After being on an extended deployment and spending three and a half months flying missions over Iraq, the Yellow Jackets are finally home.

We left for San Diego on Jan. 17 and completed a two-week JTF-EX before deploying on Feb. 1 for our around-the-world deployment.

The Yellow Jackets are a West Coast squadron assigned to Carrier Air Wing Nine, aboard USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70). This was to be the Vinson’s last deployment before a three-year overhaul period in the Newport News shipyard. This allowed for the unusual circumstances of the around the world deployment schedule.

Vinson left San Diego en route to Guam, our first scheduled stop. While under way, the Yellow Jackets and the rest of the Air Wing participated in Large Force Exercises and Major Theater Warfare strikes in the vicinity of Hawaii and the Midway Islands.

After about a month at sea, the Vinson pulled into Guam for four days of liberty. Leaving Guam, Vinson headed toward Singapore.

While under way in the South China Sea, the Air Wing again planned and executed several large force strikes. The Yellow Jackets were able to fly many unit-level sorties, which allowed them to work on mission commander qualifications and sign offs that would be more difficult to accomplish while in the Arabian Gulf.

The Yellow Jackets hit Singapore in March for four days before heading to the Arabian Gulf to relieve the USS Harry S Truman. Transiting the Indian Ocean en route to the Arabian Gulf gave the Yellow Jackets their last chance to prepare themselves for the months of combat missions that lied ahead. During this time, the Yellow Jacket maintenance team performed many hours of flawless work on the squadrons four EA-6Bs to get them to an unprecendented level of combat readiness.

Vinson pulled into the Arabian Gulf on March 17 and we began to fly combat missions in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom on March 19.

The Vinson and Air Wing Nine spent three and a half months in the sweltering conditions of the Arabian Gulf summertime, while flying missions every day to support the coalition forces on the ground in Iraq. The Yellow Jackets flew a remarkable 1,636 hours of combat missions, with a 98 percent sortie completion rate, no small feat for an airframe over 30 years old.

While in the Gulf, many of the Yellow Jacket aircrew spent time flying out of Baghram Air Base, Afghanistan, with VMAQ-4 in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. The Yellow Jackets also hosted the Combined Air Operations Center Director, Air Commodore RAF General Simon Bryant, for a few days that included an EA-6B combat capabilities brief as well as a five-hour mission over Iraq.

While in the Arabian Gulf, the Yellow Jackets put in countless, tedious hours working to support the requirements of the coalition forces in Iraq. In the three and a half months in the Gulf, the Vinson was lucky enough to get a few days of liberty here and there, which included stops in Bahrain, as well as Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.

While the rest of Air Wing Nine and the Vinson Strike Group pulled out of the Arabian Gulf, the Yellow Jackets sent two EA-6B aircraft, 12 aircrew and 33 maintainers to Al Asad, Iraq, to continue flying OIF missions for another two weeks. While there, the Yellow Jackets flew an additional 24 sorties and 100 combat hours.

The Vinson left the Arabian Gulf on the 1st of July and headed for the Suez Canal. While under way, the remaining Yellow Jackets got the chance to again fly unit level sorties and work on their various mission commander qualifications. The Vinson transited the Suez Canal on July 8 and pulled into Rhodes, Greece on the July 11, providing everyone with some much needed R & R.

Yellow Jackets that went to Iraq left Al Asad July 14 for Sigonella, Sicily where they enjoyed some time off before returning to the Vinson July 17.

Back together again, the Yellow Jackets began to put things in order for their return home. They got their last port visit to Lisbon, Portugal, on July 20, where they picked up tiger cruise participants and had one last chance to enjoy some foreign culture and sites before leaving for Norfolk July 23.

The Yellow Jackets flew an astounding 2,080 hours and 544 sorties since their departure from Whidbey Island in January. With close to 1,800 of their hours flown in the combat environment over Iraq, the Yellow Jackets are glad to be heading home.

Not only did the Yellow Jackets set records for their performance in combat, they excelled in many other areas as well, including 35 individuals awarded EAWS wings, and 12 awarded ESWS wings.

Several Yellow Jackets earned college credit through NCPACE courses.

For all their hard work, the Yellow Jackets received the coveted Air Wing Nine “Golden Wrench” award for superior maintenance during the last Air Wing line period.

“Operation Iraqi Freedom was the most challenging aspect of our deployment,” said Cmdr. Bill Jensen, CO, “but it was also the most rewarding. Knowing Yellow Jackets were protecting American lives on the ground while flying six hour missions to escort military convoys day and night is not something that I will ever forget.

“This has definitely been my most memorable deployment and I could not have imagined being deployed with a better group of Sailors than those of the Yellow Jackets.”