing of the West Virginia Air National Guard will no longer host the event on their base at Shepherd Field, officials said in a news release.  “Unfortunately, the uncertainty in our national financial picture has forced us to consider the possibility of some rather dramatic cuts in our funding,” Col. Roger Nye, the Airlift Wing's commander said in the news release.

All possibilities are being explored to determine whether the 167th Airlift Wing of the West Virginia Air National Guard will host another air show next year, the unit's commander said Wednesday.  “We are definitely looking at the possibility of holding another air show,” Col. Roger Nye said. The 167th Airlift Wing, along with the Eastern West Virginia Regional Airport Authority and the United Way of the Eastern Panhandle, have partnered for the past three years to hold the Thunder Over the Blue Ridge Open House and Air Show.

Scouts from Pack 34 and Troop 412 toured a C5B Galaxy Aircraft and maintenance facility at the 167th Airlift Wing of the Air National Guard in Martinsburg, W.Va., on Nov. 3. CMSgt. Robert Gregory conducted the tour. The tour was a way for the Scouts to recognize members of the military in observance of Veterans Day.

Members of the West Virginia Air National Guard based in Berkeley County are flying bucket trucks and other equipment from Phoenix, Ariz., to a guard base in Newburgh, N.Y., to assist in Hurricane Sandy recovery efforts in the Northeast. Four loads of equipment are due to be transported by the Guard unit's C-5 aircraft beginning Friday, said Col. Roger Nye, commander of the 167th Airlift Wing. In a separate relief mission, more than 90 members of the West Virginia National Guard are distributing food and water from the base at Eastern West Virginia Regional Airport to thousands of residents in areas where deep, wet snow from the storm downed trees, blocked roads and left them without power.

The 11 C-5A aircraft assigned to the Air National Guard unit based near Martinsburg will be replaced with eight, C-17 Globemasters, a smaller aircraft that isn't nearly as wide or cavernous, military officials said Friday. The transition slated for the 167th Airlift Wing at Eastern West Virginia Regional Airport in fiscal 2015 is part of an Air Force plan to retire 191 Air National Guard aircraft following $487 billion in budget cuts announced by the Pentagon last month, officials said.

There will be an increase of activity Wednesday at the West Virginia Air National Guard's 167th Airlift Wing base, according to a news release from the base. Community first responders will take part in an exercise at Eastern West Virginia Regional Airport, according to Airlift Wing spokeswoman Sherree Grebenstein. No other information was available Tuesday.

Area military personnel, active and retired, including National Guard members and their dependents, are enjoying bargain prices this weekend shopping for groceries and big-screen televisions at an on-site commissary sale at the West Virginia Air National Guard 167th Airlift Wing. Among the long lines of customers Saturday were retired Marine Master Sgt. Jesse Englehart, a Korean War veteran, and his wife, Betty Englehart, of Smithsburg. "We try to shop at the commissary at Fort Detrick as much as we can," Betty Englehart said.

The men and women in the West Virginia Air National Guard’s 167th Airlift Wing will tell you it’s an honor just to serve, but it doesn’t hurt when special recognition is given. More than 170 airmen who were deployed from their home base for more than 30 days and their family members who were burdened by it were honored Sunday during the second annual Hometown Heroes Salute ceremony. The recognition program was sanctioned in 2008 by Gen. Craig R. McKinley, chief of the National Guard Bureau.

Navy Seaman Apprentice Randy J. Saylor, son of Kelly D. Williams of Myersville, Md., and Gerald Kunde of Myersville, along with sailors and Marines from the Bataan Amphibious Ready Group (BATARG), Norfolk, Va., and 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU), Camp Lejeune, N.C., recently departed the 5th Fleet and entered 6th Fleet's area of operations after traveling through the Suez Canal and entering the Mediterranean Sea. The BATARG is preparing to return to the U.S. as it nears the end of a six-month deployment.

WILLIAMSPORT - On Oct. 21, the Williamsport Lions Club toured Shepherd Field, home of the West Virginia Air National Guard's 167th Airlift Wing in Martinsburg, W.Va., according to the club newsletter. Thirty club members took the tour, which included the maintenance aircraft hangar, the training wing and a 1968 C-5 Galaxy cargo transport jet.