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ALTUS AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. – Even with the noise of the aircraft flying 1,000 feet above the ground, the mood is quiet on the evening of Jan. 23, 2015. “SIX MINUTES!,” yells Staff Sgt. Laura Bourdlais, 58th Airlift Squadron loadmaster, before she opens the side door revealing the lights of San Antonio in the distance. Soon, 80 Soldiers will jump out the side door, landing in a pitch-black dropzone.
Two U.S. Air Force C-17 Globemaster III cargo aircraft from the 58th AS participated in a joint exercise with the Texas Army National Guard, 1st Battalion, 143rd Infantry Regiment.
“Altus’ primary objective is to get personnel air drop currency for our loadmasters because they cannot get it here at Altus,” said U.S. Air Force Capt. Jason Sikorski, 58th AS C-17 instructor pilot.
C-17 loadmasters are required to complete a static line jump once a year to stay proficient, said U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Laura Bourdlais, 58th AS C-17 loadmaster. “After a loadmaster graduates from their technical training, they have to complete a static line jump within 90 days of arriving at their first duty station.”
“I love working joint operations,” said U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class Michael Kanzler, 294th Quarter-Master Company parachute rigger NCO. “The Air Force is always an excellent teammate in these operations. They’re very friendly and accommodating.”
“You learn a lot about how other branches of services operate and how their culture differs from the Air Forces’,” said Sikorski. “The biggest concern is that all of the information is communicated from me to the user and vice versa.”
The Army must stay current in their training as well, said Kanzler. “We use the C-17 to get a lot of paratroopers out on the dropzone at once.”
“One of our missions we are working towards is a full airfield seizure,” said Texas Army National Guard Maj. Wade Aubin, operations officer, 1st Battalion Airborne. “In order to put our entire battalion on the airfield at once, it takes large aircraft, so we can have the maximum effect.”
Several passes were made over the dropzone to get all 80Soldiers out of the aircraft safely.
With the combined experience of the pilots, loadmasters, jumpmasters and all others involved in the operations, the soldiers about to jump can be assured they have the best support in the world ensuring they get on the ground safely. The joint exercise ensures the service members involved will be ready to put their training into action if real world situations arise.
| Date Taken: | 01.23.2015 |
| Date Posted: | 01.27.2015 08:53 |
| Story ID: | 152817 |
| Location: | ALTUS AIR FORCE BASE, OK, US |
| Web Views: | 26 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Altus leverages Army National Guard jump training, by SrA Nathan Clark, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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