820th BDG participates in multinational exercise

by Capt. Carolyn Glover and Cpl. Barbara Robinson
U.S. Air Forces in Europe - United Kingdom Public Affairs and RAF Honington Public Affairs

9/23/2014 - RAF HONINGTON, ENGLAND -- Editors note: This article is a localization of "Exercise Global Eagle: force protection specialists from three nations conduct combined training" published on United States Air Forces Europe website. Click here to view the original article.

Members of the 820th Base Defense Group, along with U.K. and French protection specialists, participated in Exercise Global Eagle Sept. 1 through 15 at various Ministry of Defense training locations across the United Kingdom.

During Global Eagle, a combined exercise involving 112 multinational service members, nine-member teams were established with three members each from the 820th BDG from Moody Air Force Base, Ga., II Squadron, Royal Air Force Regiment from RAF Honington, England, and Commando Parachutiste De l'Air No. 20 from Air Base 102, Dijon, France.

This year, for the first time, force protection specialists from three different nations came together for two weeks to train and exchange tactics, techniques and procedures on a variety of defense capabilities, including hand-to-hand combat, land navigation and weapons familiarization. The exercise took place in three phases: team-building, military skills execution and Ministry of Defense parachute training. The event concluded with a combined jump out of a RAF C-130J Hercules, where the U.S. and French jumpers earned the British Military Parachute Wings.


Exercise Global Eagle is conducted annually, alternating on U.S. Air Force and RAF installations.