Belleville native directs air traffic at major hub north of Baghdad

Staff Sgt. Gregory Birdsong, a Belleville native, is a 332nd Expeditionary Operations Support Squadron air traffic controller at Balad Air Base, Iraq.

Balad AB has the busiest air traffic operations tempo in the Department of Defense; more than 148,000 combat operations have been controlled by Balad controllers since January.

Balad is located approximately 45 miles north of Baghdad and is a major hub for inter- and intra-theater air traffic. Orchestrating the movement of ground assets on the airfield enables aircraft to takeoff, land and taxi without traffic obstacles.

Sgt. Birdsong has been deployed to Balad since Jan. 27 and is scheduled to return in early August to his home station base of Moody Air Force Base, Ga.