Nellis hosts its first mobility exercise Published Nov. 26, 2007 By Airman 1st Class Ryan Whitney Nellis AFB Public Affairs NELLIS AIR FORCE BASE, Nev. -- Two U.S. Air Force Weapons School squadrons and more than 30 heavy body aircraft crews completed the first heavy body Weapons School exercise over the Nevada Test and Training Range here Nov. 20. C-130 Hercules and C-17 Globemaster III crews from the 29th and 57th Weapons Squadrons, based out of Little Rock AFB, Ark. and McGuire AFB, N.J, respectively, conducted the training. The goal was to instruct weapons school crews how to integrate mobility forces with fighter, space, sensor and intelligence platforms to conduct airdrops in combat zones, mission commanders said. "It's the best training the Air Force can give its guys on the top of their level," said Lt. Col. Jeff Brown, 29th WPS commander, Little Rock AFB, Ark. During this particular exercise, C-17s simulated dropping tanks, HUMVEEs, howitzers and other heavy equipment that would be used in a deployed scenario. The 15 C-130s simulated carrying 64 "troops" each, which were represented by sandbags. "We tried to make this exercise as realistic as possible by simulating as many realistic events in the scenario as possible," said Colonel Brown. Many of the 98th Range Wing assets on the Nevada Test and Training Range were utilized to make the exercise possible, including simulated small arms fire and "Smokey SAMs," which are simulated surface to air missiles made up of non-lethal material to provide pilots visual representation of threats. There were also four aggressor aircraft trying to down the 30 cargo planes before they could complete their mission. "This is the first time we have done something of this magnitude, and there were no big mistakes, I think we did a good job," said Capt. Jaron Roux, C-17 mission commander and 57th WPS student. After all the aircraft arrived, the pilots attended a debriefing where the entire mission was digitally reconstructed and critiqued by the players. The completion of the exercise ended an intense training mission that was orchestrated and organized by Maj. Erin Staine-Pyne and Capt. Joe Vanoni, weapons school instructors from the two participating Weapons Instructor Courses. Even though this exercise, which was five months in the making, was just completed, planning for the next exercise of this size has already begun said Lt. Col. Dan Daniels, 57th WPS commander. The next exercise of this magnitude is scheduled to be held here in spring of 2009.
