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Bright Star brings together coalition forces and Charleston C-17s

  • Published
  • By Shauna Heathman
  • 437th Airlift Wing Public Affairs
CHARLESTON AIR FORCE BASE, S.C. --  Sixty Team Charleston Airmen recently participated in the oldest training exercise in the United States Central Command's Area of Responsibility aboard three Charleston C-17s.

Bright Star 07, hosted by Egypt in cooperation with USCENTCOM and U.S. Army Central, was held in Cairo from Nov. 3 -19 involving troops from 13 countries including: France, Britain, Greece, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Jordan and Kuwait.
The exercise is designed to strengthen military cooperation, readiness and interoperability among Egypt, the United States, and other coalition countries. While Bright Star is primarily a command post exercise, it is also an airborne and special operations forces field training exercise.

The Charleston AFB crews consisted of both 437th and 315th Airlift Wing flying squadrons. The C-17 mission package also included members of the security forces ravens, a flight doctor, combat camera members and maintainers in nearly every specialty.

On Nov. 2, a two-ship C-17 formation flew to Fort Campbell, Ky., to conduct training drops with the members of the 101st Airborne Division and the Egyptian Army.

"This was a critical step in the success of Bright Star because when the full three-ship formation of C-17s arrived at Fort Campbell on Nov 5, the winds prevented us from dropping the Egyptians for one more practice opportunity before we launched the formation bound for Cairo," said Lt. Col. Norman Czubaj, 14th Airlift Squadron commander and C-17 mission commander. "The Army was satisfied with the proficiency and performance on Nov. 2 and elected to press on with the exercise, despite the loss of the final training opportunity."

A fuel leak in one of the C-17s caused a delay on the morning of Nov. 7 as the crew was preparing for departure for Cairo, Egypt. The majority of jumpers, including the Egyptians, were rearranged and the two C-17s departed Kentucky for their 13.5 hour flight to the Cairo drop zone. Only 34 remained behind for the third aircraft. Fortunately, Team Charleston was able to generate another aircraft on short-notice to airlift the additional supplies and remaining 34 personnel in time to participate in the friendship drop. In fact that jet arrived in Cairo only three hours after the first two C-17s.

During the long journey to Cairo, Maj. Pam Gordon, flight surgeon with the 437th Medical Group, monitored the crewmembers rest cycles during the long journey en route to Cairo to ensure they were fresh for each major event. The long flight, paired with intense training, called for proper rest cycles, especially with the first drop scheduled for 8:00 a.m. local Cairo time, but only midnight back in Kentucky.

"Major Gordon observed the crews beginning their day by checking out of the hotel at 5:30 a.m. Central Standard Time. They departed and flew the first air refueling during daylight hours. They coasted out over the Atlantic as night fell and the second refueling was conducted at night. It was a new day as the airdrops were taking place," said Colonel Czubaj. "She gained a valuable perspective on the issues aircrews must manage concerning rest and long flight duty periods."

Two air refuelings were completed en route. The first was off the coast of Maine and the second over Scotland. This was just another opportunity to familiarize coalition forces with personnel, equipment and tactics of all those involved.

"Once again, this incredible capability demonstrates the global reach of our military force to place critical assets anywhere in the world and, in this instance, paratroopers from a combined force of U.S. Army, U.S. Marine Corps and the Egyptian Army," said Colonel Czubaj.

The load plans for the Charleston maintainers, U.S. Army, USMC, and Egyptian cargo for the long trip to Cairo were worked by Tech. Sergeant Terry Wright, loadmaster from the 437th Operations Support Squadron. Since mid-September, the planning process began with coordinating billeting and transportation plans for all 60 Charleston Airmen and planning to get jumpmasters, riggers and parachutes from the 82d Airborne Division at Pope AFB, N.C., to Fort Campbell, Ky.

"Interaction with the Army has been great," said Sergeant Wright. "Especially with the multi-national coordination."

Roughly three hours away from the drop zone, the C-17 crews were able to reach their 437th Airlift Wing lead tactics planner, Capt. Dave Compton, to ensure the drop zone would be ready. Captain Compton began working the mission planning details of the exercise shortly after an advanced planning conference in July. He contributed to the intricate planning process for the entire three-ship C-17 package and ensured all the American and Egyptian jumpers made it to the Kom Awshim drop zone in Cairo. After gaining clearance to drop, all 112 jumpers (including 29 Egyptians) were placed on time on the drop zone in a single pass.

"It proved once again our C-17 personnel formation aidrop capability while enhancing interoperability of American and Egyptian forces," said Captain Compton.

The 34 jumpers on the third aircraft that departed from Fort Campbell met with their respective units and participated in the friendship drops conducted on Nov. 11.

A total of 226 jumpers from the U.S. Army, USMC, Navy, Air Force, as well as Egypt, Germany, Kuwait and Yemen dropped from the Charleston C-17s during the friendship drops. Following the drops, the formation flew a low-level route for additional training.

"I was very impressed with the competence of all the people on the drop zone," said Major Gordon. "I observed all 226 jumpers from the multi-national force and was pleased to report there were no significant injuries."

All three C-17s departed Nov. 13, eventually returning to Charleston AFB.

"Our involvement in Bright Star was an incredible team effort from our talented active duty and reserve operators, maintenance, security and medical folks at Charleston," said Colonel Czubaj. "They made this complicated, extremely demanding, intricate mission appear easy -- a testament to their talent and professionalism."

For some of the younger Airmen, Bright Star was one of their first opportunities to see the direct impact of the C-17's contribution, but all participants walked away with a deeper understanding and higher level of confidence in the role they play in global mobility.

"Successful airborne operations go beyond those who parachute out of the plane. It took a great team all working together to execute these airdrops," said Army Maj. Gen. Gerald Minetti, Bright Star exercise co-director. "Airmen from Charleston as well as those from bases who provided in-flight refueling were a very important part of our Bright Star team. All should be proud of their role in the exercise and know the support they provided was outstanding."