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AC-130s say goodbye to Hurlburt

The Air Force’s AC-130H Spectre gunships are on the move, leaving the Florida panhandle after being stationed there for three decades.

The gunships, flown by the 16th Special Operations Squadron, have started the move from Hurlburt Field to Cannon Air Force Base, N.M. The first two left Hurlburt in May with the rest of the nondeployed fleet scheduled to follow this summer and fall.

The 16th SOS officially started calling Cannon home Friday, after leaving the 1st Special Operations Wing at Hurlburt for the 27th Special Operations Wing at Cannon, said Lt. Col. Sean M. Farrell, the 16th SOS commander.

AC-130H Spectre gunships are modified C-130s with side-firing weapons that include a 105mm Howitzer and a 40mm Bofors cannon. Commanders say they have proved invaluable in Iraq and Afghanistan for their lethal and accurate firepower.

The move out west is part of the larger migration by Air Force Special Operations Command to New Mexico. The 27th Special Operations Wing stood up at Cannon in October 2007. Since then, units such as the 3rd Special Operations Squadron and the 73rd Special Operations Squadron have moved to Cannon, while others, such as the 318th Special Operations Squadron, have been stood up.

The buildup at Cannon is a major turnaround for a base recommended for closure by the Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission in 2005.

Air Force Special Operations Command stepped forward to save Cannon, saying it needed additional ramp space that was too expensive to build at Hurlburt, according to a Government Accountability Office report. Cannon beat out Hurlburt and Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Ariz., partly because of its flying weather, growth potential and training opportunities.

The arrival of the first two gunships at Cannon has shown that the aircraft will have to adapt to the heat and altitude of New Mexico, said Senior Master Sgt. Dallas Lee, the 16th SOS operations superintendent. The squadron is still meeting its operations goals, he said.

The squadron has already seen the potential boost to training Cannon’s location will provide. Once developed, Cannon’s range could become one of the best in Air Force Special Operations Command, Lee said. The New Mexico base is also a shorter flight to the training range at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev.

Farrell said the 16th’s move west will provide more opportunities to train with the many special operations units stationed on the West Coast. After June 19, 16th SOS airmen remaining at Hurlburt will work as a detachment before they eventually trickle out to Cannon throughout the year.

The move has not been easy on the 16th SOS, which has been continuously deployed since 2001, with the exception of a four-month period before the start of the war in Iraq in 2003.

So far, 55 airmen from the 16th SOS have made the move to New Mexico. Some airmen have had to pack their bags three months after returning from a deployment, Farrell said.

“We really don’t have much time at Cannon to give them to get their feet under them, but they have risen to the challenge and been very selfless,” he said.

The housing market collapse, which hit Florida especially hard, hasn’t helped. Many 16th SOS airmen have had to short-sell their homes near Hurlburt Field or rent them out after moving to New Mexico, Lee said.

“Everybody has some form of a horror story,” said Lee, who knows of one 16th SOS airman whose Florida home was forced into foreclosure.

Squadron leaders have tried to ease the pain by scheduling town hall meetings for airmen to express concerns and help them learn about moving services. Deployed squadron members watched the meetings over video teleconferences, Farrell said.

“Housing was our No. 1 concern because of the large group coming out,” Lee said.

Base officials have worked to bolster family housing at Cannon and worked with local officials to spur development. Cannon airmen also received an 11 percent increase to their basic allowance for housing.

Many who got to Cannon were especially surprised by the higher cost of housing in rural New Mexico, said Linda Hensley, a broker at Caldwell Banker in Clovis, N.M. A typical three-bedroom, single-family house costs about $180,000 to $200,000 near Cannon, she said.

“The airmen coming from Florida are mostly looking for new homes around $125,000. They’re mostly all gone. More are finding better deals with the older homes in [nearby] Clovis and Portales,” she said.