West Virginia Facts
Operation Enduring Freebom (2001)/Operation Iraqi Freedom (2003)
- Five months after the first US troop engaged in battle, approximately 1,100 West Virginians had been deployed.
- The Martinsburg-based 167 airlift wing flew missions in Afghanistan that included transporting war detainees as well as the bodies of US servicemen killed in action.
- In 2002, two training centers were established to address potential threats, such as airplane hijacking. One of these centers is at the National Guard’s camp Dawson near Kingwood in Preston County
- West Virginia University began to improve skills involving weapons of mass destruction to the fields of medical, fire, and police training.
- The US defense department opened a biometrics lab at the Bridgeport airport.
- The West Virginia turnpikes abandoned memorial tunnel is used to test site focusing on ways to improve ventilation in tunnels, to control fires, and reduce injuries. Findings from these tests were used by designers of the Channel connecting England and France.