Pacific Air Forces Public Affairs
11/8/2013 - OHAKEA, New Zealand -- More than 70 United States Air Force Airmen joined representatives from four nations on a deployment to Royal New Zealand Air Force Base Ohakea Nov. 7 to participate in a three-week tactical flying exercise, Kiwi Flag.
The Airmen will work side-by-side with members of the RNZAF, Republic of Singapore Air Force, French Armed Forces of New Caledonia, and Royal Australian Air Force during the New Zealand-hosted exercise, scheduled to run through Nov. 27.
"New Zealand's unique landscape provides a multitude of opportunities to practice tactical-flying operations over an array of varied terrain -- that equates to a higher learning curve and the ability to enhance our interoperability with the other participants," said U.S. Air Force's 517th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron Commander, Lt. Col. Phillip Shea. "The more exposure we have to different geographic environments, the better prepared we are to respond to a host of contingencies in a unified manner."
Shea is assigned to Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, as the director of operations for the 517th Airlift Squadron. He hails from Winthrop Harbor, Ill.
The 517th EAS, comprising Airmen from Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, and JBER, will conduct flying operations using the C-17 Globemaster III platform. Kiwi Flag operations will support Exercise Southern Katipo which is a field training exercise held on New Zealand's South Island. Southern Katipo hosts nine countries involved in air, land and maritime operations.
The C-17's flexibility provides the capability to perform strategic and tactical airlift; transport troops and cargo; in addition to supporting medical evacuation and airdrop duties.
The RNZAF's air fleet doesn't maintain airframes similar in size to the C-17's bulk, which provides yet further opportunities for learning and sharing subject-matter expertise. This difference also yields some challenges such as airfield and runway incompatibilities in addition to the standard cultural differences, which can be found when visiting a foreign country.
"Those are welcome challenges," said U.S. Air Force Capt. Gabriel Wetlesen, a C-17 pilot and flight commander for the United States' second airlift mission of the exercise. "[The challenges] all represent opportunities to enhance my pilot skills and further my ability to respond to real-world incidents."
Wetlesen is assigned as the 517th Readiness Flight commander at JBER and is also a certified C-17 instructor pilot, a skill he shares with RNZAF's Flight Lt. Tim Pevreal. Pevreal is currently assigned to the RNZAF Central Flying School where he is earning his instructor-pilot certification.
The aspiring instructor, who assumed liaison officer duties onboard the C-17 for Wetlesen's mission, said he expected the flight to be mutually beneficial as he geared up for the sortie.
"I'll be there to help with New Zealand-specific protocols and any translations or verbiage which might occur due to the dialogue differences," Pevreal said. "I'm excited to join the mission; this will be my first flight on this airframe so I expect to have a good subject-matter exchange with the aircrew. Any chance to share information and get better at working as a team is a win-win for all."
Kiwi Flag is a multilateral RZNAF-sponsored tactical airlift exercise conducted in New Zealand. Air assets from the USAF, RNZAF, RAAF, RSAF and FAFNC will participate. Air operations will be conducted out of RNZAF Base Ohakea, New Zealand. Kiwi Flag personnel will provide air support to Exercise Southern Katipo, New Zealand Defence Force's largest-ever multilateral joint force amphibious exercise with eight other nations participating: United States Army and Marines, Australia, Canada, France, Malaysia, Singapore, Papua New Guinea and Tonga.
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