Photo By Tech. Sgt. Daniel Farrell | A New York Air National Guard 105th Airlift Wing Services member trains Airmen on the...... read more read more
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Francis S. Gabreski Air National Guard Base, N.Y. – Two Hundred Airmen from 31 Air National Guard and active duty units from across the country trained with Airmen from the New York Air National Guard’s 106th Rescue Wing at Francis S. Gabreski Air National Guard Base from August 4 to 8.
The Air Guardsmen were there for Montauk Lighting II, an exercise focused on Air Force combat support services.
“It is focused around field feeding, personnel accountability, casualty, mortuary affairs, tent building, and search and recovery operations,” said Capt. Douglas Duncan, 106th Force Support Squadron commander and exercise planner.
The large-scale exercise led by the 106th Rescue Wing Force Support Squadron created a hub and spoke-style deployment environment consisting of teams geographically separated across Southampton, Westhampton, and Riverhead, on eastern Long Island, according to Chief Master Sgt. Neil Allison, the 106th Force Support Squadron senior enlisted leader.
“Typically wings tend to focus on home station support versus getting after their deployed expeditionary requirements,” Duncan said. “Montauk Lightning allows folks to get out of their comfort zones…actually getting after combat support services.”
The exercise started with a day of classroom training at the State University of New York, Stony Brook campus in Southampton, then the Airmen dispersed to their field locations.
A simulated headquarters at the Southampton campus pushed information out to the exercise locations, Allison explained.
In Westhampton, Force Support Squadron personnel were brought to an empty field.
The mission was to go from a bare base to a functional area of operation. This included setting up a tactical operation center for command and control, tents for services lodging, search and recovery, and a Mortuary Affairs Collection Point, according to 1st Lt. Lisa Tijerina, a member of the Iowa Air National Guard’s 132nd Force Support Squadron, and exercise facilitator.
Montauk Lightning II marked a significant increase in size and scope of the exercise from last year, according to Duncan.
“The notional troop movements that took place are not what we are used to seeing in exercises,” said Duncan. “It was thousands of personnel that got moved throughout the three days, that our members had to in-process, account for, lodge, beddown.”
The exercise play also called for an increase in the number and frequency of casualties, Duncan said.
“In one location we had 20 casualties occur in 1 hour,” Duncan, said.
While on deployment, Force Support Squadron personnel are expected to search and recover bodies after rescue operations have been completed. Exercise planners sourced meat and organs from a local butcher shop for participants to recover to make it very visceral and real, according to Duncan.
“Not only did we have our mannequins, the support from the butcher shop provided real flesh to imitate what the Airmen could be experiencing in the real-world,” said Tijerina. “It brought Airmen a new perspective on how it would smell, how you can or cannot operate with flesh and blood, and how to transport human remains with dignity and what that really means.”
For participants, the use of flesh helped put prior training into perspective.
“I feel like it’s one thing seeing it in books and on computers, and another thing actually being hands on,” said Staff Sgt. Jhoanna Barcelo Vega, a member of the Arizona Air National Guard’s 162nd Force Support Squadron.
“In my upgrade training there is a lot of mortuary, a lot of fatality search and recovery…so this increases my knowledge to knowing what I am actually studying for and what the mission itself really is,” she said.
In addition to the challenges of mortuary affairs and force accountability, Airmen from the New York Air National Guard’s 106th Communications Flight, Iowa Air National Guard’s 132nd Communications Squadron, and Maine Air National Guard’s 265th Combat Communications Squadron participated in the exercise, allowing the simulated deployment to include communication challenges as well.
“We really stressed their communications,” said Duncan. “Most exercises they don’t go this route…we actually brought internet down and we actually stressed them to problem-solve as to how they will actually communicate in an environment where communication doesn’t exist.”
Communications and force support work hand-in-hand and are natural partners, according to Duncan. What makes things difficult for communications, makes it incredibly difficult for force support, continuing to build this partnership will only help future operations, Duncan said.
Overall, exercise Montauk Lightning II saw a 135% increase in participation from last year.
“Montauk Lightning I started with 65 participants, when you add the amount of support personnel, it was around 85 people,” said Duncan. “This year Montauk Lightning II had over 200 personnel…and we could have taken a lot more, but we ran out of space.”
Looking forward, the plan for the annual Montauk Lightning exercise is to increase the amount of participants and expand geographical locations.
“The next step for Montauk Lightning is changing our scenario a bit…and looking to grow our footprint,” Duncan said. “It may involve some aircraft and moving people around, not just here in Suffolk County, but actually moving them off to other bases and really practice how we are going to be playing [in future deployments].”
The 106th Rescue Wing, based at Francis S. Gabreski Air National Guard Base in Westhampton Beach, New York, operates and maintains the HC-130J Combat King II search and rescue aircraft, and the HH-60W Jolly Green II rescue helicopter. The 106th Rescue Wing is home to a special warfare squadron with pararescuemen and combat rescue officers, specializing in rescue and recovery, and deploys for domestic and overseas operations.
| Date Taken: | 08.08.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 09.22.2025 14:03 |
| Story ID: | 548485 |
| Location: | WESTHAMPTON BEACH, NEW YORK, US |
| Web Views: | 41 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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