Eagle Flag role players: Airmen helping Airmen

Published March 9, 2007
By Master Sgt. Melissa Phillips
436th Airlift Wing Public Affairs

FORT DIX, N.J. -- In a matter of minutes, one master sergeant here became a "chief" in a sense during a briefing for Air Force Exercise Eagle Flag 07-3 Feb. 5 at Fort Dix.

"As a role player, you're deployed here to help push the students to do better, but we learn right beside them," said Master Sgt. James Gardner, 60th Maintenance Operations Squadron, Travis Air Force Base, Calif., whose acting role it was to play the "chieftain" of the village "Citheron" during the exercise.

In order to provide a more realistic setting, the Air Mobility Warfare Center's 421st Combat Training Squadron works with more than 85 role players - Airmen from across the Air Force - to assist instructors, called cadre, create realistic scenarios to test Eagle Flag students.

"This is done to give the students that real interaction they could face in the deployed environment, such as in Iraq and Afghanistan," said Master Sgt. Dean Steele, Eagle Flag role player manager for the 421st CTS. "We bring in people from across the Air Force to specifically test career fields - whether it be media for public affairs, banking people for finance Airmen, or contractors for the contracting career field. In essence we have Airmen who help train Airmen."

Role players fill many roles besides the ones already mentioned. Sergeant Steele said many come in to serve as "conscripts" in a host nation army. They also participate in Eagle Flag as headquarters (Air Force) staff, local villagers, vendors, opposing forces, airfield managers and more.

"The idea is to put the expertise in place to make our scenarios for the exercise as real as possible," Sergeant Steele said. "This is achieved through the role players we have in every exercise.

For more than a decade, the 421st CTS has been well known for its combat skills training course -- in the past with Phoenix Readiness and now with the Advanced Contingency Skills Training Course. However, with more Airmen performing ground combat-related jobs in the battlefield, senior leaders designed Eagle Flag in 2003 to increase the level of understanding that expeditionary combat support Airmen could face during a deployment. This is where role players help with that understanding.

"You could be at any location (deployed), and despite the fact that your job is finance or services, you might be told to guard the perimeter," said Staff Sgt. Trina Johnson, 6th Air Refueling Squadron, Travis AFB, who played a role as a villager in Eagle Flag 07-3.
"You can't ever let your guard down. It doesn't matter what rank you are, you could be an Airman at the gate and (a local citizen) might ask you for water or food."

Each Eagle Flag exercise is physically operated out of Naval Air Engineering Station Lakehurst -- a U.S. Navy installation adjacent to Fort Dix. During an exercise, most role players have a higher "free ranging" ability than students. If Eagle Flag students need to visit the local village, they have to get into a vehicle and drive several miles. Very little is simulated during the exercise.

The role players scenarios range from requesting food from the participants to testing the participants savvy on foreign culture to accusing participants of criminal acts.
"When we approached the gate for a scenario, I could tell the sentry watching the point was wary," Sergeant Johnson said. "It was just her alone and 10 of us (role players). From her perspective, I would have felt bombarded and at a loss."

For Sergeant Johnson, she said something unexpected happened to her during the exercise - she started sympathizing with the character she was playing.
"They (the villagers) lost everything in a natural disaster in the scenario we played," Sergeant Johnson said. "They'd see the tents and water on the other side and they'd want help so it's frustrating on both ends even when you play a role."

Eagle Flag also gives Airmen the opportunity to think about how they will respond to common situations before they deploy into a charged atmosphere. The exercise highlights the fact that every Airman is an ambassador once they step on foreign ground.
"Every Airman can use their experience from Eagle Flag as a stepping stone to deal with real-world situations," Sergeant Steele said. "That's another reason for the role playing and the opportunity for real interaction with people."

Sergeant Gardner, who has been in the military for 19 years, said this training would have been invaluable to him before he deployed to Saudi Arabia for Desert Storm.
"We are role playing to such a degree that it will give them an advantage to know what to expect," he said.

In a deployed environment, paying attention to detail can make the difference between life or death.

"When the students first came to the village, they checked around the top of the car, but not under it for security sweeps. When they came back the next time, they made sure to sweep the undercarriage to make sure the vehicle was safe," Sergeant Gardner said. "That's how this exercise helps Airmen. It gives them a chance to practice to do the right thing."

As for a future career in acting, some of the role players admitted their performance skills could use a little work.

"Role playing was difficult; I'm not an actor," Sergeant Gardner said. "It was a challenge, but this is valuable training. By helping the students, we gave them some realism they might see somewhere else."

Airmen Helping Airmen