Idaho airmen come home from Mideast. What did they do? Are they OK? What we know
Just before 1 a.m. Tuesday, more than 300 airmen from the Idaho Air National Guard touched down at Gowen Field after a three-month deployment in the Middle East.
The airmen from the 124th Fighter Wing were led off the plane by Technical Sgt. Blake Daquino, who found his wife in the crowd of hundreds awaiting the troops’ arrival and, for the first time, met his newborn son.
Daquino, an aircraft armament specialist from Idaho City, and his fellow airmen deployed to the U.S. Central Command’s area of responsibility in March to “support ... combat operations,” according to a news release announcing the troops’ return. Officials have declined to say where the airmen were located or what the mission entailed.
“As far as the things that we did, we can’t get into specifics, but we did provide combat air power,” said Col. Ryan Richardson, the 124th Fighter Wing commander. “We did partner-nation integration, helped with peacekeeping efforts, so, kind of a broad spectrum.”
The mission involved several A-10 attack aircraft, Richardson said, but most troops were maintenance or support staff, like medical personnel, rather than pilots. “It takes a whole team to make this happen,” he said.
Richardson told the Idaho Statesman that the airmen returning were “healthy” and that in the future, the Idaho Air National Guard may be able to provide more details about the deployment.
“It’s really just the recency of what’s going on, and what’s going on in the (U.S. Central Command) theater,” Richardson said, referring to CENTCOM’s area of responsibility, which comprises 21 nations across Northeast Africa, the Middle East, and Central and South Asia. He did not say where the troops were stationed.
For now, Richardson said, he’s focused on getting his airmen “reintegrated” with their families and jobs, as well as offering any medical care or mental health support needed.
“Something people don’t realize with the Guard (is) about 80% of us are part-time,” he said. “So a lot of these folks who have been gone for three months have not just been away from their families, but they’ve been away from the livelihood that pays their bills ... and away from their employers.”
Richardson said he’s “proud for the state of Idaho” and the wing. “It’s an amazing day,” he said with a smile.
Hundreds of people welcomed the airmen, including the new father, with cheers.
Idaho airmen frequently deployed to CENTCOM
According to a news release from the Idaho National Guard, the 124th Fighter Wing has deployed to CENTCOM’s area of responsibility “several times in the recent past,” including in 2020 as part of U.S. efforts to train Afghan forces and conduct counterterrorism operations in Afghanistan. The wing’s largest deployment involved more than 500 airmen in 2016 to support combat operations against the Islamic State group.
“The Idaho Air National Guard is comprised of nearly 1,300 airmen who support combat aviation, cyber operations, air support operations and combat training,” said the release.
This story was originally published July 8, 2025 at 8:20 AM.
