62nd Airlift Wing Public Affairs
8/3/2013 - JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Wash. -- Sixteen Airmen from the 62nd Airlift Wing recently returned from their participation in a coalition exercise between the U.S. military and the Australian Defense Force. That exercise is known as Talisman Saber 2013 and was executed in eastern Australia from July 15th through July 29th.
Joining more than 28,000 of their fellow Airmen, Soldiers, Sailors and Australian counterparts, the Airmen from McChord were part of an exercise that trained forces from both nations to operate as a combined joint task force.
"Talisman Saber is a critical show of coalition interoperability and Theater Security Cooperation between the United States and Australian militaries," said Col. Andrew Hird, 62nd Operation Group commander and Talisman Saber Air Force mission commander. "The strategic airborne insertion was part of a much larger exercise including the certification of the U.S. 7th Fleet in a high end war fight."
Exercises are meant to prepare, train, evaluate, identify issues and further the understanding of how and why things work, this exercise was no different.
"The most obvious difference between this exercise and our local training missions is the amount of interest garnered at the highest levels of military and civilian leadership," said Capt. Dan Edelstein, 10th Airlift Squadron instructor pilot and Talisman Saber aircraft commander for the lead C-17 Globemaster III aircraft. "It was also a great opportunity for us to plan and train with C-17s from Hickam and Charleston.
"We even had a chance to fly a local training mission with the Australian C-17s a few days later. Even though we were dropping in a foreign country, our procedures didn't change. In the end, the way we train at home station is not so different from the way we executed at Talisman Saber."
Five C-17A aircraft, loaded with more than 400 members of the 4th Brigade, 25th Infantry Division departed Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, July 19th, enroute to drop zone Kapyong on the east coast of Australia.
In what is likely a first ever event, a 5-ship of KC-10's refueled a 5-ship of C-17s in a single formation alleviating the need to split the formations into smaller groups requiring multiple airspace reservations and formation rejoins. The KC-10 aircrews affected a perfect rendezvous and excellent air refueling formation passing possibly a record amount of fuel to the C-17's. This massive formation passed nearly 750,000 pounds of fuel is also a potential first in a single C-17 formation.
"The air refueling likely set records," said Hird. "For a C-17 formation passing 750,000 pounds of fuel in one element is amazing.
"Conducting the large formation air refueling was an objective that was proved feasible by the exercise and provides additional flexibility when time and airspace limits factor into a strategic employment mission such as this one. I'm confident that this is the first 5-v-5 accomplished by the C-17."
McChord played a significant role in the execution of this exercise and ensured the mission was successful.
"McChord teammates planned multiple layers of contingencies and aided with Army, Australian Air Forces and joint base support in Alaska and Hawaii," said Hird. "McChord fielded two of the five C-17's as well as provided aircrew in partnership with Joint Base Charleston and Hickam AFB aircrews.
"The phenomenal support and leadership and motivation of the Army and Air Forces units enabled a last minute successful tail swap and an on time departure. The planning by all players ensured this mission success."
"Maj. Wes Skenfield was the key performer for this event," stated Edelstein. "As the lead planner he did most of the leg work for this exercise for several months before any of the other crew members became involved. His experience and continuity were the keys to success for the mission."
Not only is it important to conduct local and national exercises but international exercises with our allies are just as equally important.
"This exercise of partnership with our regional ally demonstrated our ability to successfully operate as a coalition," said Hird. "For the C-17 community, working together with a foreign military practicing tactical airdrop employment demonstrated to aircrews from all commands that we can learn from each other and work together to successfully execute tactical objectives.
"The positive second order effect is that the captains and staff sergeants executing the mission last week will be the commanders and senior noncommissioned officers who are charged to build future relationships with partner nations. This very successful exercise will give each of them a positive experience to build from."
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