Michigan Air National Guard unit bolsters activities at Estonian air base during exercise Saber Strike

By Tech. Sgt. Daniel Heaton

127th Wing

AMARI AIR BASE, Estonia (6/14/12) - An airfield has come to life.

“With this exercise, life starts at this airfield,” said Estonian air force Lt. Col. Roman Timofejev, commander of the Amari Air Base in Estonia.

During Saber Strike 2012 a variety of U.S. Air Force aircraft – primarily A-10 Thunderbolt IIs and KC-135 Stratotankers from the Michigan Air National Guard’s 127th Wing – have been flown in and out from the base, along with several helicopters and small fixed-wing aircraft operated by the Estonian air force.

The exercise, which took place over a two-week period in June, featured about 2,000 total military personnel from eight different nations operating from a variety of locations, primarily in Estonia and neighboring Latvia. The Michigan Air National Guard located about 150 personnel and a half-dozen aircraft at Amari.

U.S. Air Force C-130 Hercules and C-17 Globemaster III aircraft landed at Amari during the exercise to provide logistical support to the air operations at the base.

The Michigan A-10s are not only the first-ever A-10s to land at Amari, but are the first operational fighter aircraft from a NATO country, Timofejev said.

During the exercise, a variety of senior military and governmental leaders from many of the participating countries visited Amari to view the operations, including Lt. Gen. Mark Hertling, commanding general of the U.S. Army Europe. During his visit to Amari, Hertling spoke to Estonian military while flanked by the U.S. ambassador to Estonia, Michael C. Polt, and Col. Indrek Sirel, commander of the Estonian army.

“The U.S. government is committed to maintaining a strong operational presence in Europe,” the general said during his June 12 visit. “This exercise is an example of that commitment.”

As part of the Saber Strike 2012 exercise, the Michigan Air National Guard’s 127th Wing working in partnership with the Estonia air force to help the Estonians gain expertise and operational experience at the air base, which was used by the military of the Soviet Union when Estonia was under Soviet control during the Cold War era. In 1994, the last Soviet troops left Estonia and the Amari Air Base and the air field fell into disrepair for several years, said Timofejev.

The Amari base was re-established under Estonian control in 1997 and in 2006 an agreement was reached to prepare the base to support NATO operations. Construction began in 2008 and local operations have been going on for several years. Timofejev said Saber Strike is by far the largest operation to happen to date at Amari.

“This is a great opportunity for my folks to learn to run base operations,” Timofejev said. “I have a few people who have experience and expertise, but many of my folks are brand new. We don’t even know what we don’t know.”

Air Force Lt. Col. William Henderson, a 127th Wing pilot who is serving as the Michigan detachment commander at Amari, said the Estonians opened their arms to welcome the American airmen.

“They worked the relationships within their own government to build the higher-level partnership and then have been very accommodating to us to work at the airman-to-airman level,” Henderson said.

And that means not only a greater exchanging of information but also a quicker mission turnaround, said Henderson.

“They have created a facility here where, tactically speaking, a unit can come in and very quickly be able to begin flying missions,” he said.

Saber Strike is a U.S. Army Europe-led theater security cooperation exercise conducted in the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. The exercise focuses on command and control, as well as interoperability with regional partners.

Michigan Air Guard firefighters exchange best practices during Saber Srtike 2012

By Air National Guard Tech. Sgt. Daniel Heaton

127th Wing

AMARI AIR BASE, Estonia – Under a light drizzle on the afternoon of June 12, firefighters from the Amari Air Base – local civilian firefighters – and four firefighters from the 127th Wing, Michigan Air National Guard rolled out to the flightline with lights and sirens blaring, as they responded to a call of a fire and incapacitated crew members aboard a Michigan Air National Guard KC-135 Stratotanker.

The alarm, however, was part of a surprise drill in which the American firefighters helped the Estonians learn new skills about how to respond to a fire on large aircraft since the Estonian Air Force does not own any large aircraft, such as the KC-135.

"The Estonian guys have a lot of experience and knowledge in fighting a structure fire," said Air Force Tech. Sgt. Miguel Castillo, the lead Michigan Air Guard firefighter participating in the larger Saber Strike 2012 exercise. "Our mission is to help give them some training on how to engage on an aircraft fire."

Air Force Staff Sgt. Robert Juozapaitis, another 127th Wing firefighter, said the crews from the two nations have been sharing ideas with each side and allowing each group to determine how best to apply that information to their own setting.

"We're not trying to come in here and say 'here's how we do it and you have to do it this way,'" he said. "The Estonians have their own equipment and their own procedures. This is about exchanging ideas."

Building such partnerships is the goal of Saber Strike 2012, a multinational exercise based in Estonia and Latvia. This is the second year for the exercise, which is led by U.S. Army-Europe and includes about 2,000 personnel from eight nations and the air forces of the various nations for the first time this year.

Paavon Münter, the Estonian fire chief, said having such realistic training is a definite benefit for his department.

"We do not otherwise have the opportunity to train with these types of aircraft, but we want to be a ready air field for any aircraft that lands here," he said.

Castillo, who is a firefighter in Toledo, Ohio, in his civilian job, said there is an interesting difference in firefighting philosophy between the Americans and Estonians.

"Their equipment is built around the idea of using high pressure on lower volumes of water. Ours is a lower pressure with more volume," he said. "It is a different way of looking at the same problem."

Adding to the exercise for the firefighters are the long hours on duty in the firehouse for the airmen from both nations. Airmen from both air forces are all living at the firehouse for the duration of the two-week exercise.

"We are living together, working together, eating together," Juozapaitis said. "We've even learned after duty that they have a few different 'house' rules in playing [the board game] Risk. So, I think the fire crews are really getting along well."