A US MARINE CORPS HARRIER MISSION

In another section of our site we honored some of our earlier members of the military. Here's recognition of one currently serving our nation, Major DeZafra.

22 August, 2005 off the coast of Daytona FL. Jet Bureau Number (BuNo) 165003. I was -4 in the Division. Launched from USS NASSAU as a flight of four. This mission was to prove the Marine Expeditionary Unit was capable of conducting a strike mission. It is a standard evaluation when you are doing the pre-deployment workup. It was also a training flight for a younger pilot to gain Division leader (leading the 4 jets) experience, as well as an even younger guy to gain experience as a section lead (leading 2 jets in the division). As the Instructor pilot I was evaluating the other three guys (including the really junior guy along for the ride as -2) and making sure everything went smoothly. Gets busy sometimes when you are flying your jet and trying to keep track of what the other guys are doing as well.

Pre-strike tanking took place with a section (2 A/C) of KC-130's. Two jets on each tanker simultaneously. Strike flowed east to west into the Pinecastle range. It's a range that allows live ordnance. We were loaded with two MK-82 (500lbs general purpose) bombs eacj. One jet was also loaded with 25MM for a strafing run (junior pilot who never shot the gun before). Weather was beautiful over the water for the tanking. Fair weather cumulus in the target area, with bases around 6500'AGL. Fortunately a hole was workable for our run from north west to south east.

I did hit the target according to the observers on the ground, though I thought I saw the impacts a few meters off when I pulled of target. Still filled the aim point with the concussive and shrapnel effects, but it's always a matter of pride to put "steel on steel". My aim point was approximately N29 07' 07" W081 42' 17". I pulled that off google earth. We post mission tanked, then remained on station to act as radio relay for a helicopter training for an extract mission. After 3.5 hours, we entered the overhead break at the ship for vertical landings.

The rivets accompanied me through all this riding in my 'nav bag' on the right hand aft portion of the cockpit. I wish I'd taken a picture after we landed, but I was a bit tired and we needed to get into the debrief right away. Those are the big ticket items of the flight, as they just started to pop back into my head as I was writing. Of course I filled out mulitple grade sheets for the other guys so that aided in the memory "burn in".

Thank you once again for letting us put the rivets in. Also, I have no objections with you using my picture to help with a "rudder steer" for some youngster. Lord knows I had plenty from a lot of good folks like yourself. I've attached two more pictures for you. The first is one of our aircraft over Iraq. You will see the Euphrates in it as well. The second is our return from the deployment on May 1st. I'll keep checking on the progress through the web site and look foward to seeing you again next time we are in town.
Semper Fidelis
Rod ...