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Contingency response Airmen build partnership capability in Egypt

  • Published
  • By Capt. Dustin Doyle
  • 621st Contingency Response Wing Public Affairs
JOINT BASE MCGUIRE-DIX-LAKEHURST, N.J. --  Airmen from the 621st Contingency Response Wing bolstered Egypt's ability to mobilize its troops by training 20 Egyptian airborne soldiers on U.S. airlift operations and cargo loading procedures during 2009's Bright Star exercise in Cairo, Egypt, from Oct. 9 to 21.

As the Air Force builds international partnerships around the world, efforts like this increase partner nation capabilities while synergistically increasing the Air Force's own capabilities.

During the eight-day training course, the Airmen taught students how to load plan and prepare Egyptian cargo for transportation aboard an Air Force C-17 Globemaster III. With the increased level of interoperability, U.S. and Egyptian forces can work together to mobilize the Egyptian Airborne in days instead of weeks.

"This training opportunity provided a lot of 'firsts' for these soldiers," said Tech. Sgt. John Rickenbach, a contingency response team chief from the 621st CRW's 819th Global Support Squadron. "Most of these guys were straight out of their technical training, and this was their first-time working with the U.S. military. For many, this was also their first-time prepping and loading cargo, and flying in a plane."

The Egyptian soldiers prepped and loaded humvees and armored personnel carriers onto U.S. C-17s during the training course. In all, the CRW Airmen and Egyptian soldiers processed 28 vehicles and 305 personnel. The training concluded with a low-level orientation flight over Egypt.

While the course was successful in completing its objective, it was not without its obstacles. Because of the language barrier, all instruction and questions had to go through an Egyptian translator.

"It took some extra time because everything had to be translated, but our translator did an amazing job," said Sergeant Rickenbach. "At the end of the course, we gave him a letter of appreciation and one of our squadron coins. He felt extremely honored because those aren't customary traditions in the Egyptian military. It was a great opportunity to build up that working relationship between us and the Egyptian soldiers."