Department of Defense Education Activity Europe representatives walk into Hodja Middle School at Incirlik Air Base in Turkey on July 18, 2023. The purpose of their visit was to assess the base's ability to reopen to military families and check the condition of the school buildings. (David D. McLoney/U.S. Air Force)
Air Force officials are pushing to end a nearly seven-year ban at Incirlik Air Base in Turkey that has kept military families away, a move that could ease the strain of yearlong tours that have been unaccompanied because of security concerns.
Getting rid of that policy would let local Air Force leaders regain the ability to designate some positions as accompanied tours, Col. Kevin Lord, commander of the 39th Air Base Wing, said in a statement Monday.
Because accompanied tours can be longer, personnel in positions deemed sufficiently important based on job skills and experience could stay in country beyond the current 12 months.
That would keep service members in key positions longer and reduce the amount of time spent getting them up to speed resulting from frequent turnover.
Allowing dependents to accompany service members to Incirlik also would improve overall well-being and readiness, a factor underscored by experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic, officials have said.
Last week, a U.S. Air Forces Europe-Africa task force that included housing, security and education representatives visited Incirlik to gather information and data. The task force will make a feasibility assessment of the plan in the fall, according to the statement.
In July, officials from Department of Defense Education Activity Europe visited the base to tour schools and assess needs.
Airmen and their children gather for the first day of school at Incirlik Air Base, Turkey, in 2011. The Air Force is looking into ending a 2016 policy that shifted the base to unaccompanied tours lasting one year. (Anthony Sanchelli/U.S. Air Force)
But the change to allow dependents to accompany service members would be gradual, base officials emphasized.
Many details, such as what positions would be prioritized for standard two-year assignments and how to meet families’ needs, must be determined beforehand, Lt. Col. Charles Setzer, deputy commander of the 39th Mission Support Group, said in the statement.
“We are not considering a full-scale, unconditional return of dependents immediately,” Setzer said. “It will take a phased approach based on the (courses of action) we are presented.”
Unaccompanied tours generally occur outside the continental U.S. and range from one to two years, according to the Defense Department. Prior to September 2016, assignments to Incirlik, in southern Turkey near the city of Adana, were standard two-year tours.
But security threats that prompted the Pentagon to order more than 600 military and civilian dependents to leave Incirlik in March 2016 no longer exist, officials say.
That improved environment is the result of years of work with regional police and Turkish military officials, according to Monday’s statement.
As a result, the base and other areas of Turkey where service members, DOD civilian workers and their families may work and live, such as Izmir and Ankara, are safer, the statement said.
Political tensions between the U.S. and fellow NATO member Turkey ran high for several years. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan vented frustrations after a failed coup attempt in the summer of 2016, with his government at one point even questioning whether to let U.S. and NATO aircraft operate from Incirlik.
And after Erdogan approved the purchase of a Russian air defense system over American objections, Turkey was booted from the F-35 program.
But in the wake of devastating earthquakes in February this year, the base became a critical hub for U.S. delivery of relief aid to the surrounding areas.
Eagle Housing at Incirlik Air Base in Turkey, seen at its opening in 2010, might soon be buzzing with activity again, as the Defense Department looks to restore accompanied tours at the base. (Alexander Montes/U.S. Air Force)
