http://www.wistv.com/story/30698364/afghan-flight-training-members-missing-from-moody-afb?utm_source=wistv&utm_medium=C&utm_campaign=TrendingStoriesAfghan flight training members missing from Moody AFB
Posted: Dec 08, 2015 4:36 PM EST
Updated: Dec 08, 2015 7:22 PM EST
By Dave Miller
Two Afghan national flight team members, maintainers, or aircraft mechanics, who have been training to fly with the 81st Fighter Squadron at Moody Air Force Base, are missing.
Multiple law enforcement agencies received an alert from Moody Officials. They referred all initial calls to the Air Force Press Desk at the Pentagon. Phone calls to that office have not yet been returned.
Moody Air Force Base later issued a release by email:
Two male Afghan air force students did not report for duty yesterday at their regular maintenance training at Moody AFB in Valdosta, Georgia. Both are assigned to the 81st Fighter Squadron. They have been at Moody since. February 2015 and were screened prior to their arrival in the United States more than a year ago. The students have trained alongside American counterparts for the entirety of 2015 and do not pose any apparent threat. There is a well-coordinated process among federal agencies to locate the individuals as quickly as possible and return them accordingly to the proper authorities to manage their present situation.
The search for those missing comes almost 11 months after a special ceremony was held to officially reactivate the 81st Fighter Squadron out of Columbus Air Force Base in Columbus, Mississippi, charged with training the Afghan airmen. The base began receiving the new airmen in February.
In August of 2014, the Air Force selected Moody as the stateside training location for Afghan A-29 Super Tucano pilots and maintainers.
The Air Force said that Moody would support 20 planes, 17 Air Force instructor pilots, and 24 maintenance and support personnel, to train a total of 30 Afghan pilots and 90 Afghan maintainers over the next four years.
The Air Force said the The 81st Fighter Squadron is a 'tenant unit' at Moody AFB, and falls under command of the 14th Operations Group and 14th Flying Training Wing at Columbus AFB, Mississippi.
Lt. Co. Jeffery Hogan assumed command of the fighter squadron in January, and remarked that the Air Force had "never done this mission in this way before, ever."
The A-29 Super Tucano Aircraft that airmen have been working and training on are scheduled to be taken to Afghanistan with them at the end of their mission in 2018.
Moody Air Force Base is located about 14 miles northeast of Valdosta, Georgia.
