CAAB

Air Force will test Eagle Flag

by Master Sgt. Paul Fazzini
Air Mobility Command Public Affairs

10/3/2003 - SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill. (AFPN) -- The Air Force will begin its newest flag-level exercise Oct. 13, targeting expeditionary combat-support skills and testing them to the maximum extent.

Eagle Flag is to the expeditionary combat-support community what Red Flag is to the fighter community, said Maj. Gen. Christopher A. Kelly, Air Mobility Warfare Center commander at Fort Dix, N.J.

"(It) will bring expeditionary combat-support leadership to Fort Dix (where) we will test their abilities to go out and establish an air base in an austere location," he said.

Because this is the inaugural Eagle Flag exercise, "there are a lot of unknowns," Kelly said. "The primary objective will be to test the team that will come together … in an expeditionary role (to establish) an air base and to give us a good, solid foundation … for follow-on Eagle Flag exercises."

To accomplish these objectives, center planners will draw from expeditionary combat-support specialties throughout the Air Force. Units attending Eagle Flag will be scheduled like actual deployments, through the Air and Space Expeditionary Force Center at Langley Air Force Base, Va.

In the past, Air Mobility Command officials focused on the command’s own combat-support specialties in a similar exercise called Phoenix Readiness. However, the Air Force did not have a service-level training environment that all major commands could tap into.

"The Air Force recognized that Phoenix Readiness provided a good foundation and a good way to transition from that major-command-focused expeditionary combat-support experience to a larger Air Force focus," Kelly said.

Using Phoenix Readiness as the foundation for Eagle Flag has allowed Air Force officials to get this exercise off the ground sooner than if it had to be built from scratch. It also has saved money and resources in the process, according to Kelly.

Eagle Flag planners will incorporate lessons and experiences from operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom into the exercise scenarios, Kelly said.

The exercise will be part of the participants' AEF "spin-up" window. Planners said they would link it with other exercises or other events that might be going on within the Air Force to give it a more realistic feeling.

"This is in the long future, not in the near-term," Kelly said. "But, I think it's easy to understand that you could link an Eagle Flag with perhaps a Red Flag or a weapons school mission-employment exercise out on the Nellis (AFB, Nev.) Range, for instance.

"I think that kind of situation would give young men and women in the Air Force exposure to different environments, different climates (and) different challenges. And (it will) better balance their approach to this expeditionary combat-support experience so they can face bigger challenges anywhere in the world, in different environments," Kelly said.

"There are huge challenges out there…," he said. "It's a very thrilling experience for (Air Mobility Warfare Center airmen) to be a part of, and we are excited about the opportunity. We look forward to the challenges and meeting those challenges in the days ahead." (Courtesy of AMC News Service)