Last S-3 squadron arrives home - Navy News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Navy Times

Last S-3 squadron arrives home

Edward Pfoser has spent most of his 17 years with the Navy maintaining S-3 Vikings.

So the chief aviation electronics technician was feeling sentimental at Naval Air Station Jacksonville, Fla., on Dec. 15 as he watched the aircraft from the last operational Viking squadron, Sea Control Squadron 22, arrive home from their final deployment.

Those four aircraft will be decommissioned in January, joining nearly 100 other S-3s.

“I was just amazed to know that this is pretty much the end of the road,” said Pfoser, the squadron’s maintenance desk chief.

“This is all I’ve ever touched. This is what I learned on, this is what I know. This is what I’m comfortable with, this is everything I’ve ever done,” Pfoser said.

Like the rest of the squadron, Pfoser is readying for a new career. He plans to move to Naval Station Mayport, Fla., and begin working on helicopters. There he’ll spend about eight months getting up to speed on the aircraft.

Thousands of pilots, maintainers and others from the S-3 community have moved on since 2004, when the Navy began the process of “sundowning” the aircraft.

In the fleet since 1974, the four-seater made by Lockheed Martin does not have a direct replacement. Although S-3s still have years of life remaining, the aircrafts’ core missions — submarine hunting and later aerial refueling — have migrated to other airframes.

The Navy hopes to save money and manpower by cutting the number of distinct airframes in each carrier air wing. That will reduce the supplies and maintenance teams needed for deployments.

The squadron’s final deployment was a last-minute assignment, a nontraditional intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance mission supporting Marines in Iraq. Although historically a carrier-based aircraft, the S-3s’ last deployment was based at Al Asad Air Base in Anbar province. Top military commanders are short on ISR aircraft, and the Viking filled the bill.

And the mission was a challenge, said Lt. Tom Genest, an S-3 pilot with VS-22.

“It wouldn’t say we struggled, but it was definitely a different environment being out in the desert,” Genest said. “We were kind of working more on the [detachment] level where we didn’t have anything but our own wits to keep us afloat.”

Genest described the S-3 community as “laid back,” but said his squadron worked hard to make the aircraft’s final mission a success.

“We take a lot of pride in the product we are putting out as aviators and we know that we’ve been staying on top of our game and making a commitment to go out on top,” he said.

Genest joined the Navy 10 years ago and was one of the last officers trained as an S-3 pilot. He plans to spend much of next year training to fly the F/A-18C Hornet at NAS Lemoore in California.

He said he laments the S-3’s retirement, but added that he believes versatility and adjusting to change is the hallmark of a good pilot.

“You have to learn to embrace the change. For whatever reason, the S-3 is going away. So you just have to deal with it,” Genest said. “You just have to try to leave the best possible impression on your way out the door.”