Ramstein Airmen work exercise in Romania

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Leo Brown
  • 442nd Fighter Wing Public Affairs
Mihail Kogalniceanu International Airport , Romania --  Lt. Col. Lance Wikoff, deployment commander for the exercise, stressed that the 130-plus Airmen and four Soldiers' time in the southeastern European country had critical short- and long-term value.

"The main purpose of why we're here is that we've got 19 people who are deploying in August and if they don't finish their semi-annual currencies here, they'd come back from their deployment non-current," Colonel Wikoff said during the exercise, which featured four C-130 aircraft.

"We're here to get training we can't get in Germany," he said. "We can't get night training and we have to get our deployers ready to deploy. This is a unique training opportunity."

Operating from Mihail Kogalniceanu International Airport in southeast Romania, near the Black Sea, Capt. William Taylor, 86th Contingency Response Group element commander for the exercise, said the location was excellent for the group, which comprised Airmen from a variety of units.

"This is what we'd do for real," he said during the exercise. "It's remote, austere. We have aircrews, maintenance and command and control - all the essential elements here to conduct off-station operations. We go anywhere. We're kind of like USAFE's 911. Within 12 hours, we can be out the door and anywhere in the world. Our time (in Romania) is just about honing our skills.

"We've had some good training here and that's always the key to anything," he added. "Aircrews are doing low-level training and airdrops - they have bundles they drop, trying to hit targets - during the day and combat off-loads and navigation operations at night."

Colonel Wikoff stressed that while the exercise had its share of "learning curves," things went well overall.

"Romania is one of those countries coming into the NATO fold," the colonel said. "And we are excited about building friendships and relationships between us and the Romanian military and civilians. We've dropped some of their special forces paratroopers and that's been great."

While relations between the Romanian and American forces deepened, Colonel Wikoff noted that interactions between the Airmen also went according to plan.

"It's been seamless," he said. "Maintenance has been outstanding. They've had issues every day, but we've lost almost no training because they've been proactive and they attack problems. Aircrews have jumped in to help and everyone has gone above and beyond. There's no bad blood here. It's been smooth."

"It's going well because of the fact that it's a tight group," Staff Sgt. Richard Mora, a hydraulics specialist with the 86th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron, said during the exercise. "Everybody helps each other and everyone is learning."

"You have a lot of people learning many tasks," he said. "I work hydraulics and maybe crew chiefs of fuels guys will start asking me about my work. It just advances everyone's knowledge and we all learn from each other."

Regardless of how well people work together, hardware is needed, obviously and that's where the worlds of flying and maintenance meet the world of supply.

Staff Sgt. Giovanni Joseph, a supply liaison between his 435th Logistics Readiness Squadron and the 86th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron, said the group hauled roughly 2,000 items with them. He said some of his inventory is as big as airplane wheels, literally.

"The biggest item is two main landing gear tires," he said during the exercise. "Those things are about five feet tall and you have to forklift one of those things to move it out. The smallest items - we have screws, washers, nuts, bolts.

"It's been pretty busy," Sergeant Joseph said. "We bring as many parts as we can in big bins."

While most Airmen worked 12-hour shifts during the exercise and at least one Airman, Senior Airman Nick Chaney, a flying crew chief with the 86th AMXS, filled his free time with hacky-sack and watching movies.

"It's like home minus everything," Sergeant Joseph said. "They told us to bring our own linens and maybe a pillow because we might not have any down here. I was like, 'Oh, wow! Where are we going?' But it's not too bad. There's a small Army PX [post exchange] nearby and they have a cantina here."

Capt. J. D. Foy, deputy mission commander for the exercise said, "Coming down here gives us a chance to integrate CRG and maintenance into one team, just like in a real-world deployment." 

Airmen exercising in Romania comprised a wide variety of organizations. They included the 435th Logistics Readiness Group (six members), 37th Airlift Squadron (63 members), the 86th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron (37 members), the 86th Air Mobility Squadron (17 members), the 786th Security Forces Squadron (four members), the 86th Contingency Response Group (two members), the 86th Operations Support Squadron (two members), the Air Force Academy (two members) and HQ U.S. Air Forces in Europe/Air and Space Operations (one member). Four Soldiers from the Army's 5th Quartermaster Detachment also participated.