USAF Expeditionary Center gains royal perspective

  • Published
  • By 1st Lt Sybil Taunton
  • US Air Force Expeditionary Center Public Affairs
JOINT BASE McGUIRE-DIX- LAKEHURST, N.J. --  In an effort to continue building a strong partnership, three members of the United Kingdom's Royal Air Force visited the U.S. Air Force Expeditionary Center to observe an Eagle Flag exercise taking place here Aug 21-27.

According to Flight Lt. Jules Park, a staff officer for the Lessons and Concepts Cell for RAF Huntington, the purpose of their visit to Eagle Flag was to learn more about training for contingency operations; assessing lessons learned.

"I think the biggest observation is the fact that you guys have pulled together all of the various competencies into one unit, whereas we have a lot of high readiness units and we pull together people to do specific jobs. You've already pulled them together so that they are training and exercising as a team," said Park.

The partnership between the Expeditionary Center and the RAF began when members of the EC attended a symposium hosted by the RAF Force Protection Center earlier this year.

"Back in April we had a Force Protection symposium, and it was joint with United Kingdom and U.S. Air Force personnel. Six of the invites went out to the Expeditionary Center," said U.S. Air Force Major Matt Gibson, exchange officer to the Royal Air Force, Force Protection Center.

Park also noted that three of the EC Airmen were able to sit in on a post-deployment debrief being conducted by the RAF. The debrief was used as an opportunity for members of the RAF to identify lessons learned that will feed back into their pre-deployment training.

"It was a really unique opportunity for the USAF guys to participate and observe," Gibson said.

Tech Sgt. William Lonergan, Infrastructure section chief for the 421st Combat Training Squadron here, was among the EC Airmen given the opportunity to visit the RAF.

"We look for differences and commonalities; what their capabilities are and what our capabilities are as far as pre-deployment training for people going downrange," he said.

Park said there will be three more RAF members visiting the Expeditionary Center next month to observe the pre-deployment training known as Combat Airman Skills Training.

"They are instructors for pre-deployment training, so they will effectively work alongside and shadow Expeditionary Center instructors," Park said. "This will deepen the understanding of how each others' courses are running and what they are teaching."

"Comparison is a big thing to see," said Squadron Leader Simon Reade, staff officer of Training Operations for the RAF Expeditionary Air Wing. "It provides us with a yardstick to see where we are in comparison with the U.S. Air Force and share ideas."