Simmons Army Airfield

What's going on at Simmons Army Airfield? Are there any secret activities going on there and if so, what are they about?

Do you know something that we don't?

Simmons is home to the 18th Weather Squadron.
They support combat missions via weather monitoring, (and some say manipulation

)
Simmons AAF is a Class D airfield with active aviation units located at the facility.

Support at both Simmons AAF and MacKall AAF consists of, but not limited to, flight simulation instruction, fuel handling (provided by Borrowed Military Manpower), fire and rescue, and weather. In addition, Simmons AAF maintains a Very Important Person (VIP) lounge facility, and coordinates VIP transportation.



Here is a link to their history.

The unit was reactivated on 1 July 1994 at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Today, Combat Weather Teams from the 18th Weather Squadron support the U.S. Army’s 3rd Army at Ft McPherson, GA, the XVIII Airborne Corps and 82d Airborne Division at Ft Bragg, the Military District of Washington at Ft Belvior, VA, the 7th Transportation Group at Ft Eustis, VA, the U.S. Army Armor School at Ft Knox, KY, and the U.S. Army Aviation Center at Ft Rucker, AL. Operations the Squadron has participated in since it’s reactivation in 1994 include RESTORE DEMOCRACY and UPHOLD DEMOCRACY in Haiti, RESTORE HOPE in Somalia, JOINT ENDEVOR and JOINT FORGE in Bosnia, SAFE BORDER in Ecuador, NORTHERN/SOUTHERN WATCH in Saudi Arabia, NOBLE EAGLE in the CONUS, ENDURING FREEDOM in Afghanistan, and in February 2003, the 18th Expeditionary Weather Squadron was established to support Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Simmons home web page

Seems to be another leg in our awesome air capability. Some craft from here probably frequent airfields around me. Dont know to much about Simmons myself though. Seen or heard anything shady about it? There seems to be a shady side to all larger US bases of any type.

Hmmm...
Well...In 1997-98 I was assigned to 1-229th Aviation "Flying Tigers" who make its home at Simmons Airfield located off of "The Merc" just off post from the eastern side of Ft. Bragg.
The 1-229th & 3-229th Aviation units located on the airfield mission consisted of flying attack helicopters- specifically the AH-64 Apache. Both units deployed to support operations in Bosnia during the time I was assigned.
There is indeed secret activities on the airfield...just not as spectacular as you may expect. As an avionics tech, I was exposed to sensitive materials as well as sensitive electronic devices that required me to maintain a secret clearance classification. My shop located in the hanger frequently was 'closed off' during specific times to allow for maintainence of sensitive electronic components that required a secret clearance, the correct MOS ASI (additional skill identifier) training for the items, as well as a bona-fide 'need-to-know'- which pretty much left only 3 soldiers with the proper authority in the whole unit with access...not even my commander could enter my shop during 'secure maintainence times'. The shop also maintained a secure electronic encoded safe for storage of secure items as well as the units COMSEC equipment that our shop was put in charge of.
There are several aviation units there with an array of different missions, ranging from Medevac to cargo transport, scouting & intel, and yes even attack helicopters.
There were other secure areas around the airfield...McDonnel-Douglas support of OH-58D mast mounted sight avionics is one that comes to mind. Also some development work on the ill-fated Comanche was also done here.

I've been pretty much all over the airfield in my duties there...and I can tell you that there is nothing more strange going on there than typical military aviation operations. Some of it secret, yes...but quite mundane.
T.S.

lol, haha. dude, listen to me and listen carefully. in every air force base in the country, there are secret things going on. EVERY base. i just dont know why people keep asking if there are secret things going on. if you think about it, if a base has a YF-22 Raptor, thats secret, i mean everyone knows what it is, but a select few know what electronics are on board, how fast it goes, what its maximum ceiling is, and things like that. with the government, EVERYTHING is a secret.