When Air Force Capt. Matthew Bender, an F-16 pilot with the 555th Fighter Squadron, or 'Triple Nickel,' returned to Aviano Air Base, Italy, from his deployment in mid-February, COVID-19 wasn't really on his radar.
He'd been sent home early to lead the planning for the Nickel's scheduled return to the 31st Fighter Wing in April. At that point, COVID-19 had just been established as the disease's official name. The first official death outside of Asia was on Valentine's Day, and while it was certainly international news, Bender was more concerned with bringing his wingmen home.
"It didn't really affect my travel back," Bender said. "There was no reason for me to believe it would affect the rest of the Nickel, either."
But when Bender began his planning, things got worse. By late February, positive tests began popping up all around the globe. The Defense Department established its own COVID-19 task force. Italy was hit hard, and responded by taking several precautionary measures that limited travel through certain regions of the country.
Then, in March, came two big blows: on March 8, the Italian government implemented a country-wide lockdown, and on March11 the DOD restricted all travel to, from or through countries hit hardest by the pandemic, including Italy. At that moment, Bender had only one thought.
"I have no idea how long it's going to take to get these guys home," he said.
COVID-19 was certainly on his radar then.
Even under normal conditions, planning a unit's return from deployment is a juggling act. It takes coordination from several units and agencies across the wing, multiple levels of military command, and international airspace approval. When you throw COVID-19 into the situation, though, it adds a whole new layer of complexity, he said.
Bender coordinated with Public Health to set up screenings as members stepped off the aircraft, a parking lot was mapped out and designated for families to wait for their loved ones, and the 31st Fighter Wing legal office helped interpret how the Italian decrees and the DOD stop-movement order could affect the Nickel's return.
"We had to work through the travel and the rules for the 14-day quarantine," said Air Force Lt. Col Matthew Lund, the staff judge advocate for the 31st Fighter Wing. "We just wanted to make sure we understood everything so they could come back the best possible way."
Despite the extra challenges, however, Bender says he never lost sight of the goal.
"We had a good team," he said. "We stayed pretty level-headed and just tried to bring our wingmen home."
Even so, questions lingered about the DOD stop-movement order. At the highest levels, officials tried to work out how to safely allow personnel to return home. Eventually, word came: the 555th Fighter Squadron would be the first unit in the DOD allowed to return home since the COVID-19 situation began.
As Air Force Lt. Col. Beau Diers, the commander of the 555th Fighter Squadron, climbed down from his F-16C Fighting Falcon at Aviano Air Base on April 20, he acknowledged the strangeness of the situation.
"It's a little different than other redeployments I've had," Diers said.
Typically, hundreds of family, friends, and wingmen would be on the flightline waiting to greet the airmen as they climbed down from cockpits and disembarked the rotator. This time, though, the welcoming committee was mostly made up of airmen from the 31st Medical Group. Airmen lined up and completed a COVID-19 screening, then they climbed into buses bound for a parking lot across base where their loved ones waited.
While downrange, the Triple Nickel flew 1,200 missions. It deployed 64 weapons over a total of 7,000 flight hours. When all was said and done, it returned all 300 of the personnel that left six months ago. Not bad considering the team departed with just nine business days' notice, Diers said.
"The team, I couldn't be more proud of them all," Diers said. "They excelled at everything they did, above and beyond what you'd be asked to do on a normal deployment."
Despite the extra screenings and social distancing, however, Diers said the returning members of the Triple Nickel were in high spirits.
"We're all ecstatic to be home. It's great to be back in Italy," Diers said.
(Air Force Tech. Sgt. Tory Cusimano is assigned to the 31st Fighter Wing)