Page 3 - Nellis Creech NTTR Bullseye 2-19-16

BULLSEYE News 3February 19, 2016

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Coalition nations join forces at Red Flag 16-1

By Senior Airman Alex Fox Echols III U.S. Air Force photo by Master Sgt. Burt Traynor teammates to help complete the mission
and ensure everyone comes home safely.
325th Fighter Wing Public Affairs F-15C Eagles assigned to the 131st Fighter Squadron, Barnes Air National Guard Base,
Mass., and the 194th Fighter Squadron, Fresno Air National Guard Base, Calif., fly beside “Red Flag brings us confidence in our
NELLIS AIR FORCE BASE, Nev. — a KC-135 Stratotanker Feb. 11 after refueling during a Red Flag 16-1 training mission. The coalition partners and in other U.S. air-
Three coalition nations joined forces here F-15 Eagle is an all-weather, extremely maneuverable, tactical fighter designed to permit frames,” said France. “That confidence
during the world’s premier advanced, the Air Force to gain and maintain air supremacy over the battlefield. comes from an experience where you are
realistic, combat air, space and cyberspace face-to-face with them from a planning,
training exercise to build a capable, cohe- the acting Air Expeditionary Wing vice in any other type of training situation. an execution and a debriefing aspect. The
sive team. commander. “Everyone brings an important piece exercise enables a comradery that you don’t
get anywhere else.”
For three weeks, Red Flag 16-1 trained “It’s a fantastic opportunity to be the to the fight,” said Col. Derek C. France,
squadrons to work together across branch- vice commander of the Air Expeditionary Red Flag 16-1, Air Expeditionary Wing To form a more cohesive unit and to
es and borders with personnel from more Wing here,” Group Captain Gordon said. commander and 325th Fighter Wing teach the exercise participants outside per-
than 30 units from across the world in- “It gives me the ability to put an Australian commander. “Our coalition partners bring spectives, the important mission leadership
cluding squadrons from Australia and the perspective onto the planning and execu- aircraft that we don’t have. So being able to roles rotated each day.
United Kingdom in joint, full-spectrum, tion of these large integrated packages. I understand the capabilities and limitations
readiness training to ensure understanding think one of the real strengths of Red Flag of the other aircraft is imperative. This “We are fully integrated with the U.S.
and confidence amongst teammates. is that we can take different points of view could be the one time that our U.S. pilots and the U.K. in the missions here,” Group
from the United States, Australia and the get to train with them and getting the most Captain Gordon said. “On any particular
The three nations deployed approxi- United Kingdom and really come up with out of the experience is pretty important.” day you could have an American mission
mately 3,000 personnel here to operate in a good combined team approach.” commander, an Australian in charge of
a contested, degraded and operationally Confidence is also a huge gain from the air-to-air combat and a Brit in charge
limited environment against simulated The team approach Red Flag facili- Red Flag. It is not enough to understand of the strike. When each person gets their
adversarial threats facilitated by Nellis’ tates created an understanding between what partner nations can do, the personnel time in the sun, they are going to do things
414th Combat Training Squadron. the coalition nations that is not possible must know they can rely on their coalition a little bit differently and expose people to
different ways of thinking.”
“We exercise the muscle movements of
the Air Force, Navy, Marines and Army as This type of integration, expedites the
well as our coalition partners in a training unity between squadrons and between
environment where we control the threats,” nations.
said Lt. Col. Kevin Gordon, 414th CTS
deputy commander. “We want our team “Over the time that I have been par-
to face the toughest challenge they are ticipating in and watching these missions,
going to face, and we would rather them I have seen them evolve from a bunch of
experience that in Nevada than in our next people operating alongside one another to a
adversarial country.” team effort where we are really quite tightly
integrated,” Group Captain Gordon said.
Group Captain Philip Gordon is the of-
ficer commanding of No. 81 Wing, Royal With the completion of Red Flag 16-1,
Australian Air Force Base, Williamtown, these coalition nations are one step closer
Australia, but during Red Flag 16-1 he is to being an effective, complete team that,
together, can face any adversary.

BB-36, from page 1 __________________________

with their newer weapons systems and how computers U.S. ANavy photo by Petty Officer 1st Class Richard Rizzo
assist smaller crews to run the ships.
U.S. Navy World War II Veterans from the Battleship USS Nevada meet with members of
Accompanying these distinguished Sailors was retired Electronic Attack Squadron138 assigned to Naval Air Station Whidbey Island, Wash., during a tour of Nellis Air
Rear Adm. Kathleen M. Dussault, deputy director of benefits Force Base, Nev., Feb. 12. From left, Cliff Brooks, Lt. j.g. Kristck, Ansel Tupper, Rear Adm (retired) Kathleen Dussault,
for the Department of Veterans Services in Nevada. Richard “Dick” Ramsey, Lt. Cmdr. Micah Weller ( Las Vegas Naval Operations Support Center commanding officer),
Chief Joseph Torres (Las Vegas NOSC command chief) and Lt. j.g. Gagnon
Dussault thanked the new generation of Sailors who sur-
rounded the World War II USS Nevada veterans.

“To the Sailors now keeping watch, we are grateful to all
of you for taking our place in our great Navy, we are in great
hands thanks to you,” she said.

After their visit at the NOSC, the USS Nevada Sailors, Das-
sault and their family members were given a tour of the Nellis
Air Force Base flight line. During this tour the USS Nevada
veterans and their family members were all glued to their win-
dows as they passed the United States Air Force Thunderbirds
F-16s and the U.S. military’s newest fighter the F-35.

They were taken over to one of the Navy’s newest aircraft
currently participating in Red Flag 16-1, the E/A-18 Growler
with Electronic Attack Squadron 138 located at Naval Air
Station Whidbey Island, Washington.

At the end of the tour they met with Matt Taylor, a U.S.
Marine veteran with Congressman Joe Heck’s office. With the
Thunderbirds diamond formation statue in the background,
Taylor presented each man with a certificate of appreciation
for their service on the USS Nevada during World War II.

There are currently only a dozen men still living who were
part of the USS Nevada’s company. The five members who
were able to attend this reunion came from all across the
United States.