NAS Fallon's Top Gun, NSAWC celebrate 10 years of service

Sunday was the 10-year anniversary of the groundbreaking for the current Naval Strike and Air Warfare Center (NSAWC) at NAS Fallon, a milestone that ushered in a new era for the base by providing a new home for the Navy's most famous fighter pilot program - "Top Gun."

Ten years later, Navy and local officials laud the arrival of elite flight training schools to the area as a feather in the cap of NAS Fallon and a source of pride for the community.

NSAWC consolidated three commands into one on July 11, 1996, to enhance training effectiveness following the Base Realignment and Closure decision regarding NAS Miramar in 1993. The Naval Strike Warfare Center (Strike "U"), based at NAS Fallon since 1984, joined with the Navy Fighter Weapons School (Top gun) and the Carrier Airborne Early Warning Weapons School (Top Dome).

NAS Fallon is an ideal location for flight instruction, said Lt. Cmdr. Karla Olson, assistant administrative department head and acting public affairs officer at NSAWC. The Lahontan Valley's 300-plus days of sunshine per year provide more opportunities to fly than most any other command, she said.

"Fallon is a wonderful community for families, and pilots love it to fly," she said.

NSAWC itself consists of about 120 officers, 180 enlisted members and 500 contract personnel, Olson said.

It is also the permanent site for squadron VFC-13 and considered to be the U.S. Navy's primary location for training and tactics development. After F-14s were phased out of U.S. Navy flight operations in 2005, Top Gun instructors now fly the F/A-18 Hornet and F-16 Falcon as part of training and tactical operations.

The groundbreaking of the Fleet Training Building also led to better coordination within the strike warfare community, she said. With the centralization of multiple flight schools, it increased the number of pilots and air wing training capabilities at NAS Fallon, Olson said.

Besides being home to many Navy veterans, Fallon is a frequently requested assignment for those previously stationed here.

"Fallon is notoriously home to the strike community," she said. "It's really a community that grows on you."

NSAWC members frequently volunteer in the community and are especially active with local schools, she said.

The capacity of flight training continues to grow, she said. The number of classes taught at flight schools is steadily increasing. Programs related to the EA-6B Prowler, a tactical jamming aircraft, are also looking to relocate to Fallon, Olson said.

However, when Top Gun and other flight training classes officially began training at NAS Fallon in 1996, many people who relocated from the school's former site at NAS Miramar (Calif.) felt displaced and were not happy with the move to rural, desert Nevada, said Brad Goetsch, a former NAS Fallon Commanding Officer and current Churchill County manager.

But the new Top Gun location in Fallon grew on them and future generations of aircrews, he said.

"It was different for a lot of people in the Navy," Goetsch said. "A lot of people were comfortable living in California. Initially, the transition was rather difficult. But then that was overcome when the generations that had to move were gone. Now, the new young warriors and their families are used to this system and many of them stay."

The addition of the training schools to the Naval Air Station has brought an influx of people to the Fallon area, he said. Goetsch said the U.S. Navy's decision to move Top Gun to NAS Fallon has obviously resulted in an impact in the local economy and a change in Churchill County's demographics. The additional Navy personnel added to a community with an already high segment of veterans, he said.

Goetsch, who first came to NAS Fallon in 1998 as a plans programs tactics officer at NSAWC, said he and his family grew to love the area after moving from Virginia.

In 2004, Goetsch took the position of Churchill County manager after serving as NAS Fallon's commanding officer since 2001.

"I, like many others, got away from the traffic and the crowds and liked it," Goetsch said. "There was so much public land for camping or recreation, and my family wanted to stay here."

If anything, Goetsch said the incorporation of Top Gun training into NSAWC has put Fallon on the map and made the area more economically viable than before.

"The good news was that it brought additional jobs and families to the area, and it certainly made Fallon more recognizable," Goetsch said. "They brought the military's most famous training school to Fallon. It's a wonderful resource and asset."

The formation of NSAWC was an uplifting time for the community, said Fallon Mayor Ken Tedford.

"With the Navy in general and also NSAWC, you have real top-flight families that have always given to the community and their time and efforts to organizations and just as being neighbors," Tedford said.

Top Gun and other Navy bring another quality that cannot be measured - pride in the community, he said.

Many spouses of Navy members support the community by working at local establishments, he said.