Photo By Senior Master Sgt. Denise Johnson | Staff Sgt. Sean Paris (left) and Tech. Sgt. Christopher Blake, 517th Expeditionary...... read more read more
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OHAKEA, New Zealand - Military parachute riggers from three nations joined together for a subject-matter exchange at Royal New Zealand Air Force Base Ohakea, New Zealand, Nov. 11 during the second annual Exercise Kiwi Flag.
Kiwi Flag is a multilateral RNZAF-sponsored tactical airlift exercise comprising air assets from the U.S. Air Force, RNZAF, Royal Australian Air Force, Republic Of Singapore Armed Forces and French Armed Forces of New Caledonia.
"It's important to take advantage of opportunities during this exercise to share our collective expertise," said Tech. Sgt. George Weaver, Combat Mobility noncommissioned officer-in-charge for the 517th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron. "Neither the Singaporeans nor the Kiwis maintain [C-17 Globemaster III] airframes in their inventory, so this 'rigger' training is a unique chance for them to learn how to rig parachutes for cargo drops from this jet."
The combat mobility team trained more than 20 personnel from the New Zealand Army, the RNZAF and the Republic of Singapore Air Force.
The Pacific-partners will have numerous opportunities to practice the newly-attained skill during the exercise which runs through Nov. 29. Kiwi Flag personnel are supporting Exercise Southern Katipo - held on New Zealand's South Island - by managing air operations and providing cargo and passenger airlift including tactical air drops to SK participants.
U.S. Air Force trainers taught attendees how to rig a "15-foot extraction chute to the 160-foot extraction line" for cargo air drops from the C-17. The small drogue chute, attached to a 60-foot line, sits in the back of the aircraft where it is pre-staged to catch the air current from the open ramp when activated mid-flight. When the drogue chute catches the current, the drogue rapidly pulls the extraction package, which in turn, pulls the cargo through the opening in the rear of the plane.
Sgt. Joseph Ho, Singapore Armed Forces parachute rigger and loadmaster, said he and his fellow service members enjoy opportunities to work on varied airframes.
"We have [C-130 Hercules] in Singapore, but try to make sure we continue to enhance our interoperable capabilities," Ho said. "What we are trying to do here today is learn one another's rigging skills and compare the differences in our techniques. We'll bring this training back home and collaborate and synchronize the information with our manuals; we'll make sure these practices don't compromise any of our Singapore-based protocols or safety instructions and perhaps incorporate or implement them into our own skill set."
Humanitarian assistance, disaster relief and contingency operations often comprise multinational components performing air-drop missions. A pre-established interoperable capability can mean the difference between life and death in extreme situations.
"Working with the United States and New Zealand armed forces enables us to synchronize our efforts so we know what to expect in the future. We have less chance of miscommunications and a higher likelihood of a combined success in the event of a real-world response," Ho added. "We can get things done quickly and more efficiently when we synchronize and collaborate as brothers in arms. When we have the foundation we're building here, we all know how to work together to make sure the necessary supplies get to the people-in-need, in time, such as during humanitarian-assistance efforts."
The drogue-training attendees said it is fairly easy to speak the same technical language because their homeland rigging training is based on common manuals, so the learning curve is not as steep.
"It's very good exposure because Singapore, New Zealand and the U.S. share the same rigger manuals, although we have individual adaptations according to our respective needs such as variances in loads and operations, but our basic procedures are more or less alike," Ho explained.
The U.S. Airmen are not the only group who will share technical expertise during Kiwi Flag. NZA personnel will provide U.S. Airmen a tutorial on rigging lightweight, inflatable watercraft to be deployed in an air-drop operation. NZA riggers use a middle-frame platform on which they stage the fully-inflated and equipped boat.
"Our [lightweight watercraft] rigging is normally used for our special-forces guys, who we support on a regular basis," said NZA Staff Sgt. Peter Baker from 5th Movements Company out of Linton Military Camp in Palmerston North, New Zealand.
When the SF request an air-drop-ready watercraft, the 5th Movements Co. personnel rig the boat for them.
"We store all our MFPs at our camp and when the request comes through, we either move up north to rig them, or we rig the boats down here and [SF members] fly down and collect them," Baker said.
The 15-year Army veteran said the riggers put ballast in the MFP for added weight so when it is freed from the boat on the water, the platform will sink, or "deep six," in a real-time situation - basically allowing the boat to simply drive off with very little preparation.
"The boat will get dropped out of the back of an aircraft on this platform; the SF guys or paratroopers will jump out after it and hopefully have a short swim to the boat," Baker said. "The swimmer will cut a certain line and the platform should just fall apart - they just have to jump in the boat, start it up and off they go ..."
Managing the rigging and the weight of the load in the boat is a critical part of the rigger's job.
"We have to work out where all the additional weight needs to go so the boat comes out of the aircraft at the right angle and lands flat; we also have to make sure the lines are placed just right, which are under tension, so the individual can successfully separate the boat from the platform with a single cut," Baker explained.
The NZA team is also going to take the U.S. combat mobility members to a landing zone recovery where they can exchange expertise on recovering air-dropped cargo.
"We're getting a two-for-one this go around," said Staff Sgt. Kyle Swader, 517th EAS combat mobility specialist. "We showed them how to rig the drogue shoot with the extraction package today and in return we'll get to see how they recover air-dropped cargo and rig their watercraft - which is a different process than we use."
The second annual Kiwi Flag has yielded multiple exchanges and provided opportunities for many more as participants wrap up the fifth day of the 23-day exercise.
"This is huge for us, anyway, because the United States Air Force has the C-17 airframe and although we've worked with the C-17 doing air drops down in Antarctica, we try to capitalize on any opportunity to familiarize ourselves with the jet," Baker said. "Some of our closest neighbors and allies have the C-17 in their inventory including the U.S., Australia and the United Kingdom ... this training allows us to assist and assimilate into unified operations. We can just jump in and become one of the team instead of being a student."
SK is New Zealand Defence Force's largest multilateral joint force amphibious exercise with eight other nations participating: United States Army and Marines, Australia, Canada, France, Malaysia, Singapore, Papua New Guinea and Tonga.
Weaver, a native of Loveland, Colo., and Swader, who hails from Topeka, Kansas, are both deployed from the 773rd Logistics Readiness Squadron at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska.
| Date Taken: | 11.11.2013 |
| Date Posted: | 11.22.2013 20:26 |
| Story ID: | 117272 |
| Location: | OHAKEA, AUCKLAND, NZ |
| Hometown: | LOVELAND, COLORADO, US |
| Web Views: | 105 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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