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."
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