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Kiwis fly with CRW

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Joshua King
  • Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst Public Affairs
ALEXANDRIA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, La. --  The 621st Contingency Response Wing conducted a Joint Readiness Training Center exercise April 14-24, 2016 with some help from allies all the way from the other side of the world.

Throughout the exercise, Royal New Zealand air movements Airmen have assisted and trained with the CRW as they load and unload cargo from C-130 Hercules aircraft.

The "Kiwis," as they call themselves, have been training hand-in-hand with aerial port Airmen from the CRW as they load Humvees, bundles and even goats on to aircraft from Little Rock Air Force Base, Ark., Sweden and Australia.

JRTC is an Army pre-deployment exercise run out of Fort Polk, Louisiana. During these exercises the Air Force runs a simultaneous and involved exercise called Green Flag based out of Little Rock AFB.

As a part of Green Flag the 621st CRW runs a command and control area linking Fort Polk, Little Rock AFB and units in the surrounding area, including a landing zone and the Alexandria International Airport.

"The training is going well, it's really interesting to see how you guys operate," said Flight Lt. Nicola Durie, Royal New Zealand Air Force flight movements officer. "We do things differently and it's interesting to learn how (the U.S. Air Force) does things."

As a part of Green Flag, the U.S. Air Force, as well as the multination air forces that come to train, participate in air drop training.

In the RNZAF the Air Movements section handles cargo, from building the pallets to marshalling the aircraft. In the U.S. Air Force there are different sections that handle these different jobs, mainly due to the size differences in the two air forces.

"The allied nations we train with here have different on load, off-load and even air drop methods and we have picked up some of their tips and tricks over the years as well as the camaraderie," said Maj. Olin Johnson, Contingency Response Squadron officer.

Both forces have done a lot of training and will continue on for the next few days, strengthening their own skills and their abilities working in a multinational joint environment.

"I think it has been beneficial training, just getting a better understanding of why you guys do things the way you do them," said Leading Aircraftsmen Natalie Ferrell, RNZAF air movements. "I would definitely like to come back and do more of this."