Published: May 08, 2009 10:26 pm      

Coming home

State trooper back from missions in Iraq, Afghanistan

PERU — Patrolling the roads in Miami County is nothing compared to patrolling the skies over Iraq and Afghanistan.

Indiana State Police Senior Trooper Joe Swisher does both, but he prefers the indiana asphalt to the skies over Iraq any day.

“The scenery was different — everything was brown,” said Swisher, 49, who just returned from a two-month combat tour in southwest Asia as a member of the 72nd Air Refueling Squadron. The squadron is part of the 434th Air Refueling Wing stationed at Grissom Air Reserve Base, Bunker Hill.

The squadron conducted refueling missions for coalition aircraft over Iraq and Afghanistan.

“It was different for me, my missions were at night,” he said. “Flying over Baghdad, over the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, seeing all of the presidential palaces. It hit home when I thought about all the men and women on the ground who were scared to death. It made me feel better knowing that I can make things safer for them.

“When they were conducting convoys, I could see the trail of lights in the desert from the artillery and I was thinking about the men and women doing their jobs down there.”

Swisher, a 14-year veteran of the state police, flew approximately 40 combat missions. He served as an in-flight refueler, better known as a boom operator, during the squadron’s missions. He holds the rank of technical sergeant.

“We refueled fighters, reconnaissance aircraft, bombers, pretty much every aircraft,” he said. “There is still a lot of activity going on.”

Swisher has completed 16 years of military service. He served four years as an infantryman in the U.S. Army, and has completed 12 years in the U.S. Air Force Reserves. This was his second combat tour. In 2003, he served six months in Kuwait as a security police officer for the Air Force Reserve.

After serving in his younger years, Swisher, who joined the state police in 1995, has been back in the service since 1998 .

“I got out, and after 16 years, I missed the camaraderie and missed serving my country,” he said of re-entering the military. “It’s a unique feeling — I missed that.”

Along with refueling missions over Iraq, his unit also flew missions over Afghanistan.

“It was neat flying over mountains in Kabul,” he said. “But then I sat back and thought, ‘There’s a bunch of guys sitting in a cave that planned the 9/11 attack.’ That blew my mind knowing they could plan that attack that far away. It made me realize how vulnerable we really are.”

The fear of getting shot down also lingered in the back of Swisher’s mind as he soared over the mountainous region.

“In one respect, it was pretty flying over the mountains at night, but at the same time there could be some dude down there probably shooting at me right now. We were within shooting range, but we had the fighters with us. It felt kind of safe up there. Since we are a flying gas station, there usually was a fighter somewhere close that needed gas.”

Being back home with his wife, Debbie, and their two daughters, is the most rewarding thing.

When Swisher returned to the States, he greeted his youngest with a surprise visit to her school.

“She was in kindergarten and I went to pick her up. I walked into her classroom and gave her a big hug. That was the greatest feeling in the world. I was in my desert flight suit like I just walked off the plane. I still had desert dust on my boots.

“It’s so nice to be back in the States,” he continued. “I had such a lot of support while I was over there. It was real nice to keep in touch with everybody.”

Being away from his family was the worst part of being overseas.

“It never gets any easier leaving family,” he said. “My daughter has a big map at home with stick pins so they can see where I’m at. I try to make it easier for her. My family made such a great sacrifice. They are the real troopers. They have to carry on the day-to-day life when we’re gone.”

Swisher also saluted his fellow service men and women for their courage in fighting for their country.

“Hats off to the guys who go for a year and do multiple tours,” he said. “There’s a tremendous sacrifice made by a lot of people — it’s amazing to me. There’s a lot of young people still willing to step up and fight for their country — it’s inspiring.”

• Mike Fletcher is a Kokomo Tribune staff writer. He may be reached at (765) 454-8565 or via e-mail at mike.fletcher@kokomotribune.com