Team Fairchild joins 65 units, U.S. allies to kick off Red Flag 14-1

by Staff Sgt. Veronica Montes
92nd Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs

1/30/2014 - NELLIS AIR FORCE BASE, Nev.  -- Team Fairchild joined 65 other units and U.S. allies to participate in Red Flag 14-1 here Jan. 27, 2014.

The three-week long exercise is a realistic combat training exercise conducted by the 414th Combat Training Squadron three times a year over the Nevada Test and Training Range.

"Fairchild's mission is to support air refueling for war fighters that are here executing Red Flag 14-1," said Maj. Bryan Starcher, 92nd Air Refueling Squadron Tanker Taskforce commander of Red Flag 14-1. "Our main role is to make it so our combat aircraft can execute our combat mission."

More than 30 Airmen from Fairchild AFB, while working with Airmen from McConnell AFB, Kan., will spend the duration of the exercise conducting or supporting about six refueling missions a day. These Airmen include pilots, boom operators, maintainers and support staff.

"It's important that while we are here we have all the support functions," said Capt. Ryan Jahnke, 93rd ARS pilot. "It's important all those functions come together to get everyone to be able to fly and get the most out of our training."

Jahnke said along with the teamwork aspect, this exercise is also great for the younger aircrews.

"It's especially important for the young aircrew members who haven't been deployed yet," Jahnke continued. "It's the only time the aircrew members will be able to fight an adversary with formidable air defenses without actually going to war."

This exercise involves approximately 125 aircraft and 3,250 deployed service members from all four U.S. branches, the Royal Air Force and the Royal Australian Air Force will participate.

Starcher said that is one of the main benefits of participating in the exercise here, "we are able to work with our coalition partners and integrate [with] our closest allies."
While every unit plays an important role, the tanker's mission is necessary.

"With the support of the KC-135s, the fighter aircraft are able to stay on station longer and in greater numbers," said Senior Michael Weidman, 93rd ARS boom operator. "We are able to keep the aircraft flying so everyone can get the training they need."

Red Flag provides aircrew members realistic, stressful situations to deal with in a controlled environment. The KC-135s play a crucial role, not only providing fuel, but allowing fighter aircraft to practice gathering fuel during these stressful situations.

"Red Flag is about preparing people for combat environment, and in a combat environment, even the simple things become hard," said Lt. Col. Jordan Grant, 414th CTS deputy commander. "One of the simple things for an aircraft is getting to the tanker to get fuel and be in time for the fight. That's why it's so important to have tanker support so the aircrew can learn to do those simple tasks in training before they have to put it all together in real combat."

Red Flag 14-1 will conclude Feb. 14, 2014.