Team Scott sharpens warrior skills
SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, IL (USTCNS) --- As the 375th Airlift Wing commander stepped off the C-21, an explosion of machine gun fire rattled the still Michigan air. Security forces returned fire at the source, and Col. Darren McDew, 375th AW commander, was swept away by a security detail into an awaiting caravan. "Welcome to Alpena, sir."
Scott warriors deployed June 10 to 14 to Alpena, Mich.,to flex their warfighting skills in Exercise Crisis Look 02-06.
During the exercise, 375th AW members extinguished burning aircraft, rappelled down the sides of buildings, rescued downed chopper pilots, decontaminated "friendlies," subdued would-be hijackers, filled a 20-foot hole in the runway in under an hour, transported patients to safe-havens and made "Kwangju Air Base" a safe place to live and work.
Airman 1st Class Richard Fletcher, a 375th Civil Engineer Squadron firefighter, was able to show the wing commander firsthand the complexity of extinguishing an inferno.
"It's great seeing the commander do my job," said Fletcher. "I think it truly gives him a perspective of what a firefighter has to do. And it's really not as easy as people might think."
Using and refining skills to protect home station and deployed assets was the goal of Senior Master Sgt. Ron Sprinz, an exercise ebaluator with the 375th Security Forces Squadron.
"This type of deployment gives us an opportunity to practice our tactics (military operations in an urban environment)," said Sprinz. "(The exercise) gives us an occasion to work on cover and concealment - because sometimes while we're out trying to save lives, we forget to protect our own."
McDew's visit to Alpena marks his first fly-away exercise as wing commander.
"If this exercise is any indication as to where we stand from a readiness standpoint, Team Scott will be ready for the Operation Readiness Inspection," said McDew. "A lot of people have worked to put this together, and I'm very impressed."
Scott warriors deployed June 10 to 14 to Alpena, Mich.,to flex their warfighting skills in Exercise Crisis Look 02-06.
During the exercise, 375th AW members extinguished burning aircraft, rappelled down the sides of buildings, rescued downed chopper pilots, decontaminated "friendlies," subdued would-be hijackers, filled a 20-foot hole in the runway in under an hour, transported patients to safe-havens and made "Kwangju Air Base" a safe place to live and work.
Airman 1st Class Richard Fletcher, a 375th Civil Engineer Squadron firefighter, was able to show the wing commander firsthand the complexity of extinguishing an inferno.
"It's great seeing the commander do my job," said Fletcher. "I think it truly gives him a perspective of what a firefighter has to do. And it's really not as easy as people might think."
Using and refining skills to protect home station and deployed assets was the goal of Senior Master Sgt. Ron Sprinz, an exercise ebaluator with the 375th Security Forces Squadron.
"This type of deployment gives us an opportunity to practice our tactics (military operations in an urban environment)," said Sprinz. "(The exercise) gives us an occasion to work on cover and concealment - because sometimes while we're out trying to save lives, we forget to protect our own."
McDew's visit to Alpena marks his first fly-away exercise as wing commander.
"If this exercise is any indication as to where we stand from a readiness standpoint, Team Scott will be ready for the Operation Readiness Inspection," said McDew. "A lot of people have worked to put this together, and I'm very impressed."
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