Photo By Staff Sgt. Milton Hamilton | Six Hellenic military personnel, static line jump from a U.S. Air Force C-130J Super...... read more read more
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As Exercise Stolen Cerberus VI comes to a close, approximately 115 Airmen and 23 U.S. Army jumpmasters, airdrop riggers and drop-zone controllers prepare to return to Ramstein Air Base, Germany, from Elefsis, Air Base, Greece.
The two-week exercise was successfully executed by members of the 86th Airlift Wing, the 435th Contingency Response Group and the 21st Theater Sustainment Command’s 5th Quartermaster Company.
“We do this exercise every year to continue to build on an already strong partnership with the Hellenic armed forces,” said Capt. Daniel Castro, Stolen Cerberus VI mission commander.
In a continued effort to promote peace and stability, exercises such as Stolen Cerberus VI enhance readiness and interoperability among allied forces.
The U.S. military and Hellenic armed forces conducted approximately 70 static line and high-altitude military jumps, 100 flight hours and 10 heavy equipment drops.
Castro said the U.S. Army’s 5QM Company were able to integrate with the 865th Tenif, Hellenic Army Aerial Delivery Company, to provide and rig all the equipment needed for the airdrops during the exercise.
“Our mission out here is to integrate with foreign nationals. The Hellenic riggers do things a little different, but we’ve been learning from them and they’ve been learning the way we do things,” said Specialist Nugene Nugent, 21st TSC, 5th QM Company parachute rigger.
Greece offered different training ranges, infrastructure and support facilities that enabled a diverse training opportunity to everyone that participated, from the 37th Airlift Squadron pilots to the 86th Maintenance Squadron maintainers.
Castro said on a day-to-day basis both countries worked together and learned from the challenges of the day.
The Hellenic air force gave U.S. Forces access to their infrastructure on base and the manpower and support needed to fulfill the mission.
During Stolen Cerberus VI, U.S. military personnel were integrated with Hellenic military nurses, cargo riggers, navy seals, paratroopers, pilots and maintenance crews.
When asked what can be learned from exercises like Stolen Cerberus VI, U.S. Air Force 2nd Lt. Dylan Brown, 86th MXS officer in charge said, “We learn how to be more efficient, operating isolated, away from home station.”
Stolen Cerberus VI showed just how important every squadron is to a mission’s success or failure.
“I can’t overstate the importance of maintenance on these type of exercises,” said Brown.“Every single move we make will either directly impact the following day or the current day's mission, and without maintenance there is no mission.”
With another successful iteration of Stolen Cerberus coming to end, the training provided during the two-week exercise created lasting partnerships and friendships between Hellenic and U.S. military personnel.
Castro said it’s amazing that even though we speak different languages and come from different backgrounds, we can all show up and execute a complex mission together.
The U.S. and Hellenic Air Force’s efforts during the exercise demonstrated a shared commitment to a peaceful, stable and secure European theater.
“The objective of this exercise was to essentially strengthen our relationship and strengthen it to the point that it would be a lasting, beneficial relationship for both countries, in hopes that the resources and infrastructure, as well as the capacity to work together, exists not only for the duration of the exercise, but in real world situations,” said Castro. “At the end of the day, we came here to learn how to work and fight together.”
| Date Taken: | 05.15.2019 |
| Date Posted: | 05.16.2019 08:45 |
| Story ID: | 322484 |
| Location: | ELEFSIS (ELEVSIS), GR |
| Web Views: | 118 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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