GOWEN FIELD, Idaho -- More than 120 Airmen from the 920th Rescue Wing are supporting the 305th Rescue Squadron’s upcoming deployment to Southwest Asia by participating in a two-week pre-deployment training which began Feb. 27th 2017, here.
The 305th RQS, located at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Ariz., is conducting training at the Idaho Air National Guard’s Orchard Combat Training Center, a 143,000-acre live-fire range located south of Boise, Idaho, equipped with ‘pop-up’ and moving targets made for tanks and helicopters.
The training’s objective is to hone the skills of the aircrew who fly HH-60G Pave Hawks, combat search and rescue helicopters, before heading downrange, by practicing rescue missions from the planning stage to the execution.
“This is our dress rehearsal before deployment,” said Lt. Col. Chris Escajeda, the training’s Pave Hawk mission lead from the 305th RQS. “It’s our last chance to get together, travel to an unaccustomed location, rehearse missions we will do on deployment and work-out the kinks or identify shortfalls ahead of time.”
When deployed, the HH-60G is part of the U.S. Air Force’s rescue triad which includes the HC-130J Combat King II, a personnel recovery aircraft, and a Guardian Angel team, a non-aircraft, equipment-based, human weapon system made up of pararescuemen, or PJs, combat rescue officers and Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape (SERE) specialists. The rescue triad is capable of search and rescue missions in any environment to include hostile enemy territory in the mountains of Afghanistan, to the middle of an ocean after a boat capsizes.
Guardian Angel teams from the 308th Rescue Squadron, Airmen from the 943rd Rescue Group and a HC-130J from the 79th Rescue Squadron are helping the 305th RQS complete the training.
The training incorporates most scenarios the aircrew may encounter while deployed to include insertions, extractions, aerial refueling, night-time operations, medical evacuations and live fire from the helicopter’s weapons, an M134 minigun and a .50 caliber machine gun.
The targets range from the size of a human to a tank and are controlled in the range’s command tower by the push of a button, said Escajeda.
“Boise was an easy choice to come to because the facilities here are world-class,” said Escajeda. “They have everything we need to include a very robust electronic warfare range and a premier live-fire range with reactive threats we just don’t have at home.”
A new comer to the 305th RQS and the career field, special missions aviator Staff Sgt. Jesse Roberts, said the training, so far, has provided him with confidence in performing the mission on his upcoming deployment.
“The training is as real as we can make it,” Roberts commented. “Back in Davis-Monthan we have the same two targets which we always know where they are. “Here we are firing at targets that just pop-up and we get instant feedback when hitting one. The first flight I didn’t even see the targets, but by the second and third flight I was able to effectively identify the targets, call them out to the team and engage.”
The training has also been beneficial to the supporting units, specifically the PJs from the 308th RQS, located at Patrick Air Force Base, Fla., since some of the Pave Hawks there have been grounded.
Senior Airman Rory Whipple, a pararescueman with the 308th RQS who is also new to his career field, said the training has been invaluable to honing his rescue capabilities aboard an HH-60G.
“Not only is the 305th Rescue Squadron getting the necessary training they need to deploy, they are also helping us out in completing upgrade training to ensure we are efficient in our duties,” Whipple added. “They can’t do their job without us, and we can’t do our job without them.”
Every day the pararescuemen and the aircrews have flown more than four hours going from one personnel recovery mission to the next. Both Whipple and Roberts agreed the first few missions of the training where challenging.
“Shooting a minigun from the air is an absolute blast, but its nerve racking for a new guy because you have to be aware of your surroundings, the PJs on the ground and the other helicopter,” Roberts said.
Although the training is not yet over, Escajeda said things are going smooth and they have learned things on the road that they wouldn’t have identified training at home
“From a tactical perspective, it’s fantastic training; it gets us out of our comfort zone to practice the skills we will be using on our deployment,” Escajeda added. “Everyone I have spoken to has loved and enjoyed coming here.”
The pararescuemen who are participating in the training are also accomplishing cold-weather training in Hailey, Idaho.