Joint exercise accomplishes historical achievements

US Air Force,

KUNSAN AIR BASE, South Korea: For the past week Airmen have been participating in an operational readiness exercise alongside South Korea airmen and soldiers, testing the combined mission of the two allies stationed here.

Even though the ORE is a regular occurance, the exercise made history with two separate events.

The first historical event included American and Korean pilots and intelligence officers conducting mission planning and flying operations together. The second was a mass causality exercise simulating Korean and U.S. Airmen injured in a mortar attack resulting in 8th Medical Group Airmen provided medical attention to the wounded alongside Korean medical technicians.

Joint mission planning for the exercise began Jan. 4 with an academic lesson with Airmen from the 8th Fighter Wing and Korean air force's 38th Fighter Group. The group came together again Jan. 12 to complete mission planning for the entire week to include assigning targets per the air tasking order, flight call signs, mission numbers, a weapons load list for each sortie and to ensure safety of flight with multiple F-16 Fighting Falcons flying in the same training airspace.

“The key to joint flying operations begins with mission planning,” Col. Kenneth Rizer, the 8th Operations Group commander said. “Whenever we fly we must ensure we are able to employ safely and complete the mission as prescribed in the air tasking order or the training objective.”

Although the 8th FW and 38th FG pilots train together on a regular basis flying during an ORE only strengthens the working relationship, Colonel Rizer said.

“The more the two organizations are able to train together on real world scenarios the better both will be to help maintain the peace and stability in the Pacific region,” he said. During the week-long ORE the two units flew more than 240 sorties.

For Maj. Benjamin Busch, the 8th Operations Support Squadron chief of wing weapons and tactics, the opportunity to mission plan with their Korean counterparts was critically important in helping the national defense for South Korea by increasing the capability of both Air Forces.

“The end state is to employ combat forces together more effectively,” he said. “By training together we learn how they think and employ while at the same time they learn to mission plan. We can't individually do these missions without each other.”

The other learning opportunity for the week was the medical group's mass causality exercise Jan 16 with the 38th FG.

Before the exercise began 10 Korean and seven U.S. Airmen received moulage, a process to make injuries and wounds realistic on role players acting as patients. Once role players were ready for their part they were transported to an area belonging to the 38th FG where a mortar attack was simulated.

Maj. Charles Flowe,  an 8th Medical Operations Squadron and exercise evaluation team member for the scenario, said having the attack within the South Korea compound meant they would be the first responders on the scene providing life-saving medical care. Once patients were stabilized, Korean medics transported them to the American clinic for additional care provided by both Korean and U.S. medical professionals.

The entire scenario went incredibly well not only due to the precoordination accomplished by the two organizations but by all the first responders and medics who were part of the scenario, he said.

“This was a great scenario as all aspects went well making it a great learning experience,” Major Flowe said.

However, there is room for improvement to include better communication and flow of patients through the facility, he said.

For Maj. (Dr.) Greg Sweitzer, the 8th MDG chief of the medical staff, the experience was better than expected, especially as it was their first mass casuality exercise together.

“There is the obvious barrier of communication, but after that, the standard for medical care is unchanged,” he said. “As doctors we were able to integrate medical technicians to apply splits and IVs all the same, and triage the sickest first to get medical attention.”

He looks forward to other training opportunities with the South Korea air force, he said.

With the conclusion of the ORE, the 8th FW and 38th FG will continue to train together to become even stronger allied partners and continue to provide peace and stability to the region.