Coastal Georgia Military Monitoring Recap; October 2024

As October passed by, it didn't seem to be all the interesting of a MilCom month, but in the last few days as I looked back over the month to compile the recap, I realized it wasn't all that bad after all. One of the squadrons at MCAS Beaufort that had been inactive due to F-35 conversion began to fly again. In somewhat related news, the 125th FW at Jacksonville IAP  may have recently stood down to begin their conversion to the F-35A. A road trip to Columbia, SC gave me the opportunity to listen to things from Shaw AFB and Fort Jackson that are too far away to hear at home. There were also some nice foreign military/civil aviation catches. 

Shaw AFB in Sumter, SC

I also came across some interesting World War II Military History while walking some trails at the Harris Neck Wildlife Refuge in Coastal Georgia in October; some of my readers may be interested in that, so I'll include it at the end of the recap.

Road Trip Radio Report - Columbia, SC 20-22 October 2024

This road trip was supposed be in Upstate South Carolina to visit the Cowpens and Kings Mountain battlefields and take in the Autumn foliage, but unfortunately both Cowpens and Kings Mountain are still in the process of removing dangerous fallen trees from Hurricane Helene. Since the two parks were closed in the week before I left, I changed plans and visited Congaree National Park in Hopkins, SC, Riverbanks Zoo and Gardens in Columbia, SC, and Poinsett State Park in Wedgefield, SC on Sunday and Monday and returned to Savannah on Tuesday. Sunday, on the way up, I used I-95, but to get a bit different view and hear different things, I used US-321 to return to Savannah on Tuesday morning.

This road trip was across two beautiful Autumn days with the leaves in Midlands South Carolina beginning to turn. 

Coastal Georgia Military Monitoring Recap; September 2024

Due to a variety of issues, including less time around the radios than expected, September started out as a not too good military monitoring month but it turned out to be a good one, indeed. Most of September was uneventful, but the second half of the month saw the 71st Fighter Squadron and 7th Fighter Training Squadron conduct an exercise at the Savannah Combat Readiness Training Center/Air Dominance Center. I missed most of the first week, but I was able to listen to some of the second week. VMFA-312 and VMFA(AW)-224 at MCAS Beaufort swapped deployments in Japan in the middle of the month. The end of the month saw Hurricane Helene pass through Georgia and resulted in some hurricane evacuations by aircraft from Gulfstream and the 165th Airlift Wing in Savannah. Notable during September: 

Gulfstream Aircraft from their Factory and Service Center in Savannah evacuating to Arnold Palmer Regional Airport in Latrobe, PA on the afternoon of Thursday, 25 September 2024 ahead of Hurricane Helene passing through west Georgia on Thursday night and Friday morning.

Coastal Georgia was inconvenienced by Hurricane Helene; at home and work we were out of power for several days, landline phones were out of service for several days, and cable TV/internet is still out but damage to homes and people was limited. That wasn't the case for communities farther inland and closer to Helene's track. Those communities will dealing with the Helene's effects for quite some time; there as significant property damage; power will be out for an extended period, landline phones will be out for an extended period, and cellphone coverage remains spotty. Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers, and if able, consider donating to a reliable and trustworthy organization doing work in those communities. 

71st FS F-22As and 7th FTS T-38s are Back at the Savannah Combat Readiness Training Center/Air Dominance Center

The 71st Fighter Squadron and 7th Fighter Training Squadron are back at the Savannah Combat Readiness Training Center/Air Dominance Center (CRTC/ADC) for the third time this year (previous visits were in January and May). They seem to be conducting a Sentry Savannah type exercise in the SEALORD controlled special use areas off the coast along with tanker support. This is the second week they've been here, but due to my work schedule I was unable to listen last week with the exception of Friday (and on Friday, weather kept the fighters on the ground). Last week, a 434th ARW KC-135 provided tanker support from Hunter AAF and today two 916th ARW KC-46s provided tanker support, coming from their home base at Seymour-Johnson AFB. 

This post was updated after activity on 17 September 2024

This post was updated/corrected on 23 September 2024

916th ARW KC-46As, 6th AMW/927th ARW KC-135Rs, ATAC Hunters and a Kfir, and 7th FTS T-38As during the afternoon of 17 September 2024

Coastal Georgia Military Monitoring Recap; August 2024

Hurricane Debby made her way through Southeast Georgia in early August as Tropical Storm Debby, bringing a lot of rain to the area, particularly west and northwest of Savannah. That rain flooded areas around Glenville and Statesboro then the water flowed downriver to the coast causing flooding in the Savannah and Richmond Hill areas. TS Debby curtailed my aviation and military monitoring for almost a week, truly trivial compared to folks who whose homes were flooded and the many who were unable to leave or return home by flooded highways and local roads. 

Despite TS Debby, August was indeed an eventful month on the radios. The 3rd Combat Aviation Brigade at Hunter AAF changed out how they are identifying and the USS Harry S. Truman (CVN-75) and its Carrier Air Wing operated off the South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida coasts for much of the second half of the month. During the middle of the month, I took an overnight road trip to Warner Robins to visit the Robins AFB Museum of Aviation, so I got to listen to a bit more of what was going on up that way than usual. The end of the month saw something rare for Coastal Georgia: a visit to Savannah by the Vice President. Finally, Gulfstream began test flying a new model aircraft at the end of the month. Notable during August was:

AIR FORCE 2 with Vice President Harris aboard landing at Savannah-Hilton Head IAP after overflying the Hyundai Metaplant in Bryan County

Road Trip Radio Report: Warner Robins; 12/13 August 2024

On Monday and Tuesday I took an overnight road trip to Warner Robins, GA to visit the Museum of Aviation at Robins AFB. I visit several times a year to see what's new and how they're progressing on their B-17 plus I wanted to pick up some new museum T-shirts since I've lost so much weight over the past year. Unfortunately, he notes from this trip aren't as in depth as usual because I ran into a radio issue during the trip; more on that later. I was surprised that I didn't hear more MilCom than I did; on Monday afternoon on the way up and Tuesday morning on the way down, I didn't catch any Bulldog MOA activity and while visiting the museum on Monday afternoon, I only heard and saw a C-130 doing a test flight out of the Robins ALC. Public Safety busy both days, particularly from Dublin to Warner Robins and from Metter to Savannah, and some Amateur Radio QSOs helped make up for the lack of MilCom activity on Monday. 

KF4LMT Mobile and one of the Museum of Aviation's F-15s

Coastal Georgia Tropical Storm Debby Radio Report (What there is of it...)

Some readers may have come here during and after Hurricane/Tropical Storm Debby looking for radio updates, but I was working midnights all week down in Brunswick and didn't have many chances to listen much less post anything. Down in Brunswick, we didn't seem to get hit as hard as areas up toward Statesboro and Savannah did. As I traveled up I-95 yesterday morning, standing water on the side of the road was noticeably higher in Bryan and Chatham counties. I did do some listening when I got back home in Savannah yesterday and heard some Debby related communications:

Chatham County helicopter EAGLE 02 (MD-369E, N102CQ, Chatham Co) doing surveys around the Ogeechee River in the southern part of the county due to river flooding after TS Debby

• Bryan, Bulloch, Chatham, and Effingham County fire departments were busy with flooding and water rescue type calls as a result of flooding, especially around areas where the Ogeechee and Savannah Rivers are rising. Quite a few of those water rescues sounded like they were caused by people driving around barricades and onto flooded roads. For what to listen to, check the RadioReference SEGARRN page.
• Yesterday morning, Chatham EMA personnel were active checking areas and passing flooding reports to the Chatham County EOC on the CEMA 1 SEGARRN talkgroup.
• Chatham County's helicopter EAGLE 02 (MD-369E, N102CQ, Chatham Co) was up several times yesterday doing what seemed to be aerial surveys of the flooding along the Ogeechee River in the southern part of Chatham County. I didn't hear any air-to-ground communications with them, but I did hear them on 125.975 with Savannah Tower and 124.975 with Hunter Tower.

The National Guard has been assisting in Bulloch County but I haven't heard any related communications. I saw on the news last night that other areas have requested National Guard assistance, so I'll be listening out over the next few days and will update if I hear anything.