Fort Drum hosts Air Force training exercise

  • Published
  • By Paul Steven Ghiringhelli
  • The Mountaineer staff writer
FORT DRUM, N.Y. --  Fort Drum extended an arm of camaraderie to active-duty U.S. Air Force personnel this week, allowing a contingent of supersonic F-15E Strike Eagles from North Carolina to rumble through North Country airspace.

Ahead of its four-day training exercise that began Saturday, 333rd Fighter Squadron of the 4th Fighter Wing at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base in Goldsboro, N.C., transported a 136,000-pound arsenal of bombs and more than $700 million worth of aircraft to Fort Drum.

The squadron's mission was to conduct critical training for student fighter pilots and crews by using a dozen F-15E fighter jets for air-to-air maneuvers and live weapons drops.

"Our job is to teach brand-new pilots - and weapon system operators who fly in the back seat of the aircraft - essentially how to fly," said Capt. David Cochran, instructor pilot for the squadron's F-15E formal training unit.

The exercise was supported by a small Air Force contingent already attached to Fort Drum - the Forward Operating Location of 174th Fighter Wing, which is a New York Air National Guard unit based in Syracuse.

Maj. Marcia Cole, 174th Fighter Wing FOL commander, said a handful of Air National Guard units in the Northeast have trained at Fort Drum before, but never a regular Air Force unit.

She said her unit based at Fort Drum maintains support capabilities for the F-15, F-16 and A-10 fighter jets.

"This is the first active-duty Air Force base deployment (to Fort Drum)," Major Cole said. "We're hosting them, providing them with equipment, vehicles, airspace and support. We're (also) facilitating the (involvement of) Air National Guard units."

The training operation, which concluded Aug. 10, included nearly 200 Airmen and company-grade officers from Seymour Johnson. Student pilots and crews trained alongside various Air National Guard units, including Barnes Air National Guard out of Westfield, Mass.

Captain Cochran said Seymour Johnson's Air Force personnel were excited about the training and appreciated the Fort Drum community's support.

"In the past, we never made it up here; we typically go out West," he said. "Obviously, this is a lot more convenient for us to be here on the East Coast.

"The location is good; the airspace is incredible," he added. "They've opened up a good chunk of airspace. The bombing range here is unparalleled on the East Coast."

The group of pilots underwent six months of intensive training at Seymour Johnson before arriving at Fort Drum. After their training here, they are ready to be assigned to an operational unit or to head out into combat.

"What we're doing up here this week is essentially a capstone exercise for these guys," Captain Cochran said. "We're going to take them up ... and have them fight against a simulated air threat. We're going to have them go through some ground threats that we're simulating as well and take out some realistic targets up in the Adirondack range just outside of base."

Officials said residents who live near post, south of Watertown or about 12 miles northeast of Wheeler-Sack Army Airfield most likely heard a few low-flying jets or concussions from a 2,000-pound bomb over the past few days.

Captain Cochran emphasized the importance of the training exercise here and pointed out that the Air Force personnel trained at Fort Drum would benefit greatly from the experience, especially if called upon to enter a war zone.

"To do something like this means that (if) these (pilots) are asked in three months' time to go to Afghanistan and operate out of an airfield there, it's not the first time they've showed up somewhere new and felt comfortable enough to (land)," he said.