Tyndall's mission gets Jazzed up

by Airman 1st Class Alex Echols
325th Fighter Wing Public Affairs

8/15/2014 - TYNDALL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla.  -- More than 230 Team Tyndall members, 14 F-22 Raptors, eight T-38 Talons and approximately 30,000 pounds of cargo deployed to Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base, New Orleans last month to complete training for what turned out to be a record-breaking deployment for 325th Fighter Wing.

The 325th FW's mission is to train and project unrivaled combat power. Six units in the 325th Fighter Wing deployed more aircraft and personnel, conducted more sorties and completed more F-22 basic-course training than ever before.

Twelve 43rd Fighter Squadron student pilots were able to complete 182 flying missions, or sorties, accomplishing three weeks' worth of training in just two weeks.

"This was a highly successful deployment," said Lt. Col. Bill Creeden, 43rd FS commander. "Our mission there was to complete an eight-month training course for a record-size class, culminating in full mission scenarios referred to as Air Combat Tactics, while also practicing baseline readiness skills for all of Team Tyndall."

The Louisiana Air National Guard's 159th Fighter Wing hosted Team Tyndall. At NAS JRB New Orleans, the students were able to fly with and against F-15 Eagles, T-38 Talons, B-52 Stratofortress', E-3 Sentrys, AC-130 Gunships and KC-135 Stratotankers, which vastly supported the requirements necessary to finish their training, said Creeden.

"The benefit you gain by taking your unit to, and operating from an unfamiliar location is exponential," said Creeden. "Executing your mission in a disparate and dynamic environment increases a unit's overall ability and confidence taking you out of the normal day to day way of doing business."

This could not have happened without the combined efforts of 234 total personnel from the 43rd FS, the 43rd Aircraft Maintenance Unit, the soon to be 2nd Fighter Training Squadron, the 325th Maintenance Squadron, the 325th Maintenance Group and the 325th Security Forces Squadron. The 325th Logistics Readiness Squadron also played a vital role in deploying and redeploying all of the personnel and cargo, said Creeden.

The 43rd AMU and 325th MXS were crucial to making this mission happen.

"Without maintainers, pilots don't fly," said Capt. Byron Silkett-Irvine, 43rd AMU officer in charge. "Our role was to ensure our aircraft were fixed, inspected and ready to go each day. This was another example of the 43rd AMU and the 325th MXS coming through for the 43rd FS in a remote location."

During last year's deployment, the 43rd FS was only able to complete 96 of its planned sorties, said Silkett-Irvine. This year, that number almost doubled. This was largely due to the fact that no sortie went uncompleted due to a maintenance issue.

"This was by far the most successful TDY that the 43rd AMU has ever put on, and the numbers support that," said Silkett-Irvine.

"I have never been around an AMU that has the morale, drive and desire to succeed as evident by the maintainers of the 43rd AMU, and it was evident out there," said Creeden.

The 325th Operations Group Adversary Air Squadron, which will become the 2nd FTS on Aug. 22, provided T-38s to act as additional adversaries to engage alongside the NAS JRB New Orleans' squadrons.

"We provided six adversary aircraft both morning and afternoon each day to enable 43rd fighter squadron student training," said Lt. Col. Derek Wyler, 325th OG Adversary Air Squadron commander. "We integrated with F-15s from New Orleans to provide a robust adversary capability, and once again demonstrated the ability to go on the road to support the 43rd FS or the 95th Fighter Squadron, providing the same world class threat replication that we do at home."

Each of these components came together to deliver top-notch training necessary to graduate eight new F-22 pilots to the Combat Air Force.