Photo By Scott Sturkol | An aircrew operates a C-130H Hercules with the 136th Airlift Wing of the Texas Air...... read more read more
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Air Force special operators parachuted from a C-130 Hercules to Fort McCoy’s Young Air Assault Strip and the Sparta-Fort McCoy Airport on July 17 to “secure” the airfields.
This was among many scenarios that took place on post for exercise Patriot North 2019 from July 15-18.
Those special ops Airmen were with the 123rd Special Tactics Squadron of the Kentucky Air National Guard at Louisville, and the C-130 was from the 136th Airlift Wing of the Texas Air National Guard at Fort Worth.
They were all part of the joint, interagency exercise, sponsored by the National Guard Bureau (NGB), that took place at the Volk Field as well as Fort McCoy, said Lt. Col. Mickey Kirschenbaum, Patriot North 2019 public affairs director.
The exercise is designed for civilian emergency management and responders to work with military entities in the same manner they would during disasters, said Lt. Col. Ashley Nickloes, deputy exercise director for Patriot North.
Nickloes said the training helps test the National Guard’s homeland and deployment capabilities.
“The exercise tests the National Guard’s abilities to support response operations based on simulated emergency scenarios, such as a strong storm bringing high winds or a storm surge creating a collapsed building, mass casualties, and the need for search and rescue along with evacuations of injured,” she said.
During the exercise, National Guard members, along with local, state, and federal partners, deployed to various exercise venues to practice those response activities, including Fort McCoy.
Nickloes discussed how Volk Field, Fort McCoy, and Wisconsin in general are great areas to hold the kind of training completed during Patriot North.
“Wisconsin is near and dear to my heart. Why? It’s because of the hospitality,” Nickloes said. “The people of Wisconsin go out of their way to make sure that we are at home, and we have everything we need to accomplish the mission of this exercise to its fullest capability. I really believe that the Combat Readiness Training Center at Volk Field is unparalleled in their support of what they can supply to this mission, and we love coming back here every year.
“A lot of people also might not realize is what Fort McCoy and Volk Field bring to the area and to the Guard,” she said.
“For what Fort McCoy provides, it has … (Young Air Assault Strip), where we can bring in C-17s and C-130s in addition to other aviation assets. This is a great field where we can come in and practice. You don’t have lights out here (on the airstrip), so this is what it would be like if they were flying into many areas in Afghanistan.”
Nickloes said Fort McCoy’s airstrip and the installation is especially useful for numerous exercise scenarios.
“(Fort McCoy) is a unique training area that allows us to have so many different training venues to train so many troops,” she said.
Exercise Director Lt. Col. Roger Brooks said the exercise is great for preparing the National Guard.
“Patriot North provides our Soldiers and Airmen with a chance to improve their skills to respond to a natural disaster and work with emergency management agencies,” Brooks said. “This exercise will allow all of us prepare for any disaster.”
According to exercise officials, more than 700 civilians, volunteers, and National Guard Soldiers and Airmen from more than 20 states supported the 2019 exercise.
Located in the heart of the upper Midwest, Fort McCoy is the only U.S. Army installation in Wisconsin.
The installation has provided support and facilities for the field and classroom training of more than 100,000 military personnel from all services each year since 1984.
Learn more about Fort McCoy online at https://home.army.mil/mccoy, on Facebook by searching “ftmccoy,” and on Twitter by searching “usagmccoy.”
| Date Taken: | 07.24.2019 |
| Date Posted: | 07.24.2019 16:52 |
| Story ID: | 332878 |
| Location: | FORT MCCOY, WISCONSIN, US |
| Web Views: | 182 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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