Emerald Warrior 07 wraps up at Hurlburt Field

  • Published
  • By Denise Boyd
  • AFSOC Public Affairs
HURLBURT FIELD, Fla --  Yesterday marked the end of Emerald Warrior 07, Air Force Special Operations Command's first joint coalition exercise focused on training Air Force, Army and allied units in missions directly related to the Global War on Terrorism.

Emerald Warrior 07 is also the first exercise integrating special operations and conventional forces with U.S. Special Operations Command as the supported command, and is the first exercise completely planned by AF-SOC.

Operating in the afternoon and evenings from Oct. 25 to today, participating units trained in personnel and equipment, exfiltration and in-filtration, personnel recovery operations, close air support control, coalition support co-ordination in operations and command and control elements. All exercise activities took place in Eglin Air Force Base's range ground and air space.

The main focus of Emerald Warrior 07 was to train U.S. and coalition special operations forces in an integrated tactical and operational scenario, according to Lt. Col. Rodger Bennett, chief of the AFSOC Joint/Combined Exercise Division.

"This exercise provided a great opportunity for units to work together in a training environment built specifically to meet their needs," he said. "We asked each unit to tell us what they wanted to train in, and then integrated those missions into the exercise scenario. Working with our coalition partners, we are trying to train like we fight to make sure we are ready to deploy and successfully execute our mission," Colonel Bennett said. "AFSOC takes advantage of any opportunity to train alongside those forces with which we regularly deploy. We expect most future operations around the world to be performed in a coalition partnership, and these types of exercises allow us to build our coalition foundation."

Developing appropriate operations and missions, along with the availability of the Eglin range as a training location, contributes to the value of this exercise.

"It takes time and resources to do this. The ability of AFSOC to use the Eglin range exclusively for Emerald Warrior is a rare opportunity for training," said Lt. Col. Gary Hankins, Emerald Warrior 07 project officer. "Without Eglin range support this exercise would have not been possible. Eglin has allowed AFSOC the chance to use the range for two weeks, and serve as priority for operations on the range during that time," he added.

The scenario driving the exercise was based on U. S. and coalition military units working together to assist a pro-Western country who is being overtaken by a neighboring anti-Western country. In the scenario, the ally nation requested support with countering terrorist operations and regaining control of their territory.

Participating U.S. Air Force units included the 16th Special Operations Wing, the 720th Special Tactics Group, and the Air Force Special Operations Command from Hurlburt Field; the 46th Test Wing and the 53rd Wing from Eglin AFB, the Air National Guard's 111th Fighter Wing from Willow Grove, Penn.; the 552nd Air Control Wing from Tinker AFB, Okla.; the 116th Air Control Wing from Robins AFB, Ga.; and the 6th Air Mobility Wing, from MacDill AFB, Fla.
7th Special Forces Group (Airborne) Fort Bragg, N.C., also participated.
Coalition forces included German forces, the Lithuanian SOF Tactical Group, the Norwegian Army Special Operations Command and Danish Special Operations Forces.