517th AS reflects on Exercise Kiwi Flag

JBER Public Affairs Staff Report

12/16/2013 - JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska -- The end of November is usually a busy period. A time when most celebrate one holiday and immediately begin preparations for a second, only weeks away. The 517th Airlift Squadron experienced a different urgency during this period, but with warmer weather.

In November, the 517th AS participated in Kiwi Flag, a multinational tactical air mobility exercise in New Zealand. Kiwi Flag was the airlift portion of Exercise Southern Katipo 2013, the joint military exercise, which hosted ten nations and more than 2,000 people.

"Kiwi Flag provides the 517th Airlift Squadron an opportunity to practice deploying into an environment simulating wartime operations in a foreign country," said Air Force Lt. Col. Daniel Dobbels, 517th AS commander.

Air Force Capt. Gabriel Wetlesen, 517th C-17 Globemaster III AS pilot, said the practice mirrors some aspects of deployments.

"Both require extended time away from home and family," Wetlesen said. "Both have a higher operations tempo and integration with foreign countries."

The unit's role in Kiwi Flag was to move cargo and people between New Zealand's north and south islands.

"More airdrop and formation training is available in these exercises than at home station," Dobbels said. "This increases the level of experience crews gain during condensed training timelines."

Dobbels also mentioned the exercise serves as an opportunity to strengthen partnerships with U.S. allies in the Pacific region, which the tasked aircrew reiterated.

"We were constantly working hand-in-hand with the New Zealand Air Force from mission planning to loading cargo and personnel," said Senior Airman Chelsea DiMarco, 517th AS loadmaster. "If we weren't capable of doing something, they were right there trying to problem solve with us. We were able to show them just how much cargo and personnel the C-17 is capable of loading as well as all the different procedures we have for loading specific items."

Wetlesen said members of the Royal New Zealand Air Force flew with them on every flight. They shared perspectives and experiences to include one such conversation with the Singaporean Air Force C-130 Hercules director of operations.

"They fly with five crew members, but may reduce that after their C-130s are upgraded," Wetlesen said. "He flew with me to see how we operate a C-17 with only three crew members."

DiMarco and Wetlesen said they had great experiences during the exercise, but one event that stuck out was flying the first C-17 mission of the exercise.
"We had to deal with low ceilings and poor visibility to make it into the airfield," Wetlesen said.

"We flew into Timaru to drop off the first load of cargo and personnel," DiMarco said. "There were so many locals gazing through the fence line, snapping photos and watching our every move. It was amazing to see that many people interested in what we were doing down there."

"It was after this sortie that I found multiple entries in blogs and on YouTube, which highlighted the importance of the (USAF) C-17s as part of the exercise," Wetlesen said. "New Zealand is a beautiful country and the people are wonderful to get along and work with. We learned a lot about flying in New Zealand, which we will pass to the group going next year."