Photo By Senior Airman Christian Silvera | A C-17 Globemaster III aircraft assigned to Joint Base Charleston, South Carolina,...... read more read more
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JOINT BASE CHARLESTON, S.C. – U.S. Airmen and C-17 Globemaster IIIs assigned to the 14th Airlift Squadron participated in the first-ever iteration of exercise Bamboo Eagle , covering the western region of the United States and parts of the Pacific alongside joint and allied forces, Jan. 24-Feb. 3, 2024.
The U.S. Air Force Warfare Center conducted the inaugural exercise with the aim of creating an environment conducive for expeditionary air bases to undergo training and certify force elements within the relevant Air Force Generation phase.
The Pelicans rehearsed agile combat employment, or ACE, tactics and synchronized operations with joint and coalition partners to exercise meeting the demands of future high-end conflicts.
The 14th AS commander, Lt. Col. Daniel Naske, emphasized the importance of integrating with joint and allied forces.
“In the event of a future fight, this is not going to be a United States Air Force fight, it is going to be a fight with the Navy, Army, Marine Corps, and our allied partners,” Naske said. “Our joint and allied partners are critical in ensuring we are all victorious in future conflict.”
Collaborating closely with Marines from the 3rd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, the U.K. Royal Air Force, and various joint partners, aircrew aboard the C-17 Globemaster III cargo aircraft were tasked with rapidly on and off-loading diverse amounts of cargo to different hubs and spokes.
During one mission of the exercise, the aircraft quickly on-loaded a battalion of Marines along with their assets, and flew them to a “spoke”—a different location that provides strategic support and enables deployment to remote regions.
“We are here to transport what our partners need, when and where they need it,” Naske said. “Our role in this exercise is to execute distributed operations through hubs and spokes in order to provide logistic capabilities to different joint force players in a simulated future fight environment.”
In conjunction with exercising with partners and allies, the Pelicans also honed their capabilities through low-level flying formations and semi-prepared runway take-offs landings, showcasing the flexibility of the C-17 and why the aircraft will be critical in future conflicts.
“The C-17, being a strategic and tactical aircraft, can transport personnel and equipment on any airfield, whether it’s a short, long, prepared, or semi-prepared runway,” Naske said. “In this exercise alone, the aircraft has been utilized for specialized fueling operations and we have been able to execute as an alternate command-and-control node.
As C-17s continue to demonstrate their capabilities in operating within challenging environments, loadmasters play a pivotal role in efficiently managing cargo loading and off-loading operations.
Airman 1st Class Nathan Bouffard, 14th AS loadmaster, said his knowledge and capabilities have broadened after flying different missions, to include airdrops and semi-prepared runway operations, or SPRO.
“Every mission I have flown on this exercise has been different,” Bouffard said. “Being able to take in information, adapt and apply it on the aircraft has been challenging, yet eye-opening for me, and I’ll be better in the future because of it.”
From the pilots and loadmasters, to the Airmen of the 437th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron and 437th Operations Support Squadron, the collective team effort certified the 14th AS as a mission generation force element.
“I am incredibly proud of what the Airmen have done out here,” Naske said. “It is not only Airmen of the 14th AS, it has been a team effort across the 437th Airlift Wing.”
| Date Taken: | 02.09.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 02.09.2024 15:17 |
| Story ID: | 463613 |
| Location: | JOINT BASE CHARLESTON, SC, US |
| Web Views: | 71 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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