Elmendorf Airmen help support Army's Operation Arctic Response

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Christopher Gross
  • 3rd Wing Public Affairs
ELMENDORF AIR FORCE BASE, Alaska --  "We're basically one team, one fight regardless of what uniform you're wearing or what patch you have on your shoulder," said Lt. Col. Patrick Weeks, the 517th Airlift Squadron director of operations.

Two active-duty and Alaska Air National Guard C-17 units, the 517th AS and the 249th AS, provided assistance to the U.S. Army Alaska Soldiers Aug. 24 and 26 during Operation Arctic Response. The operation is an Emergency Deployment Readiness Exercise testing the capabilities of the military to rapidly respond to crisis situations within the state of Alaska.

The exercise lasted from Aug. 17-28 and consisted of various missions designed to challenge USARAK's Soldiers. However, it wasn't until Aug. 24 and 26 that they needed Elmendorf's support.

As part of the exercise scenario, USARAK was alerted the morning of Aug. 24 of a person in the state intending to harm the local installations. The rapid reaction force from Fort Richardson quickly responded. They contacted Elmendorf requesting air support for their troops and supplies to a location somewhere in Alaska. The 517th and 249th provided assistance and deployed about 120 Soldiers along with five pallets, two Humvees, one trailer and one passenger carrier to a designated area in Alaska.

The 517th and the 249th each flew one of their C-17 Globemaster IIIs to the designated site. They performed a semi-prepared runway operations landing and deployed the Soldiers and their supplies. The forward site was on a rough and rocky surface with the engines running ready to take off as soon as the aircraft were unloaded.

With no forklifts to unload the pallets, the crew performed a combat offload by lowering the ramp just above the ground and unlocking the pallets. Then they revved up the engines and released the brakes letting the pallets slide out the back, and prepared themselves to take off.

"The SPRO-ops is something they're executing in Afghanistan right now, on a frequent basis," said Colonel Weeks. "It's not asphalt and it's not concrete. It's dirt, rock and a pretty unique capability the C-17 has."

"Because it's different, there's a lot of training that we're going to get out of it," said Capt. Nate Drewry, the mission commander for the 517th AS and one of the pilots during the exercise. Drewry put together the missions that were flown during the operation, and briefed and answered questions for those who participated.

"This is a pretty unique training opportunity for us," said Maj. Benjamin Nealy, a 249 AS pilot with prior C-130 SPRO experience. "With this exercise we can integrate the active-duty and the guard forces to support the Army."

Colonel Weeks said that this was a great opportunity to work joint operations and total force integration.

"We're not just up here doing things on our own, we have the Army here, and we have great resources to train with. We can also seamlessly train with the 249th Airlift Squadron in our own back yard," he added.