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Victory in North Carolina - Airmen, Soldiers, Marines win simulated war

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Becky J. LaRaia
  • 43rd Airlift Wing Public Affairs
POPE AIR FORCE BASE, N.C. (AMCNS) --  Three services came together Feb. 27 through March 3 to drop about 2,700 82nd Airborne paratroopers and several loads of equipment into a simulated war zone on Fort Bragg for the Joint Forcible Entry Exercise 06-03.

“We called out this group of assets, put them together at Pope Air Force Base, attacked the sand hills of North Carolina and won,” said Col. Scott Lockard, lead mission commander from the 463rd Airlift Group at Little Rock AFB, Ark. He said despite one pass that was cancelled due to weather, the entire week ran smoothly.

The Joint Forcible Entry Exercise is formally known as Large Package Week.

Large Package Week’s original purpose was much simpler than today’s exercise. The mass drop allowed troops from the new alert brigade to test their skill and troops from the brigade coming off of alert to get currency.

The mass drop evolved into the exercise in the summer of 2005 to incorporate more advance training involving ground tactical plans and airfield seizure, according to Ray Russ, Pope’s Command Post operations manager, whose job is to facilitate the integration and execution of the mission commander’s plan. He worked Large Package Weeks before he retired from Pope, and he said he saw the need for an evolution even then.

“We decided to make it a real plan just like when we go to war,” he said.

This is done by incorporating a wide array of assets and services from across the department of defense.

The Air Force provided C-130s, C-17s and A-10s, the Marines flew F-18s and the Army controlled unmanned aerial vehicles. Pope’s 43rd Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron worked an air land mission, which required them to set up a triage and simulate bringing patients back to Pope, and a joint airborne communications center, or “Jackpot,” flew in a C-130 throughout the week. The Army also operated a Joint Operations Center for the first time out of Fort Bragg.

The information flow, joint decision-making and timeliness of the decisions because of the direct link to the Army through the Joint Operations Center helped the exercise run smoothly, according to Colonel Lockard. “If you make a timely and accurate decision it allows time for other responses as required to support the operation. You can shoot while you’re moving or you can stop and aim,” he said. “We put ourselves in a position by running hard early so that we could stop, take aim and hit the target.”

He added that the exercise would not have run as smoothly without the support of Air Force and Army leadership. They put an emphasis on the training and let competing requirements for the Soldiers, Airmen, maintainers, flyers, aircraft and Hummers to take a back seat for one week, said Colonel Lockard.

The current high operations tempo and lack of available airlift make training like this even more valuable. Training in a controlled, true joint environment, where players can plan, execute and debrief lessons learned is few and far between, said Colonel Lockard.

“At home I only get to drop sand bags and timber,” said Lt. Col. David Uselman, a mission commander from the 61st Airlift Squadron at Little Rock AFB, Ark. “(Here) I get to drop actual heavy equipment and personnel. To compress all that into one week is incredible.”

Colonel Lockard agreed.

“We don’t get those opportunities in the current environment very often. When we get them, we have to make them the best possible training environment we can,” he said.

This kind of training leads to more than just technical skill, said the colonel. Players also have the chance to build lasting relationships.

“I’m a believer that relationships are critical,” said Colonel Lockard. “When you exercise like this you build relationships between individuals, units and services. That relationship seals the deal. That foundation of trust and the knowledge of what each other is capable of doing leads to the success.”