SERE ensures coalition forces unite

Photo By Staff Sgt. Mercedes Taylor | U.S. Air Force Capt. Jon Clausen, 61st Airlift Squadron pilot, uses paint to camouflage his face during Green Flag 16-06, April 22, 2016, near Ft. Polk, La. The C-130J aircrew used survival, evasion, resistance and escape skills such as camouflage to be recovered during the exercise. (U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Mercedes Taylor)  

FT. POLK, LOUISIANA, UNITED STATES

04.28.2016

Story by Airman 1st Class Mercedes Taylor 

19th Airlift Wing

In one 24-hour iteration of the Green Flag 16-06 exercise, service members from the Royal Australian Air Force provided essential air support to an aircrew from a RAAF C-130J. The crew airdropped critical supplies to a group of U.S. Air Force Airmen from the 61st Airlift Squadron at Little Rock Air Force Base, Ark. The 61st AS Airmen found themselves grounded behind enemy lines, as part of the exercise scenario. The aircrew navigated through the woods with no radio transmission but still managed to signal the RAAF C-130J overhead. The RAAF crew airdropped heliboxes with supplies and transferred information to the 61st AS Airmen. The “stranded crew” successfully maneuvered through thick woods, brush and marsh to their extraction point, where the team was recovered by U.S. Army soldiers. Green Flag 16-06 provided realistic, tactical-level, joint combat airlift training for multiple nations. The goal of the exercise was to boost successful communication and relationships built between joint and coalition forces to improve airlift capabilities.

• Date Taken: 04.28.2016
• Date Posted: 04.28.2016 13:16
• Story ID: 196771
• Location: FT. POLK, LOUISIANA, US