Leave no man behind: Joint-service search, rescue integration

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Ryan Conroy
  • 31st Fighter Wing Public Affairs
AVIANO AIR BASE, Italy --  U.S. Airmen and Soldiers integrated combat search and rescue capabilities during training exercises, June 23, at Cellina Meduna training grounds near Maniago, Italy.

The training aimed to enhance interoperability between sister services, allowing Team Aviano personnel an opportunity to practice potential real-world scenarios.

"Heaven forbid we have a real-world downed pilot behind enemy lines -- we don't want that to be our first experience rescuing them," said Col. Scott Price, 31st Medical Squadron chief of flight medicine. "Nowadays, our services are more integrated than ever and it's more realistic that way. Air Force doesn't only rescue Air Force and Army doesn't only rescue Army. We work as a team and this helps streamline the process."

Establishing a good relationship with other branches of the U.S. military helps mitigate risk and confusion in the event of a real-life situation requiring military intervention and assistance, said Price.

The exercise included the assimilation of 12th Combat Aviation Brigade UH-60 Black Hawk medical and AH-64 Apache assault helicopters, 510th Fighter Squadron F-16 Fighting Falcons; 31st Operations Support Squadron Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape specialists and dozens of "opposing forces" on the ground.

"The Air Force and the Army have a great responsibility to ensure we have the ability to recover isolated personnel," said Tech. Sgt. Kevin Wilson, 31st OSS SERE specialist. "The capability must be maintained so that we can ensure the safe return of our men and women if they find themselves isolated."

This is the second time the 31st FW has hosted the 12th CAB for joint training. This time, a more in-depth training was held to incorporate medical scenarios in the field and on return from a "combat environment."

An advanced medical simulator dummy was incorporated into the scenario along with one pilot from the 555th Fighter Squadron, who served as the downed pilots. An opposing ground force consisting of four vehicles and 20 personnel were involved and served as dynamic targets for the air assets to engage.

The pilot is taught all the things necessary to evade capture and get recovered successfully. These things include movement, camouflage and signaling techniques. He is also taught how to operate his survival radio and other aircraft-specific survival equipment.

"Training and working closely with the CSAR helicopter assets is an added benefit here, because they are our main source of transportation to isolated personnel," Wilson said. "They provide an excellent training platform for us. We work congruently to help each other keep up on mandatory training requirements."

After the pilot is rescued, Soldiers and Airmen worked hand-in-hand to treat the "patients" to ensure proper medical attention was received. The practice ensures a seamless transition between the two services.

"SERE originally wanted to include helicopters into their monthly isolation training for a more realistic experience in the field for pilots," said Price. "We figured a lot of downed pilots are also injured and wanted to incorporate that into the scenarios. Having an injury in the field makes it reprehensibly more difficult to survive across the board and utilizing up-to-date training such as this only increases the chances of survival in the real world."

With such an in-depth training regimen performed this quarter, there are those behind the scenes coordinating for the next iteration.

"I think we learned a lot from the 12th CAB's last visit as far as how much we could expand our training capabilities for these joint exercises," said Tech. Sgt. Ashley Shows, 31st FW Plans and Programs NCO in charge. "This training was much more in depth and I only see it continuing to grow. We have learned lessons every time, which we can improve on the next time. New personnel bring new ideas and the environment here at Aviano provides great training opportunities for these types of exercises."