Dyess mobility Airmen gain valuable experience during JRTC exercise

by Airman 1st Class Charles V. Rivezzo
7th Bomb Wing Public Affairs

5/23/2013 - DYESS AIR FORCE BASE, Texas  -- Airmen from the 317th Airlift Group participated in a Joint Readiness Training Center Green Flag exercise May 13-22, at Little Rock AFB, Ark., in order to prepare for future deployments.

Dyess aircrews flew approximately 36 sorties across nine days, providing ample training on the ground and in the air.

The exercise assessed and certified the combat readiness of Air Force strategic airlift, contingency and support forces in a simulated expeditionary environment. Additionally, the exercise provided Airmen opportunities to refine processes and procedures that can potentially enhance real-world operations effectiveness.

"We have newer aircraft commanders, newer mission planners and maintenance guys who maybe haven't seen real-world operations," said Capt. Kevin Bailey, 39th Airlift Squadron. "Our goal was to ensure our newer guys gained valuable experience for our upcoming deployment later this year. The 24-hour ops we endured during the JRTC exercise is probably the closest thing we get to a deployed environment."

In conjunction with traditional mobility airdrop training, Dyess' C-130J aircrews also received vital inter-service integration experience, as their main objective was to support several ground units to include the 570th Contingency Response Group from Travis AFB, Calif., 621st CRG from Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, N.J., and the Army's 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division from Fort Bliss, Texas.

"The Army was the main user in this whole thing; we were just a small piece of the pie for their exercise," Bailey said. "Our job was specifically direct support for the warfighter on the ground, so a lot of the stuff we were doing was personnel and heavy equipment airdrop and Container Delivery System airdrop, which are all designed to support the Army in one way or another."

Furthermore, Bailey mentioned that due to tightening fiscal constraints across the Air Force, taking advantage of joint training exercises such as the JRTC exercise was crucial to maintaining the "train-like-we-fight" standard.

"This exercise was very important for our younger guys who may not have seen as much integration with the Army as some of us have in the past," Bailey said. "Now that we are cutting back on a lot of our flying hours, we don't get the opportunity to participate in as many of these exercises as we would like, which is why it was crucial to take advantage of every sortie we flew. As far as the integration aspect goes, this was as big as it gets, short of an actual deployment."

In addition to training on different tactics, techniques and procedures, the 39th Airlift Squadron was also looking to further familiarize themselves with the C-130J aircraft, as their squadron continues to finalize their transition away from the C-130 H-model.

"It's important to get experience across the unit when it comes to employing the J-model in certain mission profiles," said Capt. Beau Tresemer, 39th AS. "Our aircrews needed to see what they were capable of when it comes to utilizing the J-model, whereas the H-model isn't exactly the same deployment wise."

Tresemer added that exercises such as these provide abundant opportunities for training, learning and enhancing joint force capabilities for the U.S. military.

"We wanted our mobility Airmen to walk away from this exercise with complete confidence for when they go downrange," he said. "By working together in this joint environment we can all feel confident that when ground forces make the call, air mobility will deliver."