Air Force Lt. Col. Carleton H. Hirschel has deployed to an overseas forward operating base to support the missions of Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom.

Operation Enduring Freedom is the official name given to anti-terrorism military operations involving U.S. troops and allied coalition partners. Reserve component members from all branches of the U.S. Armed Forces have been mobilized, activated and deployed along with active duty members to support the war against global terrorism. Mission objectives encompass combating the international terrorist network or regime forces outside the borders of the United States. U.S. troops serve in South Asia, the Arabian peninsula, Central Asia, the Horn of Africa, islands in the Pacific, and in numerous other countries.

Operation Iraqi Freedom is the official name given to military operations involving members of the U.S. armed forces and coalition forces participating in efforts to free and secure Iraq. Mission objectives focus on force protection, peacekeeping, stabilization, security and counter-insurgency operations as the Iraqi transitional governing bodies assume full sovereign powers to govern the peoples of Iraq.

Members from all branches of the U.S. military and multinational forces are also assisting in rebuilding Iraq’s economic and governmental infrastructure, and training and preparing Iraqi military and security forces to assume full authority and responsibility in defending and preserving Iraq’s sovereignty and independence as a democracy.

Hirschel, a deputy commander, is normally assigned to the 386th Expeditionary Mission Support Group, 19th Mission Support Group, Little Rock Air Force Base, Ark. He has served in the military for 22 years.

He is the son of Phebe and Bob Hirschel of Buckley. Rawson Hirschel, his brother, resides in Friday Harbor.

Hirschel graduated in 1983 from White River High School, Buckley, and received a bachelor’s degree in 1987 from Washington State University, Pullman. He earned a master’s degree in 1997 from Auburn University at Montgomery, Ala.