Idaho Air National Guard Photo by Staff Sergeant Joseph R. Morgan, 14OCT2022.
On 14OCT2022, the families of the Idaho Air National Guard’s 190th FW-124th FS were treated to some A-10C Thunderbolt-2 action on Saylor Creek bombing and gunnery range. Even enjoying the view from atop an Idaho Army National Guard M109.
Idaho Air National Guard Photo by Staff Sergeant Joseph R. Morgan, 14OCT2022.
The moment was sweeter because the 124th FS had just won its fourth Hawgsmoke competition, setting a new benchmark for number of wins.
Gowen Field (East end of Boise Airport), Idaho, 07SEP2022. Idaho Air National Guard photo by Staff Sergeant Mercedee Wilds.
Probably the most non-combat gathering of A-10C Thunderbolt-2s you will ever see! 37 ‘Warthogs’ from Air National Guard, as well as Reserve and Active U.S. Air Force units congregated on Idaho’s Gowen Field, hungry to chew on the Saylor Creek bomb/gun range, for the biennial (normally every other year, except during Pandemics) Hawgsmoke competition, from the 6th through the 8th of September, 2022.
Idaho Air National Guard photo by Staff Sergeant Mercedee Wilds, 07SEP2022.
Idaho Air National Guard photo by Staff Sergeant Mercedee Wilds, 06SEP2022.
Idaho Air National Guard photo by Staff Sergeant Mercedee Wilds, 06SEP2022.
On the official opening day of Hawgsmoke 2022, a P-40 Warhawk and a P-47 Thunderbolt (from Idaho’s Warhawk Museum) conducted a ‘heritage flyover’ as part of the opening ceremonies.
A 47th FS ‘Dogpatchers’ A-10C arrives from Davis-Monthan AFB, Arizona. Idaho Air National Guard photo by Staff Sergeant Mercedee Wilds, 06SEP2022.
A 354th FS ‘Bulldogs’ A-10C, also from Davis-Monthan AFB. Idaho Air National Guard photo by Staff Sergeant Mercedee Wilds, 06SEP2022.
104th FS Air National Guard A-10C out of Maryland. Idaho Air National Guard photo by Master Sergeant Becky Vanshur, 08SEP2022.
Air National Guard A-10C, 122nd FW ‘Blacksnakes’ out of Indiana. Idaho Air National Guard photo by Master Sergeant Becky Vanshur, 08SEP2022.
Missouri’s ‘KC Hawg’ of the 442nd FW. Idaho Air National Guard photo by Master Sergeant Becky Vanshur, 08SEP2022.
Air National Guard’s 124th FW ‘Red’ Idaho (there are ‘Blue’ ones) A-10C. Idaho Air National Guard photo by Senior Master Sergeant Joshua C. Allmaras, 08SEP2022.
A 124th FW A-10C lets one rip. Idaho Air National Guard photo by Senior Master Sergeant Joshua C. Allmaras, 08SEP2022.
Idaho Air National Guard video by Ryan White, A-10Cs passing gas all over the Saylor Creek range, 08SEP2022:
For the fourth time, and setting a new record for wins, Idaho Air National Guard 190th Fighter Squadron’s 124th Fighter Wing took the Overall Team Award. That is four wins: 2008, 2010, 2021, 2022.
Other winners of Hawgsmoke 2022: Top A-10 Overall Attack Pilot; Lieutenant Colonel John Marks, 303rd Fighter Squadron (FS)-442d Fighter Wing (FW), Whiteman Air Force Base (AFB), Missouri. Top Strafe Team; 303rd FS-442d FW, Whiteman AFB, Missouri. Top Tactical Team; 47th FS-442d FW, Davis-Monthan AFB, Arizona. Top Bombing Team; 354th FS-355th FW, Davis-Monthan AFB, Arizona.
In 1995 the decades old ‘Cold War’ era Gunsmoke ground attack competition came to an end, in 2000 a new ground attack competition was started called Hawgsmoke.
Another U.S. Air Force EC-130H Compass Call retires at Davis-Monthan AFB, Arizona, 28FEB2022. U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Alex Miller.
USAF photo by Senior Airman Alex Miller, 28FEB2022.
To be replaced by the new British built EC-37B, EC-130H Compass Call aircraft are slowly being retired.
U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Kaitlyn Ergish, 08NOV2021.
USAF photo by Senior Airman Kaitlyn Ergish, 08NOV2021.
Retirements began in 2018 and are ongoing, as the new EC-37B is only now coming off the production line. Unfortunately, just like the EC-37B the British empire’s BAE System is also involved with the EC-130H (another Yankee taxpayer feather in the cap of the Red Coats). A total of 14 modified EC-130H served in the USAF.
An EC-130H Compass Call’s retirement flight, 31AUG2021. USAF photo by Senior Airman Alex Miller.
First flight 1981, entered service 1982, costs $165-million each. By October 2021, the EC-130H Compass Call had been flying for 40 years. However, keep in mind that the first Compass Calls were modified C-130Hs that had already been flying for at least a decade (known as Baseline 1 aircraft)!
On 31AUG2021, yet another Compass Call was retired to the ‘Boneyard’ on Davis-Monthan Air Force Base (AFB), in Arizona. U.S. Air Force (USAF) video by Senior Airman Kaitlyn Ergish:
12JUN2019, the 43rd Electronic Combat Squadron (Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona) deployed to NATO Poland, for the first time in the Squadron’s history. Compass Call worked alongside fighter aircraft (in U.S. English the word aircraft is both singular and plural, do not add an ‘s’ at the end of the word aircraft) of the U.S. and Polish air forces. USAF video by Airman First Class Chanceler Nardone:
By December 2018, the EC-130H has been on-station over Afghanistan for 15 years, video interview by Senior Airman Jean-Paul Arnaud-Marquez:
USAF video by Senior Airman Kayla Palmer, an EC-130H retirement ceremony on Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, 02AUG2018:
In 2018, the oldest EC-130H was retired, it was tail number was 65-0989. According to the 386th Air Expeditionary Wing, it was originally a C-130H built in 1965. 65-0989 was one of the first C-130Hs to be modified for the Compass Call mission. In 2018, the older Compass Calls were being replaced with newer/upgraded C-130s (known as Baseline 2, 5th generation electronic attack aircraft).
November 2017, night vision video by Technical Sergeant Justin Jacobs, of 41st Expeditionary Electronic Combat Squadron’s EC-130H operations on Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan:
August 2017, Afghanistan, Airman explains his job maintaining Compass Call’s electronic warfare equipment, video by Senior Airman Joshua Crawley:
December 2016 video report, by Technical Sergeant Lance Daigle, explaining Compass Call’s mission over Iraq and Syria:
June 2012, Ohio Air National Guard refuel Compass Call over Utah, video by Senior Airman Robert Harnden:
Brand new EC-130H Compass Call Block 30 Baseline-1 arrives on Davis-Monthan AFB, 18FEB1997. USAF photo by Airman Elizabeth J. Harris.
This U.S. Navy photo by John Bouvia, incorrectly claims to show an early EC-130H Compass Call, on Mcdill AFB, Florida, 05DEC1993. It is an EC-130E Commando Solo.
An EC-130H Compass Call lands in NATO Germany, Sembach Air Base, after taking part in Desert Storm. USAF photo by Master Sergeant Dave Casey, 11MAR1991.
Cold War: Approximately 1947 (due to U.S. President Harry Truman’s Truman Doctrine) to 1991 (Operation Desert Storm, collapse of Soviet Union).
USAF photo by Master Sergeant Bill Thompson, December 1989.
USAF photo by Master Sergeant Bill Thompson, December 1989.
Compass Call takes off from Sembach, NATO West Germany. USAF photo by Master Sergeant Dave Casey, 07JUN1989.
An EC-130H gets refueled over NATO West Germany by a KC-135 Stratotanker. USAF photo by Staff Sergeant Fernando Serna, 30AUG1987.
13 October 2022 (12:23-UTC-07 Tango 06) 21 Mehr 1401/17 Rabi ‘al-Awwal 1444/18 Geng-Xu 4720/13 октября 2022 года
It has been established that there are not many good paying, steady, long term jobs spread across The Gem State, and that there isn’t a lot of available land for private ownership, resulting in a low population, and that there has been plenty of house construction since the end of the 1990s. In other words, sparse population due to lack of decent long term jobs (90% of the population growth has been in the Boise Metro Area), and decades of house building actually resulting in a glut of houses. Yet, housing rental prices and purchase prices are too high. This is the excuse that local municipalities and property developers are using to justify the approval, and acceleration, of massive residential construction projects.
For proof here is a list of links to articles (just the tip of the iceberg) proclaiming new housing projects, and reporting on housing cost problems, across Idaho, from the past month:
Ada County area real estate agent says the number of actual available units are flat despite all the construction, and predicts inventory will actually go down, which means rents and prices will stay high. Reveals a disturbing trend that was insignificant before 2008 and is also the cause of high prices; residential Institutional Buyers, aka Investors/Speculators, who outbid families trying to buy a home:
13 October 2022 (01:46-UTC-07 Tango 06) 21 Mehr 1401/17 Rabi ‘al-Awwal 1444/18 Geng-Xu 4720/13 октября 2022 года
Idaho’s reign as a top destination for domestic migrants (U.S. citizens leaving their states for The Gem State) was short lived, and is now reversing; more people leaving than coming in!
I’ve documented how for decades the entrenched, arrogant, leaders of Idaho boasted of how things were booming in Idaho, using domestic migration as one of their proofs. They claimed that one reason for the influx of domestic migrants, was that Idaho was full of good paying jobs. Anybody that has lived in Idaho for as long as I have knew that was a bold face lie! I have experienced what I call revolving door employment for almost 20 years as employer after employer downsized or halted operations altogether! If it wasn’t for the fact that my property is paid for, I would have been forced to move a long time ago. (I am not here for the money, I love the climate and the space, which apparently is what many recent newbies to Idaho don’t like)
Here’s another wake up call for our fearless leaders: There was only a slight uptick in Idaho’s overall population, from 2010 to 2020. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the sparse population of the geographically large state of Idaho went from 1.8-million to only 1.9-million, despite a decade of ‘leaders’ telling us that the population was booming. The overwhelming majority of that population growth took place in the Boise Metro Area (Treasure Valley, Southwestern Idaho region).
Here’s another reality check: More than 61% of land in Idaho is owned by the federal government. Less than 30% of available land is privately held. So, in reality the relatively small population is partly due to lack of available privately owned land. There is also the fact that one of President Joseph Robinette Biden Junior’s first executive orders (America the Beautiful Initiative, or 30×30 order) makes it even harder to make land available in Idaho:
The state government owns land, and has been selling it off, not just to make more land available, but it has become a major revenue source for the state government (which might explain its mysterious budget surplus).
Then there’s the fact that rich people from other states (Texas) are buying up private property and then using it to block access to public lands:
By 2020, moving company trackers had ranked Idaho as the number three destination, but now, just two years later an Atlanta, Georgia, moving assistance company reports that Idaho has dropped to 20th position, and the region of Eastern Idaho is experiencing a mass exodus!
While the Move Buddha report admits that people are changing their minds about moving to Idaho, the author still says Idaho is “The Place to Go”! Move Buddha reports that the Eastern Idaho city of Rexburg, home to the Brigham Young University-Idaho, is bleeding residents, and blames it on lack of jobs. According to Move Buddha’s “in-to-out” formula, for every 49 people moving into Rexburg, 1-hundered are leaving! In Rexburg’s next door city of Idaho Falls, once the economic darling of Eastern Idaho, there are now 1-hundred people leaving for every 95 moving in!
But even the top five cities that people still want to move to are on the decline, with Southwestern Idaho’s Eagle leading the pack with a 56% decrease in Move Buddha’s “in-to-out ratio”.
There is still massive housing construction going on in Idaho, all across the state, it has been going on since the late 1990s. Housing developers and politicians have always claimed it is because the population is booming, and it is necessary to keep housing costs down. That is interesting, because homes prices/values skyrocketed, anyway. Just this year, Bannock County jacked up the value of my property to where they now consider it worth four times what I paid in 1997, despite the massive home construction that is still going on around my neighborhood! In 1997, my neighborhood was surrounded on the south and west sides by farm fields. By 1999, the farm land was sold and huge housing tracts were under construction. This never let up, year after year the city slowly moved westward, annexing County territory, farm land being sold-off and new housing development taking its place. The claim was that the population and economy is booming, yet starting in 2001, I witnessed, experienced and documented the economic destruction in my part of Bannock County, and it has never recovered.
Prices for homes are finally ticking down in Idaho, but don’t blame the Pandemic, the massive focus on property development, that was never justified, is to blame. Now, the mass exodus that is beginning to take place will push Idaho’s housing market into the Pit of Hell.
In this report, which chronicles the destruction of iconic Green T, the mayor of Chubbuck boasts it’s “…the beginning of some real good things coming in.”:POPEYES QUIETLY SHUTS DOWN FOUR IDAHO RESTAURANTS!
12 October 2022 (13:47-UTC-07 Tango 06) 20 Mehr 1401/16 Rabi ‘al-Awwal 1444/17 Geng-Xu 4720/12 октября 2022 года
This is what went down on 10OCT2022, in the European Union parliament:
“Was the Pfizer covid vaccine tested on stopping the transmission of the virus, before it entered the market? If not, please say it clearly. If yes, are you willing to share the data with this committee? And I really want a straight answer, yes or no! And I’m looking forward to it.”-Robert ‘Rob’ Roos, Member of European Union Parliament representing Netherlands
“Did we know about stopping the immunization before it entered the market? No…. we had to really move at the speed of science to understand what is taking place in the market…..”-Janine Small, Pfizer president of international developed markets
So apparently, the “speed of science” does not allow for proper testing? And apparently, science is more interested in “what is taking place in the market”!
A member of the Netherlands’ parliament calls Pfizer a “liar”:
“Samuel, notify your men; the British are coming.”-General Oliver Prescott, 19APR1775
U.S. Air Force photo by Airman First Class Vaughn Weber, 17AUG2022.
Here’s another Yankee taxpayer feather in the cap of the British Empire’s (Commonwealth of Nations) military industrial complex; the new EC-37B has arrived!
USAF photo by Airman First Class Vaughn Weber, 17AUG2022.
Sometime in August 2022 (not sure because the date of the U.S. Air Force [USAF] video says the 3rd, but the photos are dated the 17th), a naked (not yet painted) EC-37B Cross Deck-Compass Call landed at Davis Monthan Air Force Base(AFB), in Arizona.
An EC-130H Compass Call’s retirement flight, 31AUG2021. USAF photo by Senior Airman Alex Miller.
The old, yet reliable, EC-130H is a military plane from the start, yet the new EC-37B is not; it is based on the Gulfstream G550 business jet. The U.S. Congress has already paid for at least four EC-37Bs, and has left the door open for additional purchases through 2025! Snake-oil salesmen claim the EC-37B is more survivable than a C-130H (what ever-dude, I used to Crew Chief C-130Hs, and rode on many C-130Es and Hs in my life, I know it is one the toughest aircraft in USAF inventory)!
USAF photo by Airman First Class Vaughn Weber, 17AUG2022.
Gulfstream is a U.S. company, but according to the USAF the EC-37B electronic warfare version is built by United Kingdom’s BAE.
(In the late 1990s, under the Bill Clinton regime, MES began taking over U.S. defense contractors. In 1999, MES and BAe merged to create BAE Systems, apparently to stop a U.S. defense contractor from taking over MES. In 2001, the same year the False Flag War on Terror began, BAE Systems aggressively invaded the U.S. defense industry, taking over many U.S. companies, including cyber security companies.)
I discovered that in September 2020, of The Pandemic, the U.S. Air Force (USAF) conducted herbicide spraying over a part of Idaho, claiming that it was an attempt to prevent wildfires by killing Cheatgrass.
U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Christina Russo, 22SEP2020.
The operation was launched from Mountain Home Air Force Base (AFB), using a USAF Reserve 910th Airlift Wing (AW) C-130H Hercules ‘Weed Whacker’ out of Ohio. The USAF also claimed that their herbicide mission would somehow not affect the endangered Sagebrush, and they were actually trying to protect the Sagebrush by targeting Cheatgrass.
Low-tech spray nozzles protruding from sides of the C-130H ‘Weed Whacker’. USAF photo by Senior Airman Christina Russo, 22SEP2020.
The spraying took place over the Saylor Creek bombing & gunnery range near Mountain Home AFB.
USAF video explainer, by Staff Sergeant Juliet Louden, how the mission of the C-130H Weed Whacker is planned:
USAF photo by Senior Airman Christina Russo, 22SEP2020.
USAF photo by Senior Airman Christina Russo, 22SEP2020.
From September 14th through 25th, the Weed Whacker flew 1-hundred feet above ground level, at 2-hundred knots ground speed, dumping 19-thousand-979 gallons of diluted herbicide over 3-thousand-50 acres. The crop dusting over Saylor Creek Training Range takes place every year (has the Cheatgrass become resistant?).
Some Weed Whacker video by Staff Sergeant Juliet Louden, 23SEP2020:
The 910th AW’s C-130H Weed Whacker is also used for spraying insecticides, and oil dispersants onto oil spills. It is the only ‘large aircraft’ used by the USAF to conduct spray missions.
USAF photo by Senior Airman Connor J. Marth, 17SEP2020.
In 2022, National Guard combat units from California, Idaho, Iowa, North Carolina, Texas, Utah and Washington, assaulted the Orchard Combat Training Area(OCTC) in Southwestern Idaho.
Idaho Air National Guard photo by Master Sergeant Becky Vanshur, 26AUG2022.
Between July and August 2022, the Arizona Army National Guard and the Republic of Singapore Air Force joined forces to shoot-up the OCTC with their AH-64 Apaches.
In July 2022, Oregon Army National Guard’s 3rd Battalion, 116th Cavalry Regiment conducted light machine gun training on the OCTC. Video by Major W. Chris Clyne (you’ll notice a paddle being held up that reads OTA, the OTCT used to be known as the OTA [Orchard Training Area] about 15 to 20 years ago):
Idaho Army National Guard promotional video about multi-state war game Western Strike 2022:
In this Utah Army National Guard video explainer, from 16JUN2022, it is revealed that National Guard combat units are now the new Quick Reaction Force (QRF) for the U.S. Army, required to deploy within 90 days of activation:
In May 2022, Idaho’s 116th Brigade Engineer Battalion trained for demolition and explosive breaching, Idaho Air National Guard video by Master Sergeant Becky Vanshur:
Idaho Army National Guard photo by Thomas Alvarez, 19MAY2022.
Also in May 2022, the Idaho 116th Cavalry Brigade Combat Team’s Cavalry Scouts took part in the usual annual training (what we old timers used to call Summer Camp). The unit later deployed to The Middle East in support of Operation Spartan Shield.
Idaho Army National Guard photo by Thomas Alvarez, 11MAY2022.
Idaho Army National Guard photo by Thomas Alvarez, 11MAY2022.
Idaho Air National Guard photo by Master Sergeant Becky Vanshur, 21APR2022.
In April 2022, U.S. Marines JTAC (Joint Terminal Attack Controller) invaded Orchard Combat Training Center (OCTC). It was part of wargame Garnet Rattler, and the OCTC was described as being a premier training site, along with Idaho’s aerial gunnery range called Saylor Creek.
Idaho Air National Guard photo by Master Sergeant Becky Vanshur, 28APR2022.
Idaho Army National Guard photo by Thomas Alvarez, 30MAR2022.
Towards the end of March 2022, Idaho Army National Guard 2-116th Combined Arms Battalion’s Bravo Company conducted live fire with their M1A2 Abrams, Golf Company (attached) provided the meals. The 2-116th Combined Arms Battalion was preparing for deployment to The Middle East.
Idaho Army National Guard photo by Thomas Alvarez, 29MAR2022.
USA photo by Captain Kyle Abraham, 17MAR2022.
Also in March, the U.S. Army’s 1-229 Attack Battalion, 16th Combat Aviation Brigade (aka Tigersharks) sent their AH-64 Apache gunships (based on Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington) to shoot-up Orchard Combat Training Center.
U.S. Army Photo by Captain Kyle Abraham, 17MAR2022.
Oregon Air National Guard photo by Senior Master Sergeant Jennifer Shirar.
Oregon Air National Guard’s 173rd Fighter Wing (FW) trained with U.S. Marines, on Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, in California. But this year might be the last time.
Oregon Air National Guard photo by Senior Master Sergeant Jennifer Shirar, 14AUG2022.
In August 2022, Oregon’s F-15C Eagles (along with 125th FW F-15s out of Florida) played ‘bad guy’ against USMC F/A-18C/D Hornets from Marine Fighter Attack Training Squadron 101 (VMFAT-101), and the F-35B Lightning-2 from Marine Fighter Attack Training Squadron 502 (VMFAT-502).
Oregon Air National Guard video report by Staff Sergeant Emily Copeland:
Oregon Air National Guard video interview by Senior Master Sergeant Jennifer Shirar, 23AUG2022:
Oregon Air National Guard photo by Senior Master Sergeant Jennifer Shirar, 14AUG2022.
For almost 40 years the 173rd FW’s Kingsley Field served as the only F-15C training base for the U.S. Air Force! But starting in 2024, the 173rd will be using the brand new F-15EX Eagle-2.
Oregon Air National Guard music video, by Senior Master Sergeant Jennifer Shirar, point of view of an F-15C Crew Chief:
Oregon Air National Guard photo by Senior Master Sergeant Jennifer Shirar, 01MAR2022.
On 01MAR2022, an F-15C Eagle named Sandman took part in a training session with the Oregon Air National Guard’s 173rd Fighter Wing.
Oregon Air National Guard photo by Senior Master Sergeant Jennifer Shirar, 01MAR2022.
U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sergeant Jacob T. Stephens, 25JUN2022.
Excerpt from 173rd Fighter Wing’s March 2022 video report, by Major Nikkie Jackson, explaining how Oregon’s F-15 Eagles are a key part of U.S. airspace defense, and revealing that Oregon will be home for the new “Eagle-2” (aka F-15EX):
Sandman flies over Crater Lake, Oregon, along with a restored B-17 Flying Fortress from World War 2. Oregon Air National Guard photo by Staff Sergeant Penny Snoozy, 24JUN2022.
Oregon Air National Guard photo by Staff Sergeant Penny Snoozy, 24JUN2022.
Then after a five years hiatus, on 24-25JUN2022, Oregon Air National Guard held its Sentry Eagle Open House and Airshow, over Kingsley Field. Of course, Oregon’s F-15C Eagles were the main attraction, especially the one named Sandman.
USAF photo by Staff Sergeant Jacob T. Stephens, 25JUN2022.
USAF photo by Staff Sergeant Jacob T. Stephens, 25JUN2022.
USAF photo by Staff Sergeant Jacob T. Stephens, 25JUN2022.
USAF photo by Staff Sergeant Jacob T. Stephens, 25JUN2022.
Then, in September 2022, it was officially revealed that Oregon’s Air National Guard was retiring all of its F-15C Eagles!
Quick excerpt from 173rd Fighter Wing video report, by Staff Sergeant Emily Copeland, even though it is dated 09SEP2022, and boasts of how great the F-15C is, it does not mention the 2022-23 retirement of those aircraft:
There will still be Eagles in the air over Oregon, the F-15Cs are being replaced with new build F-15EXs (aka Eagle-2), hopefully starting in 2024.