Behind the Medal; the Plane Was Afire. The Plan, Unsure.; Members of the 440th Airlift Wing Had a Plane Full of Soldiers When They Were Hit by a Missile.

Summary

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It's a sunny day in October 2004. A flight crew from the Milwaukee-based 440th Airlift Wing of the Air Force Reserve is assigned to fly to an airfield in northern Iraq, pick up 57 soldiers and their gear and take them to Kuwait, where they will catch another flight home.

The trip from Mosul to northern Iraq is uneventful, though two days earlier the same 440th crew was unloading cargo and passengers when mortars landed nearby.

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Extract

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Behind the Medal; the Plane Was Afire. The Plan, Unsure.; Members of the 440th Airlift Wing Had a Plane Full of Soldiers When They Were Hit by a Missile.

The mortar attack is on the mind of Lt. Col. John Loranger, 46, the navigator, when they return to the same airfield two days later. He thinks about where their C-130 Hercules could land if they get hit shortly after takeoff.

With the soldiers and their gear aboard for the flight to Kuwait, Maj. Rolf Breen of Grafton is in the pilot's seat...

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