Since TF-124 Forward was activated in October, 2006, it has flown six days a week, every week for more than 690 sorties and 8,000 hours in the air. "All of the communications operators who've had the opportunity to come out here are very excited about it because it's an opportunity we rarely get." "It's been very fulfilling to be out here and be a part of everything," said the petty officer from Woodbury Heights, N.J. Petty Officer 2nd Class Cicely Wiggins, a battle staff member, said deploying with the Mercury has been a rewarding experience. "But within the first week of us getting here we had the MEDEVAC call, and it really felt like we were doing something important." "It gets kind of doing the same mission over and over when we are at home," said Petty Officer 2nd Class Chris Price, a reel operator from Brighton, Ill. He said an example was in the past three months, they have only had to call for a MEDEVAC once, and that was because an individual injured himself while performing his duties, not because of any hostile action. We just don't get near as many of those calls anymore, it's a real testament to what a great job our troops on the ground are doing. "When we first started this mission it was commonplace to receive calls reporting troops in contact, IED's, small arms fire, MEDEVACs, etc. "The workload we have had recently has decreased dramatically," said Navy Chief Petty Officer Patrick McCool, the battle staff mission commander. A combination of improvements to the JACS, ultra-high-frequency radio coverage on the ground and reduced sectarian violence is allowing the 777th EAS to take over the mission exclusively. The system allowing the Mercury to communicate with friendly forces is a communications system called the joint airborne communications suite (JACS), which was installed specially for the mission in the area of responsibility. So now there really isn't a need for us to stay any longer because the C-130s can do the mission by themselves." With some of the equipment improvements that have been made, we can get coverage over all the convoy routes from one location. "When we initially started the mission, we had two or three areas of coverage, so it took two aircraft to do the mission. "We shared this mission with the triple-seven out of Balad," said Navy Lt. The Joint Base Balad, Iraq, unit is the only other unit with aircraft equipped to complete this critical mission. TF-124 Forward's mission will end leaving the entire mission to 777th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron's C-130 Hercules. However, at the end of April when TF-124 redeploys to Tinker Air Force Base, Okla., there will be no backfill. They have been relaying urgent information like possible improvised explosive device detonations, attacks on the convoys and MEDEVAC requests to the appropriate agencies for more than two years. The Navy jet, which is assigned to Task Force-124 Forward here, is one of the aircraft flying over the U.S. SOUTHWEST ASIA - For convoys moving at night in Iraq who are out of radio contact with all friendly forces, the E-6 Mercury has been a godsend.
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