MARINE CORPS AIR STATION IWAKUNI, Japan -- The 210 Sailors of Electronic Attack Squadron 133 arrived aboard the Station July 14 to replace the outgoing Marines of Marine Tactical Electronic Warfare Squadron 3 who departed from the Station Monday to return home to Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, N.C.
During the Wizards? three-month tour here, they are looking forward to training in the unfamiliar airspaces of the Western Pacific Theater and honing their skills during command and control exercises with other units, according to Cmdr. Greg Thomas, VAQ-133 commanding officer.
"Before this deployment we were usually deployed to Saudi Arabia or Turkey where there isn't very much flexibility in the training," he said. "We are looking forward to training with the numerous squadrons and aircraft from all over the region."
Although training is a high priority for the Naval Air Station Whidbey Island, Wash., based Prowler squadron, their main mission while stationed here will be flying electronic support and electronic attack missions in case of a real-world contingency.
"Our squadron is fully capable of launching soft kill radar attacks to scramble enemy radar systems and hard kill attacks via High Speed Anti-Radiation Missiles to completely destroy them," noted Thomas.
Even though keeping '133's planes in the air is an around the clock process for the squadron and their augments, they are still looking forward to the liberty opportunities both on and off station.
For Petty Officer 2nd class Albert Hull, an aviation maintenance administrativeman with VAQ-133, his itinerary for this UDP is already planned out.
"While I am here I am going to study for my next promotion, go check out Hiroshima and basically see everything I can," he said. "I think this is going to be a great experience and I plan on enjoying myself any way I can."