Six CV-22 Ospreys and their operators, maintainers, and support airmen from the 1st Special Operations Wing return to their home base at Hurlburt Field, Fla., from a previously undisclosed three-month deployment in Southwest Asia supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. It was the first combat employment for Air Force Special Operations Command’s new CV-22 tilt-rotor aircraft.
The U.S. began extensive air and artillery strikes against Islamic State group targets in Syria on Dec. 19 in retaliation for the killing of three Americans on Dec. 13 by a gunman affiliated with ISIS, U.S. officials said.
