American, Canadian rescue forces exercise in most southern maritime playing field

  • Published
  • By Capt. Cathleen Snow and Staff Sgt. Leslie Kraushaar
  • 920th Rescue Wing Public Affairs
Going up against Mother Nature at her very worst, is never a good idea, but when it's your job, you must use brawn and brains to gain every advantage.

A joint training exercise in the Conch Republic provided the maritime playing field where American and Canadian Rescue forces, from both countries' Air Force, got together Dec. 8-13.

The temperate blue-hued, crystal-clear waters, crowing roosters, spiky iguanas and an ongoing flux of tourists, set the stage in the U.S. Florida Keys.

Both Air Forces' are charged with saving lives - one in peace, the other in war. To be best, they get together two to three times annually in their respective "playing fields" to share and hone trade secrets.

Possibly one of the military's most aggressive joint training ventures, the scenarios give rescue warriors team advantage against the great odds they may face during a rescue mission. Considering rescue scenarios can span the entire Earth, at least for the U.S. Airmen who can get tasked to go anywhere, anytime, to perform any type of rescue, and the Earth is 70 percent water, they choose to master it.

The December-January months are reserved for training at the U.S.'s southern-most point, to take advantage of the climate and expansive water. Aviation rescue Airmen from the Air Force Reserve's 920th Rescue Wing here exercised next to and over it in their HC-130P/N King fixed wing aircraft and HH-60G Pave Hawk helicopters honing their spot landings, as well as precision equipment and personnel drops at nearby unassuming islands and airports. Pararescumen (PJ) and Canadian Search and Rescue Technicians dove into it from both aircraft platforms, as well as from the Boston Whaler water craft which they towed in.

Like the tourists who flock from all over the world to the Island get away, the two Air Forces' take advantage of the tucked away locale to sharpen their skills in the spotlight of sunshine, unlike the majority of the 920th's training, which takes place at night.

Lt. Col. (pronounced left tenant) Richard Pamplin, commanding officer, 435 Transport and Rescue Squadron, Winnipeg, Canada, said, "Two SARTECHs have been folded into the PJ program to participate in all the exercises. Also, a person from each crew position on the C-130 came down to observe and continue the working relationship they've built with the 39th (fixed-wing rescue squadron, part of the 920th RQW) over the years."

The two countries agree it's a good opportunity to take advantage of learning how the other side operates.

The big difference is, "We have the mandate for civilian SAREX in Canada," said Lieutenant Colonel Pamplin. "Right now we have an aircraft and crew on standby (in Canada) responding to air and marine incidents."

His squadron covers the biggest area in Canada, which is in the middle of the country. Canada is divided into three search and rescue regions - the Victoria region to the west, the Trenton region, "which covers from the province of British Columbia through the Rocky Mountains, all the way to the province of Quebec, and all the way up to the North Pole. Within that region, there are two squadrons, one in Trenton and ours, in Winnipeg," said Lieutenant Colonel Pamplin.

They're called the arctic squadron. "If someone's going to get lost in the arctic, it's going to be us that gets the call first," he said.

Earlier this year, in September, aircraft and crew from the 39th RQS here exercised in their part of the world - northwest in the capitol of Canada's Yukon Territory - Whitehorse.

Because all Canadian SAR squadrons have the ability to operate anywhere within the Canadian area of responsibility, to some varying lesser or greater degree, the 435 Squadron claims to be proficient in maritime SAR, but most of the area they cover is land mass.

"We get more flatland, more mountain (experience), but by the same token, we were up at Hudson Bay three times this year looking for lost hunters. It's part of our repertoire, but here we get to focus on it a little more," said the 435th Commander.

During a water rescue scenario off the coast of Key West, Airmen piloted two Pave Hawk helicopters and a King aircraft over a 920th RQW Boston Whaler carrying survivor volunteers who were offering their services to be rescued as part of the scenario. Tech Sgt. Robert Whitaker, flight engineer, 39th RQS here, was one of the volunteers. Each will have to plunge into the 58.7-degree water without a wet suit - only wearing flight suits, a T-shirt and combat boots.

"I expect the rescue professionals will have me out of the water, pronto," said Sergeant Whitaker who said he volunteered to see how this part of the "biz" operates.

Maintainers exercised their skills in turning wrenches said Chief Master Sgt. Tracy Winton, maintenance squadron superintendant, 920 RQW. "With three HC-130s and three Pave Hawks, we brought 27 maintenance folks."

Maintenance personnel have to work around flying schedules and have to be at the aircraft two to four hours prior to take off. They also must stay after the flying is long over to make sure the aircraft are ready to go for the next day's mission.

Tech. Sgt Christopher Ledesma, maintenance squadron avionics technician, 920th RQW, specializing in guidance and control on both aircraft, worked 12-14-hour days to keep the aircraft flying. "All three C-130s had different avionics problems. It just started happening, one after the other."

The planes take continuous maintenance as they're an aging fleet - averaging 45 years old. The maintainers travel with parts that commonly break, so they say they're usually prepared.

"They're old aircraft so sometimes they function well, sometimes they break," said Staff Sgt. Mark O'Neal, maintenance squadron support section, 920th RQW.

"Maintenance is actually a lot heavier than it was last year. It's a cycle, sometimes you get a good TDY (temporary duty) where you don't have to do much work, sometimes you're swamped with things all day long," said Senior Airman Jerome Salgado, maintenance squadron HC-130 crew chief, 920th RQW.

Senior Airman Steven Shirk, aircraft maintenance HC-130 crew chief, 920th RQW, said, "We're always gainfully employed with these aircraft. It takes a lot of preventive maintenance to keep these planes flying, but we're always able to get them off the ground."

Tech Sgt. Norbert Nieves-Castallanos, maintenance squadron HC-130 crew chief, 920th RQW, said, the best approach to take is a "positive" one. "Things happen," he said.

One of the maintenance competitions tested their marshalling skills, which required the aircraft's (HC-130) front tires to fit into a small square pre-marked on the concrete. It took communication between the ground crew and aircrew to get the 85,000-pound aircraft in place. Then the crew measured how centered the tires were in the box. That crew won.

"It takes a seasoned skill of the crew chief who knows the aircraft very well," said Chief Winton.

Maj. Octavius Clark, maintenance squadron operations officer, 920th RQW, agreed saying, " Whether it's Key West, Florida, Afghanistan, Iraq, or rescuing victims from their rooftops in Louisiana, we have the best maintenance team in the world. These guys get the job done. The pilots and pararescuemen couldn't do anything without the men and women in the 920th Maintenance Group."

"When the aircrew came in this morning everything (the aircraft) was 100 percent. Today they'll turn them and get them ready to go home on Monday," said Major Clark.

Another major area of support, are the life support technicians. They maintain the wide array of gear that the aircrew and pararescuemen use regularly. Operational gear is vital to job performance and keeping the operators alive.

Senior Airman Kristin Daniel, aircrew flight equipment technician, 920th RQW, is on her second tour to support the Key West SAREX. She said from her side of things, they went more smoothly than last year.

"This (exercise) helps a lot when it comes time for a deployment. It's more realistic than shop work. Limited equipment is the biggest challenge," she said.

She and her team must maintain the parachutes that the pararescuemen use to practice their jump skills.

Mr. Darrell Hankins, pararescue resource advisor, 920th RQW, explained the upcoming competition that was getting ready to start. Called the bellringer competition, U.S. PJs and Canadian SARTECHs, will race to see how fast they can parachute from the HC-130, hit the ground and ring a bell positioned on the ground. "It's all about speed and canopy control," said Mr. Hankins.

Tech. Sgt. Joshua Yarborough, AFE technician, 920th RQW, said the SARETECHs have 100-square-feet smaller parachutes than the PJs. Sergeant Yarborough is on his second tour to Key West. "The larger the canopy, the more equipment they can jump with," he said. The PJs' parachutes today are 470 square feet so if this was real world, they'd be able to jump with additional gear or equipment.

The 920th AFE technicians have to maintain 15 different types of parachutes and multi-environmental equipment - mountain, cold weather, combat, wet and/or dry gear.

Tech. Sgt. Mike Fuller, AFE technician, 920th RQW, said, "The canopies range in size from small to very large. Small canopies are like driving around in a corvette. The larger canopies are used for our equipment. They're more like driving a tractor trailer."

Master Corporal Scott Hoadley, 435 Squadron Canadian SARTECH, said the training was beneficial. "We did a bunch of stuff we don't normally do in Canada. It was good information exchange and we always learn from each other."

The final ground exercise would test the medical life-saving skills of the PJs and SARTECHs.

"We definitely approach medical a little different than the PJs because we are not combat orientated. No one is shooting at us," said Master Corporal Hoadly. "That's a huge stress I couldn't imagine. Someone is dying in front of you and you have someone trying to kill you."

Chief Master Sgt. Douglas Kestranek, pararescue chief, 920th RQW, said the two countries use similar procedures. Regarding the most recent scenario, he said, "It was a tough one, but they stuck with it. They worked hard. The Life Support personnel we're also great sports by volunteering to be the patients allowing the the medical men to stick them with real needles to exercise their IV skill.

With all the competitions, there was a lot of camaraderie as well. The exercise ended with an awards ceremony, not only recognizing the winners of the respective competitions, but recognizing those who stood out.

Finally, a ceremony honoring Canadian and American Airmen who gave the ultimate sacrifice -their lives, completed the exercise. A dozen men and women stood in front of the entire group and spoke the name of a fallen rescue colleague or friend.

The 920th RQW motto, "These things we do, that others may live," continues to reverberate through both Canadian and American rescue Airmen.

To see more photos, click here: SAREX slideshow.

The 920th RQW is a combat-search-and-rescue wing with 1,500 Airmen in a variety of capacities who support its mission of saving lives. It's one of the most-deployed Reserve units in the U.S.

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