SELFRIDGE AIR NATIONAL GUARD BASE, MICH. - Approximately 250 members of the 107th Operations Group, 107th Fighter Squadron "Red Devils" and the 127th Maintenance Group are returning home after a deployment to Balad Air Base, Iraq. The F-16 Fighting Falcons and a small advance team are scheduled to arrive home today with the main group of airmen due to arrive sometime on Monday.

The Michigan Air National Guardsmen will return from Air and Space Expeditionary Force 5/6 where they served about 45 days with the 332nd Air Expeditionary Wing at Iraq's largest and business airbase 40 miles north of Baghdad. The 332nd AEW has ancestral lineage to the former 332nd Fighter Group's Tuskegee Airmen of World War II who received gunnery training at Selfridge Air National Guard Base.

Brigadier General Michael Peplinski, 127th Wing commander, acknowledges the Tuskegee Airmen connection. "We are proud of the 90 years of military aviation heritage that hails from Selfridge and we are honored to be able to include ourselves in the rich history that continues today under the 332nd designation while we served in Iraq."

While deployed the Red Devils successfully flew combat missions including close air support to coalition ground forces in the decisive battle of An Najaf on January 28 that contributed to the more than 200 enemy insurgents killed and 100 gunmen captured.

General Peplinski further states, "I am also proud of the service and support our Airmen provided to U.S. and Iraqi ground forces during their tour of duty. They were able to focus on the tasked combat operations despite the numerous challenges presented by the impending BRAC-directed conversion to the A-10 aircraft and mission."

According to the 2005 BRAC decisions, the 127th Wing will retire its F-16s and convert to the A-10 Warthogs sometime in the next few years. The 107th Fighter Squadron was the first F-16 unit to be based in Iraq, at Kirkuk Air Base, in 2004. It is unknown if they will be deployed again as an F-16 squadron prior to the conversion.

Once the Michigan Air National Guardsmen return home, they will attend return and reintegration briefings sponsored by the units Family Readiness Group. These briefings serve to out-process the Airmen from the deployment and gives information and resources to aid in the adjustment back to civilian life.

Even with this large group returning to Michigan, the 127th Wing continues to have about 100 Airmen deployed in support of Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom and about 20 Airmen supporting Operation Jump Start in the southwest United States.