The US Air Force’s 1st Special Operations Wing at Hurlburt Field, Florida, welcomed home the last two of its C-130s flown in support of Operation New Dawn on 6 January 2012. The return from Iraq of the MC-130P Combat Shadow personnel recovery tankers and aircrews from the 9th Special Operations Squadron represented the end of Hurlburt Field's involvement in Operation New Dawn. The initial withdrawal from Iraq began in December 2011 with return of the 4th Special Operations Squadron's AC-130U gunships. The 1st SOW has been deployed in support of Operations Iraqi Freedom and New Dawn since 2003. Deployed crews from the 9th SOS flew 8,221 sorties accumulating more than 12,000 flying over the last eight years in Iraq.
