Service members work together ensuring mission success during Pacific Iron 21

Photo By Tech. Sgt. Benjamin Sutton | U.S. service members pose for a group photo at the Tinian International Airport, Tinian, Aug. 2, 2021, during Pacific Iron 21. Pacific Iron 2021 is a Pacific Air Forces dynamic force employment operation to project forces into USINDOPACOM’s area of responsibility in support of the 2018 National Defense Strategy which called on the military to be a more lethal, adaptive, and resilient force. (U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Benjamin Sutton)  

NORTHERN MARIANA ISLANDS

08.09.2021

Story by Tech. Sgt. Benjamin Sutton 

36th Wing

TINIAN, Northern Mariana Islands -- Service members from across the globe have been participating in Operation Pacific Iron 21 from the island of Tinian for more than two weeks.

Throughout the operation, service members have been honing specialized tactics and techniques in a new environment: the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.

"Our mission while deployed to the CNMI during Pacific Iron is to set up a functioning and mission effective operating team," said Capt. Austin Sewell, 389th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron assistant director of maintenance. "We set up the fuel bladder as soon as possible in order to operate the aircraft effectively. Quickly catching and refueling the jets to get them back into the air and ready to fight is an essential task. This allowed us to support the air tasking order effectively and generate as much airpower as possible."

Operations like Pacific Iron 21, incorporate Agile Combat Employment concepts to ensure forward-deployed forces in the Indo-Pacific are ready to protect and defend the United States and ensure readiness to operate alongside allies and security partners.

"We are supporting ACE concepts by providing defensive counter-air mission support and integrating with other aircraft," said Maj. Christopher Leonard, 389th EFS director of operations. "Specifically, we are flying our F-15E Strike Eagles out of Tinian, meeting up with other aircraft in the airspace and then performing our defensive counter-air missions."

ACE is the use of agile operations to generate resilient airpower in a contested environment and is designed to organize, train, and equip Airmen to be more agile in operation execution, strategic in deterrence, and more resilient in capabilities.

"The ACE and dynamic force employment concepts have factored into everything we are doing," said Sewell. "We have been training on these tactics for a while and specifically in the past six months we now have Multi-capable Airmen trained in a variety of tasks, allowing us to bring less people to austere locations and be fully mission capable."

One example Sewell mentioned was having Airman trained in both metals technology and sheet metal repair so the team on Tinian can fix potential problems and keep sorties going.

"Additionally, the members here who are from many different career fields are now trained on a lot of useful tasks like setting up tents, learning radio etiquette, working logistics, and performing necessary roles outside of their normal jobs," said Sewell. "From the maintenance side, we trained our specialty members in ways to help our crew chiefs out and showcase these MCA and DFE skills to really assist in a big way during flight line operations."

According to the 2018 National Defense Strategy, DFE allows for more flexibility in using ready forces to proactively shape the strategic environment while maintaining readiness to respond to contingencies and ensure long-term warfighting readiness.

"This operation has increased readiness and lethality by giving us the opportunity to practice necessary skills in this deployed environment," said Sewell. "Training at home station is always effective but coming to a new place and practicing these skills in an austere environment is such an outstanding opportunity. We are on a much more tactical level while deployed here and are working through the challenges as a team in order to be successful."

Both Sewell and Leonard mentioned weather as probably the biggest challenge to generating resilient airpower continuously throughout Pacific Iron 21.

"Flying in a new environment from a civilian airfield, dealing with rapidly changing weather which can alter plans at a moment's notice, and facing logistical hurdles due to that weather in order to be successful and continue generating aircraft are just some of the hurdles we have overcome while here," said Leonard. "We are able to overcome all this by going back to basic Airmanship, working with the Tinian air traffic controllers, using our in-house tactical weather kit capabilities in order to get the best situational awareness so we can safely execute the mission."

The deployed team, led by the 389th EFS has weathered these challenges and made this operation successful from Tinian.

"I'm very impressed with the team and how well everyone has performed while here," said Sewell. "There have been a lot of great discussions about ways we can improve for the future from the lessons learned. We definitely have the right team to be successful and watching everyone come together and immediately volunteer to help, constantly ask what more they can do, it's been very rewarding for us all."

• Date Taken: 08.09.2021
• Date Posted: 08.11.2021 15:31
• Story ID: 402591
• Location: MP