page_title: Qayyarah Airfield West
section_title: Initial United States military use
hierarchical_section_title: Qayyarah Airfield West / History / Initial United States military use
caption_attribution_description: English: Senior Airman Ryan Unger, 22nd Expeditionary Weather Squadron weather technician, installs a TMQ-53 weather observation system March 2. Unger was part of a three-man weather team that traveled from Baghdad to retrieve U.S. Air Force equipment and install a newly purchased system as part of an ongoing process to set up a self-sustained Iraqi military weather service. Airman Unger is deployed from the 2nd Combat Weather Systems Squadron, Hurlburt Field, Fla., and is a native of Thousand Oaks, Calif.
context_page_description: Qayyarah Airfield West is an Iraqi Air Force base in the Qayyarah subdistrict of Mosul District in northern Iraq. It was captured by Coalition forces during Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003. It was also known as Q–West or Key West by the various U.S. Army Forces and civilian contractors stationed there. Control of the base was returned to Iraq in March 2020.
context_section_description: During Operation Iraqi Freedom in March 2003, the base was heavily attacked by Coalition airpower and seized by Coalition ground forces. When US troops arrived on May 23, the main runway and the control tower, set about two miles away from the headquarters compound, had suffered damage. More than thirty craters were the result of precision bombing by American planes during both Gulf Wars: about 13 craters were gouged out of the 2.2 miles (3.5 km) long main strip, and another 30 impact craters destroyed surrounding runways and lesser airstrips; some of the craters reached 30 feet in depth, and 120 feet in diameter.
  By July 2003, Qayyarah West Airfield was the home of the 'Bastogne Bulldogs', 1st Brigade, 101st Airborne Division. One of the first priorities was repair of the runway and tower, and the airfield was then able to accept the largest US transports, such as Lockheed C-5 Galaxy. After 69 days of around-the-clock work, soldiers of the 37th Engineer Battalion, out of Fort Bragg, NC, repaired the craters that littered the main airstrip at Q-West and had prevented planes from landing there; as a result, a more secure route for needed items was established.
  Qayyarah West was protected by a 20 kilometres (12 mi) security perimeter. Within the perimeter, vegetation growth highlights drew attention to the base. Vegetation planted to obscure the base from ground observation had the opposite effect when viewed from overhead.
  During Operation Iraqi Freedom, only a handful of the 101 Airborne's 1st Brigade actually lived on base; most of the soldiers were spread around the region, where they were tasked with missions such as local outreach and assistance, search and cordon, safety patrols and guard duty for important archaeological sites to prevent looting. The outlying troops lived where they worked, some in tents, others in makeshift quarters in existing buildings.
caption: US military weather technician installs a weather observation system Qayyarah Airfield West, 2011
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