HURLBURT FIELD, Fla. -- The 1st Special Operations Wing held their fourth-quarter Emergency Deployment Readiness Exercise, Carbonite Archer, at Marine Corp Air Station Miramar, San Diego, Calif., Nov. 3 through 6.
Exercise Carbonite Archer focused on the wing’s ability to deploy aircraft and personnel and to stand-up its warfighting capability anywhere in the world.
“We exercise our capabilities by going to different places and working with different airfields, allowing for training options not available back home,” said Maj. Joshua Kirkum, 1st Special Operations Air Operations Squadron assistant director of operations. “This is one of the more challenging exercises the 1st SOW has put on because we had the opportunity, here on a Navy base, to accomplish training we have never been able to during other EDREs.”
The 1st SOW provided a total of eight aircraft for this exercise, including four CV-22 Ospreys, two U-28s, one MC-130H Talon II and one AC-130U Spooky gunship.
In addition to these aircraft, Air Commandos utilized resources and assets from the U.S. Navy and Marines.
“This is one of the most important training exercises we can accomplish,” Kirkum said. “If we do not train our ability to get the aircraft to the fight then we cannot do our missions effectively.”
The exercise began with Full Mission Profiles, where all 1st SOW assets play part in a portion of the daily mission. During these missions, the 1st SOW teamed up with its counterparts from the Navy to gain valuable training with joint special operations members.
“Our joint partners from the U.S. Naval Special Warfare Command have been very supportive,” said Lt. Col. Phil Forbes 1st Special Operations Air Operations Squadron commander. “There was a full Air Force and Navy partnership during this exercise.”
The ground party missions took place at Naval Air Station North Island, Calif., and the air operations were conducted out of MCAS Miramar.
During this exercise, the 1st SOW operated on five airfields and used two airspaces for live-fire and airdrop bundles.
“We wanted to go somewhere we had never been before, to seek out a new challenge,” Forbes said. “This environment has the ranges that allow us to deploy our weapons systems to the fullest.”
Forbes said at the end of the exercise that 1st SOW members proved to be proficient and ready for deployment any time, any place.
“This exercise is very beneficial to everyone involved,” Forbes said. “Not only is it readying us for any pop-up contingency that we may have to support but you can see the proficiency of our people when they go downrange – it feeds into their capability when they go into an existing command and control structure.”