Clear Sky closing ceremony celebrates accomplishments, honors sacrifice

Clear Sky 2018 concluded today with a ceremony at Starokostiantyniv Air Base, Ukraine. The 12-day exercise was the first U.S. Air Forces in Europe-sponsored air-centric regional security exercise of its kind in Ukraine. The exercise was overall deemed a success by leadership for advances in interoperability between U.S., Ukrainian and partner-nation forces. “We are better, faster, stronger, smarter, and closer than we were just two weeks ago,” Maj. Gen. Clay Garrison, California Air National Guard commander and Clear Sky exercise director told airmen from the U.S., Ukraine and other partner nations gathered at the ceremony. “This is due to your hard work and dedication to the mission, and it has been spectacular.”

Airmen from the 144th Fighter Wing, California Air National Guard, salute during closing the closing ceremony for Clear Sky 2018 at Starokostiantyniv Air Base, Ukraine, Oct. 19, 2018. Approximately 950 participants from nine nations took part in the exercise, which focused primarily on command and control, air sovereignty, air mobility, personnel recovery, air-to-ground operations and cyber defense.

Maj. Gen. Clay Garrison, California Air National Guard commander and Clear Sky exercise director, shakes hands with his Ukrainian counterpart, Maj. Gen. Andrii Yaretskyi, following the closing ceremony for Clear Sky, Oct. 19, 2018. The exercise brought together servicemembers and assets from nine nations, to include Ukraine, Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, the United Kingdom and the United States, enhancing interoperability and regional security.

U.S. and Ukrainian pilots embrace following the closing ceremony for Clear Sky 2018 at Starokostiantyniv Air Base, Ukraine, Oct. 19, 2018. Both sides suffered tragedy during the exercise, as a training accident claimed the lives of one U.S. pilot, Lt. Col. Seth “Jethro” Nehring, and one Ukrainian pilot, Col. Ivan Petrenko. Both were killed when the SU-27 Petrenko was flying with Nehring in the back seat on a routine familiarization training flight crashed on Oct. 16. “While we speak different languages, we are tightly bound together through shared values, such as friendship, family and freedom,” said Maj. Gen. Clay Garrison, California Air National Guard commander and Clear Sky exercise director. “Although our planes and people will depart over the next few days, and although we’ve been mourning together the last few days, we want you to know that our hearts will remain in Ukraine forever.”