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HURLBURT FIELD: Emerald Warrior '07, Air Force Special Operations Command's first joint coalition exercise focused on training Air Force, Army and allied units in missions directly related to the war on terrorism, kicked off here Oct. 24.
Emerald Warrior '07, the first exercise completely planned by AFSOC, is also the first exercise integrating special operations and conventional forces with U.S. Special Operations Command as the supported command.
Operating in the afternoon and evenings from Oct. 25 to Nov. 3, participating units will train in the exfiltration and infiltration of personnel and equipment, personnel recovery operations, controlling close-air support, coordinating coalition support in operations, and exercising command and control elements. All activities will take place on the ground and in the air space of the range at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla.
The main focus of Emerald Warrior '07 is to train U.S. and coalition special operations forces in an integrated tactical and operational scenario, said Lt. Col. Rodger Bennett, chief of the AFSOC Joint/Combined Exercise Division.
“This exercise provides a great opportunity for units to work together in a training environment built specifically to meet their needs,” he said. “We asked each unit to tell us what they wanted to train in, and then integrated those missions into the exercise scenario.”
“Working with our coalition partners, we are trying to train like we fight to make sure we are ready to deploy and successfully execute our mission,” Colonel Bennett said.
“AFSOC takes advantage of any opportunity to train alongside those forces with which we regularly deploy,” he said. “We expect most future operations around the world to be performed in a coalition partnership, and these types of exercises allow us to build our coalition foundation.”
Developing appropriate operations and missions, along with the availability of the Eglin range as a training location, contributes to the value expected from this exercise.
“It's difficult for units with an extremely high operations tempo to deploy their people and equipment to a training location,” said Lt. Col. Gary Hankins, Emerald Warrior '07 project officer. “It takes time and resources to do this.
“The ability of AFSOC to use the Eglin range exclusively for Emerald Warrior is a rare opportunity for training. Without Eglin range support this exercise would have not been possible. Eglin has allowed AFSOC the chance to use the range for two weeks, and serve as priority for operations on the range during that time,” he said.
The scenario driving the exercise is based on United States and coalition military units working together to assist a pro-Western country who is being overtaken by a neighboring anti-Western country.
In the scenario, the ally nation requested support with countering terrorist operations and regaining control of their territory.
Participating U.S. Air Force units include: the 16th Special Operations Wing, 720th Special Tactics Group and AFSOC from Hurlburt Field; the 46th Test Wing and 53rd Wing from Eglin AFB; the Air National Guard's 111th Fighter Wing from Willow Grove, Penn.; 552nd Air Control Wing from Tinker AFB, Okla.; 116th Air Control Wing from Robins AFB, Ga.; and the 6th Air Mobility Wing from MacDill AFB, Fla.
The U.S. Army's A Company, 1/7th Special Forces Group, Fort Bragg, N.C., is also participating. Participating coalition forces come from Germany, Lithuaniana, Norway and Denmark.
