Eagle Flag trains, evaluates critical skills

Published March 30, 2012
By Airman 1st Class Ryan Throneberry
Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst Public Affairs

JOINT BASE MCGUIRE-DIX-LAKEHURST, N.J. -- The U.S. Air Force Expeditionary Center held its semi-annual Eagle Flag exercise March 14 through 31 at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst.

The goal of Eagle Flag is to provide U.S. forces with an environment to exercise the knowledge and skills required for any type of forward operation, in any environment, regardless of mission or aircraft type.

The units involved in this particular exercise include the 570th Contingency Response Group from Travis Air Force Base, Calif., the Air Guard 123rd CRG from Louisville, Ky., and the 689th Rapid Port Opening Element from Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Va.

The exercise takes place in the fictional country of Nessor, an American-friendly nation in the middle of the Indian Ocean. The U.S. forces must set up a joint task force-port opening in order to supply allied forces with anti-terrorism equipment and cargo at the request of the Royal Nessorian Armed Forces. A JTF-PO is a process to quickly open and establish logistical support and open distribution nodes immediately after securing an area, according to U.S. Transportation Command.

"It's one of the most realistic training venues the military has to offer," said Capt. James Clark, 421st Combat Training Squadron contingency operations deputy flight commander and Eagle Flag OIC. "It allows service members to not only execute the skills they practice year-round, but also get a chance to operate in a joint environment."

The exercise is designed to simulate operations in a deployed environment while challenging combatant commanders and operations with scenarios faced downrange. The U.S. Forces must be able to provide a rapid, tailored response to a variety of universal situations. The exercise and associated training brings together those expeditionary support skills a combatant commander needs to execute the assigned mission in a realistic contingency environment.

"This is a very unique exercise made even more realistic by the combined experiences of the cadre and role players," said Master Sgt. Troy Colen, 421st CTS scheduling and training section chief and Eagle Flag role player. "We are able to take current tactics, training and procedures to a whole new level by putting the participants in the thick of it. Real-time decisions yield real time-effects."

Participants encounter many obstacles during this training. Everything from driving accidents to generator explosions are injected into the schedule in an attempt to waver their resolve. These obstacles are not designed to halt operations but to evaluate how the participants react to and resolve conflict.

The participants also have an abundant amount of interaction with the local Nessorians which lends to the realism of this mock deployment.

"This is an excellent opportunity for us to prepare for a real deployment," said Maj. Dale Greer, 123rd Airlift Wing Public Affairs officer from the Kentucky Air National Guard. "Dealing with these locals is essential to building our understanding on these types of interactions."

Scheduling and planning this type of exercise takes months of preparations and manpower. This feat is accomplished by Ed Parriski, the USAF Expeditionary Center scenario analyst.

"There are many things to take into account when planning an exercise of this magnitude including, timing, conflicting elements, manpower and logistics," said Parriski. "At the end of the day, what makes this exercise great is the dedicated staff of both civilians and service members working together."

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