Barksdale Profile: Green Flag Exercise
By:
Updated: November 24, 2011
The A10, flown by
Air Force pilots, shoots sixty bullets a second, is used for search and rescue
and the most requested flying asset during war.
Lieutenant Colonel
Jim Travis is the 47th Fighter Squadron Commander.
"Our job is to bring
combat forces to wherever they're needed. We're ready for that" says LtCol.
Travis.
Pilots train with
the Army for more than two weeks before deployment during a Green Flag exercise.
Lieutenant Colonel
Pat McKeever is the 548th Combat Training Squadron Commander.
"We make mistakes
here in the exercise sometimes and we debrief. We learn from them and we get
better. The lessons we learn here make us better when we deploy and that saves
lives" says LtCol. McKeever.
After training, the
next time these pilots and soldiers will talk to each other is during combat---
when the airmen support the soldiers.
"When a contact
situation develops and the goods guys are on the ground, and they need help, big
brother, the U.S. Air Force is overhead ready to provide the devastating fire
power and protect the friendlies" says McKeever.
Green Flag training
goes on all day and all night.
Barksdale supports
training during day, twilight and night. They put an emphasis on training for
the most difficult tasks that will be encountered in combat: Close Air Support,
Combat Search and Rescue, live full scale weapons employment, airfield attack
response, convoy escort, armed over watch and integration between air and ground
forces.
"You got to practice
it you got to practice it slow, fast, in good weather and in bad. When that guy
on the ground needs you to do it right, you don't get a second chance" says
McKeever.
"If I can read his
mind on what he needs, then I can get sensors and weapons on target, it's a
dance" says Travis.
