As routine as the call for prayer that echoes from the minarets of nearby mosques. One after another, the airplanes of this multinational force dash down the 1.8-mile long runway. They sport the American star and bars, tri-colored British roundel and red Turkish crescent. Huge airborne warning and control system jets, with their piggyback radar, lumber into the air with a roar. Jet tankers, too.
Fighters bristling with bombs and missiles streak off in their full afterburner's glow.
As do reconnaissance and radar jammer jets. And there's the throbbing rhythm of turboprop tankers and helicopters. Their rumble makes the ground tremble. Shakes the dust off the canvas tents that are home to the airmen who launch them. And vibrates through nearby Turkish villages, waking late-risers.