Photo By Paul Mann | U.S. Air Force Master Sgt. Steven Harper, aircrew flight equipment technician with the...... read more read more
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SUMPTER SMITH JOINT NATIONAL GUARD BASE, Alabama — Operating a military aircraft isn’t just knowing what to do inside the cockpit or inside the boom pod. Operating a military aircraft and being a U.S. Air Force aircrew member also means knowing how to float.
Every three years U.S. Air Force aircrew members are required to complete water survival training. A combination of classroom and hands-on training is used to ensure military aviators know how to survive, evade, and are ultimately recovered in the case of an unanticipated water landing. The experts training them at the 117th Air Refueling Wing are assigned to the unit’s aircrew flight equipment shop, or AFE.
Master Sgt. Justin Bruce, an AFE technician with 14 years of experience in the career field was first to brief the flyers, providing them their agenda for the morning training, “You’ll need to get into the pool and swim to the raft using any swim stroke – breaststroke, back stroke, or side stroke – you just have to demonstrate a swim stroke.”
Once the airmen make it to the recovery raft they immediately begin climbing aboard, with the first person in positioning themself by the boarding ramp, there to assist the other members out of the water and into the craft. “Once you board the raft we’re going to start talking about survival, evading, and recovery,” Bruce reminds the airmen.
“This training is critical to our mission here at the 117th,” said Col. Mike Adams, commander of the 117 ARW. “Our local refueling routes consistently take us over water, and we are spending more time in the INDOPACOM area of responsibility, so ensuring our aircrews know these procedures is a matter of life and death.”
The rafts used during training are exactly the same as the rafts found on every one of the KC-135R Stratotankers, and each one is capable of holding 20 people. Today’s class had about 20 people, so each group put 10 aircrew members into the raft, but the numbers don’t matter.
“Once you’re inside the raft you have two mindsets,” said Master Sgt. Steven Harper, one of the four AFE technicians facilitating the day’s training. “One, immediately! What do you have for consumption, right? The second is, you don’t know when you might get picked up [rescued], so you’re forecasting – hey, how can I get this stuff for later to sustain us for maybe a long time, right.”
“Over the years we’ve done this is training in a lot of different locations,” said Col. Jim Whaley, 187th Fighter Wing deputy commander. “We’ve gone as far as Oak Mountain State Park, nearly 20 miles from here. And now, being able to do it within minutes of the base is huge in regard to our ability to train and maintain the readiness of our crews.”
The Birmingham-based 117th Air Refueling Wing is an associate unit, comprised of regular Air Force and Air National Guard airmen. The wing operates with unified crews, combined from regular Air Force and Air National Guard pilots and boom operators, all relying on the expertise and experience of their aircrew flight equipment technicians.
| Date Taken: | 08.02.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 08.02.2025 18:38 |
| Story ID: | 544612 |
| Location: | BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA, US |
| Web Views: | 93 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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