DAVIS-MONTHAN AIR FORCE BASE, Arizona -- Christmas came early for friends and family members of the 11th Air Task Force, which arrived home to Arizona early on Tuesday from a nearly six-month deployment to the Pacific.
The 11th ATF was the first U.S. Air Force air task force to deploy, traveling to locations in Saipan, the Republic of Korea and Guam. Throughout its time in the Pacific, it supported fixed and rotary-wing aircraft during exercises and in real-world operations, as well as integrating with other Air Force units in Guam to advance U.S. Indo-Pacific Command and Pacific Air Forces priorities. While Airmen from five different bases made up the 11th ATF, those who had been drawn from Davis-Monthan AFB were the last to return home.
Upon arrival, the Airmen were met by 355th Wing leadership, base support services, fellow Airmen, family members and friends.
"Coming home feels unreal. I'm proud of what we accomplished as a team, but there's nothing like the peace of finally being back," Senior Airman Jaycob Kelly, 355th Logistics Readiness Squadron Ground Transportation vehicle operator.
The task force was originally planned to stay in the Pacific until January 2026, but leadership at home and abroad worked together to bring it home early enough that members could celebrate the holiday season in person with loved ones.
For U.S. Air Force Col. Brett Cassidy, 11th ATF commander, the joyous homecoming was the perfect ending to a successful deployment that challenged Airmen to embrace mission ready Airmen concepts while living out agile combat employment principles across the Pacific. Despite last-minute mission changes, austere locations with minimal equipment, tropical storms and more, the 11th ATF was able to successfully complete its mission as it explored groundbreaking new concepts for the Air Force.
“The 11th ATF team performed exceptionally throughout this entire deployment,” Cassidy said. “Our mission changed while we were out here, and that’s actually a good thing, because it allowed us to demonstrate our ability to adjust on the fly. That’s not typically something we get to see on deployment. It was phenomenal watching the Airmen adjust as the mission changed to achieve success. The biggest lesson from this time was that if you set up the team with the proper authorities and capabilities, and you let them train as a team so they come together and understand one another, they’re incredibly capable of getting after dynamic missions. We saw that out here, and it was a huge success for the Air Force.”