NORTH, S.C. - A rural airfield in Orangeburg County where there's little ambient light has provided crews at Charleston Air Force Base an opportunity to practice key night missions used during the war in Iraq.

The North Auxiliary Field routinely used by C-17 crews based in Charleston proved helpful when U.S. commanders dropped troops from planes into Iraq at night.

That type of mission opened a northern front in the Iraqi war. It required pilots to use night vision goggles. The Army's 173rd Airborne Brigade successfully completed the mission on March 26, and the airdrop was the first time troops parachuted into combat from C-17s.

North Field is used almost daily by air crews practicing tactics they use to fly troops, equipment and supplies to the different parts of the world.

"North Field is the crown jewel" for training Air Force transport crews, said retired Brig. Gen. Tom Mikolajcik, former commander of the Charleston wing.

It offers C-17 pilots the opportunity for training that couldn't be done at Charleston, said Capt. Ethan Griffin, air space manager for the 437th Airlift Wing, based at Charleston. Due to the field's rural setting, there's little ambient light to impair the pilots' use of night vision goggles, Griffin said.

Having crews who can use night vision goggles has allowed the Air Force to fly more cargo and troops into combat zones, including Baghdad International Airport. "We own the night," Mikolajcik said.

The airfield was first used in 1943 by Hughes Aircraft Co. as a test strip. It has a control tower and fire station, two runways, and buildings for a civil engineer squadron and crews that pick up and load supplies. There aren't any hangars. If a plane breaks down, maintenance crews from Charleston drive up I-26 to the airfield.

There are two runways. One is 10,000 feet long and the other is 3,500 feet. The shorter runway, called an "assault runway," is used to help pilots perfect their combat skills, including landing on and taking off from short, unimproved fields.

To civilians, North Field is better known for its abundance of wildlife. The surrounding woods are home to white-tail deer, turkeys, quail and doves. Wildlife is so plentiful that sometimes it presents problems for the pilots.

For example, deer occasionally wander onto the runways, said Larry Gill, airfield manager. Because a collision between a deer and a $232 million airplane could be dangerous, controlled hunts are conducted in the woods along the south edge of the field, next to the river.

This year, about two dozen deer have been bagged, Gill said. He said the Air Force also uses other techniques to scare the deer and keep them from dashing across the airfield.

Information from: The State