Sabre Strike 11 refuels NATO, family spirit

  • Published
  • By Capt. Scott Frohardt
  • 100th Operations Group
ADAZI TRAINING ARIA, Latvia --  The 100th Air Refueling Wing participated in a multinational Joint Terminal Air Controller exercise with Europe's Baltic states Oct. 19 to 22.

The United States, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia and Poland were involved in the coordination and training of JTACs and Polish F-16 close air support missions during Operation Sabre Strike 11 at Adazi Training Aria, Latvia.

The purpose of this exercise was to continue mutual support for the fight in Afghanistan and demonstrate previous successful NATO coordination in Operation Iraqi Freedom.

The 100th ARW provided fuel to the Polish F-16s, which allowed the fighters to conduct bomb and strafing runs as coordinated by the NATO JTAC trainees and instructors. This marked the first time that live munitions were dropped in Latvia since their separation from Russia in 1992.

Instructor pilot Capt. Alex Waxman, 351st Air Refueling Squadron, flew the last air refueling flight for the Polish fighters Oct 22. He carried Polish photographer Mariusz Adamski on the mission and with the near flawless mission planning and coordinated take-off times, the Polish military fighters allowed for excellent photographs and mission execution.

After the flight, the photographer attended the 100th Operations Group "American Chili cook off and family Halloween party."

"I have never seen this type of spirit and camaraderie so well put together in any military," said Mr. Adamski.

His excitement led him to take many pictures of this event so he would be able to share it with his Polish friends. The party was a proper ending to a joint operation focused on building better foreign relations between the U.S. military and NATO allies.