Page 3 - Desert Lightning News July 1 2016

Desert Lightning News July 1, 2016 3
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Airman 1st Class Ashley N. Ste en

355th Fighter Wing Public A airs

DAVIS-MONTHAN AIR FORCE BASE, Ariz. -- A new detachment (U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Ashley N. Ste en) NEWS
here will aim to boost personnel recovery readiness across the military.
U.S. Air Force Col. Gregory Marzolf, 414th Combat Training Squadron, commander, Lt.
Detachment 1 of the 414th Combat Training Squadron, out of Col. Christopher Cunningham, Detachment 1, 414th CTS, commander and Senior Mas-
Nellis AFB, Nevada, was activated today. ter Sgt. Stephen Hoss, 414th CTS, Red Flag superintendent, unroll the guidon of Detach-
ment 1 at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Ariz., June 24, 2016. The new detachment will
e new detachment’s mission is to increase readiness by con- be planning, coordinating and executing Angel Thunder 2016.
ducting exercises meant to train personnel recovery forces. Using
an application of joint service, multinational, interagency combat and the HH-60G Pave Hawk to come together with pararescuemen,
search and rescue exercises the team will focus on training personnel combat rescue officers and SERE specialists, to practice real world
recovery though a simulated environment and real world scenarios. personnel recovery.

“We train at the tactical spectrum and the operational level for per- “ e guys out there fighting the fight know that we’re not going
sonnel recovery,” said Maj. James M. Humphrey, detachment 1, 414th to leave them out there,” said Humphrey. “It gives them the courage
CTS director of operations. “At the tactical level we have the PJs in the to get out the door, accomplish the mission and know they won’t be
helicopters, HC-130s, ground teams and other assets from our partner left behind.”
services. At the operation level it’s coordinating and planning.”
Participants will leave the exercise with a better understanding of
e team at Detachment 1 consists of experienced and diverse finding innovative, unconventional approaches to enhance the Air
exercise management professionals. eir knowledge extends over Force’s established PR capabilities.
specialties such as survival, evasion, resistance and escape, aircraft
maintenance, and logistics. “I think they are going to walk away with an experience they never
had, working with assets that aren’t normally available,” said Lt. Col.
“ ey can walk away after being exposed to highly dynamic and Christopher Cunningham, Detachment 1, 414th CTS commander.
challenging scenarios and learning those lessons so they don’t have “ ey get the chance to work with international partners who have
to learn them in combat,” Humphrey said. “At the end of the day we had different rescue experiences in different environments.”
want people to learn lessons here in an environment we can control
while exposing them to things that can hopefully improve the execu-
tion of a real-world mission.”

ey will plan one of the Air Force’s significant training events,
Angel under, a Joint National Training Capability accredited and
certified exercise. Angel under allows the HC-130J Combat King

D-M hosts another Hawgsmoke

Airman 1st Class Mya M. Crosby

355th Fighter Wing Public A airs

DAVIS-MONTHAN AIR FORCE BASE, Ariz. -- Davis-Monthan (U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Mya M. Crosby)
Air Force Base hosted this year’s Hawgsmoke competition June 1-3.
An A-10C Thunderbolt II assigned to the 47th Fighter Squadron performs a low-angle
e biennial competition focused on tactics the aircraft can em- strafe during the 2016 Hawgsmoke competition at the Barry M. Goldwater Range,
ploy during combat operations. Ariz., June 2, 2016. Hawgsmoke is a biennial competition focused on tactics the A-10C
can employ during combat operations.
is year’s event concentrated on two major areas: the tactical
massing of fires in minimum time in an opposed environment, and “ e best part about this is bringing the community together,
conventional weapons delivery. and that’s not just the A-10 community, it’s this community,” War-
ing said. “Everybody loves airplanes, they love the city we live in,
e 47th Fighter Squadron was the winner of Hawgsmoke 2014, and we want to showcase what we do where we live, and who we
allowing this year’s competition to be held at D-M for the third do it for.”
consecutive time.
See HAWGSMOKE, Page 7
Hawgsmoke is a continuation of Gunsmoke, the USAF’s air-to-
ground gunnery and bombing competition involving various units
held at Nellis AFB, Nev., until 1995.

e first Hawgsmoke competition started in 2002, where A-10 units
across the globe competed in ground attacks and target destruction.

“ is year we have 13 competing teams,” said Lt. Col. Brett War-
ing, 47th FS Hawgsmoke project leader. “Four of which are located
here at Davis-Monthan, nine teams that are coming in from across
the continental U.S. and overseas, including one from the 20th
Fighter Squadron at Osan Air Base, Korea.”

For the past three days, the skies of southern Arizona were buzz-
ing with nearly 50 A-10Cs that participated in the competition.