Airmen train in international exercise

by Staff Sgt. Matthew Burke
914th Airlift Wing Public Affairs

6/9/2014 - EDMONTON/COLD LAKE, Canada  -- Leaders in the 914th Airlift Wing wanted to showcase the wing's capabilities, so they sent some of their most experienced Airmen to Maple Flag, a combined exercise at Edmonton International Airport and Cold Lake Air Weapons Range, Alberta, Canada.

Several other Air Force Reserve Command units took part in the exercise May 24-June 7.

Participation in the exercise presented unique challenges for the Niagara Falls Air Reserve Station, N.Y., unit because the 914th AW had reservists returning from an overseas deployment at the same time.

"Most of the team we brought (to Maple Flag) are instructors or evaluators," said Maj. Trent Gilmore, a 914th AW pilot. "We've done things our own way for a long time, and it's good to get an interflow of ideas from the other wings and AFRC."

Aircrews and maintainers with eight C-130 aircraft from Niagara Falls ARS; Dobbins Air Reserve Base, Georgia; Minneapolis Air Reserve Station, Minnesota; and Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado; took part in the exercise. They were joined by airlift control flight Airmen from Joint Base Charleston, South Carolina, and March Air Reserve Base, California.

Maple Flag prepares participants for global operations, enables joint operations training and fosters multi-national coordination and cooperation. The exercise includes command and control, air-to-air and air-to-surface operations, air-to-air refueling, airborne early warning and control, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, tactical airlift and tactical aviation.

"It's a very rewarding and challenging environment," said Maj. Richard Konopczynski, a 914th AW pilot. "To be able to plan, prepare and go fight the mission, in a group setting like this is very beneficial for us."

The Niagara Falls aircrews are experienced in Canadian airspace because of their proximity to the Canadian border, but the landscape in other parts of Canada is different from that of local training areas, making for a more realistic training experience. In addition to vast unrestricted airspace and modern training facilities, Cold Lake Air Weapons Range offers mountains, plains and tundra that crews must all become familiar with when conducting tactical airlift missions.

Navigating the environment is designed to be a challenge for any aircrew. The team from Niagara Falls used the exercise as an opportunity to enhance its interoperability by incorporating a navigator who is not assigned to the unit.

"They asked for an experienced navigator," said Maj. Sam Kraemer, a navigator from 22nd Air Force Detachment 1 from Little Rock Air Force Base, Arkansas. "Their crews just returned from the deployment, and the entire unit was great to work with."

Maple Flag provided many opportunities for interoperability during the two-week training period. For example, maintenance crews were interspersed between the four C-130 units for Maple Flag providing each wing's members a unique opportunity to work on aircraft they've not seen before. The prevailing theme is that although instruction and manuals are standardized, occasionally procedures can vary.

"When you jump into your car and drive from Point A to Point B you have a certain way of doing that," said Kraemer. "Now imagine you have someone else drive the car, and their different habits start to come out."

Regardless of the crew configuration Niagara Falls Air Reserve Station brings to Maple Flag, everyone was excited about the challenges the training provides.

"We're looking forward to getting good tactical training; working with larger formations, flying at lower levels and integrating with the Canadian fighters," said Gilmore. "(Maple Flag) increases our overall knowledge of fighting ops because we face different threats than we did a decade ago."