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Hawaii based Airmen deploy to RED FLAG-Alaska

  • Published
  • By Capt. Ben Sakrisson
  • 15th Wing Public Affairs
Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska --  At 0345 this morning the text messages begin to roll in, the anticipated 5:15 a.m. show time for RED FLAG-Alaska is moved up to 5:00 a.m. sharp; anyone hoping for a little more sleep is out of luck. Before the sun begins to light the beaches of Oahu, the flight crews are rolling into the 535th Airlift Squadron's parking lot for a pre-flight briefing.

By the time the aircrews reach the awaiting C-17 Globemaster III, aircraft maintainers from the 15th and 154th Wings have preparations well under way. It is obvious that their morning started much earlier but everyone is focused on the task at hand - now is not the time for a break.

Wake an Airman early in the morning; they work without complaint. Watch customs confiscate their awaiting breakfast banana - be prepared for a scowl.

Nevertheless, the aircraft is soon loaded with 35,000-pounds of equipment and fold-down jump seats for the passengers that will make the seven-hour flight from Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam to drop-off points in Alaska. Some of the maintainers remain in now-sunny Hawaii, others deploy with the aircraft - a two-week multi-flight mission is an impossible undertaking without skilled maintainers close at hand.

Once the aircraft reaches its cruising altitude, the roulette of passing out boxed lunches begins. Some people quickly find what they want to eat; others wander aimlessly trying to find their misplaced sandwiches. Sleep rapidly becomes the overriding priority and most of the tired passengers crash out wherever they can find space inside of the packed cargo plane; be it in their seat or contorted around the outline of equipment.

Soon, the time for sleep is over and the warrior passengers come to life unloading some of their brethren and cargo at Eielson Air Force Base before continuing on the last leg of the journey to Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson and the grueling endurance test that is RED FLAG-Alaska.

Over the next couple weeks, the Airmen will fly a variety of missions during the RED FLAG-Alaska international air-combat employment exercise. Their skills will be tested in operations of a grander scale than in nearly any other arena outside of actual combat operations.

"In the end, the experience the Airmen gain through this exercise is awesome," said C-17 mission commander Capt. Mat Klingenberg. "This unique opportunity provides us realistic training with our coalition partners that cannot be duplicated anywhere else in the world. Ultimately, it gives the C-17 the ability to practice and test our combat capabilities in a controlled environment."