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    McConnell Airmen support Mobility Guardian, learn new skillsets

    Mobility Guardian

    Photo By Staff Sgt. Clayton Cupit | Aircrew members from the 349th Air Refueling Squadron, McConnell Air Force Base, Kan.,...... read more read more

    MCCONNELL AIR FORCE BASE, KS, UNITED STATES

    08.18.2017

    Story by Airman 1st Class Erin McClellan 

    22nd Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs

    MCCONNELL AIR FORCE BASE, Kan.— Nearly 70 McConnell Airmen traveled to Joint Base Lewis-McChord in support of Exercise Mobility Guardian, Air Mobility Command’s premiere exercise, July 31-Aug. 12.

    The group was mainly comprised of aircrew members and maintenance personnel, but included logistics and communications Airmen as well.

    More than 3,000 U.S. service members and international partners participated in the exercise. Out of the 54 aircraft there, three were assigned to McConnell.

    McConnell aircrews, made up of 28 active duty and reserve Airmen, completed 18 sorties during the exercise. In addition to their usual air refueling duties, they received training on several mission sets, which included cargo movement, aeromedical evacuation, threat-avoidance maneuvers, visual-flight-rules flying, tactical arrivals and departures and forward operating base procedures, said Lt. Col. Ted Langstroth, 349th Air Refueling Squadron operations officer and Mobility Guardian tanker detachment commander.

    “It exposed a lot of crew members to missions that we’re responsible for but haven’t had the opportunity to see, even in a simulated environment,” said Langstroth. “There are a lot of mission sets that we’re responsible for, and we can adapt quickly and learn how to execute those, but we need to be able to practice them.”

    Many Airmen were able to receive hands-on training for the first time on some capabilities, including Capt. Millie Hale, 350th Air Refueling Squadron instructor pilot, who piloted her first AE exercise.

    “Often when you go to training, you’re doing things you’ve already done a lot before,” she said. “I really thought that Mobility Guardian did a great job of providing us training in things we weren’t familiar with.

    “I’m an instructor pilot already, and I had never gotten the chance to do AE,” Hale continued. “Of course I’ve studied it, and I would have been capable of doing it if I needed to, but having seen it now, it’s a great benefit to me to be able to do it and teach it to people. It was really good training.”

    In addition to learning and practicing different mission sets, Airmen were able to interact and fly with international partners to increase interoperability.

    “Some of our folks flew with the KC-30, the Australian tanker, and we got to see how they do things,” Langstroth said. “Their aircraft is set up probably pretty similar to how the KC-46 is going to be, so seeing how their crew interacted and how they executed their mission was valuable.”

    Mobility Guardian provided valuable training opportunities to McConnell Airmen, ensuring that they are ready and capable of supporting the global mobility mission.

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    NEWS INFO

    Date Taken: 08.18.2017
    Date Posted: 08.18.2017 17:02
    Story ID: 245319
    Location: MCCONNELL AIR FORCE BASE, KS, US

    Web Views: 114
    Downloads: 0

    PUBLIC DOMAIN