Delaware National Guard - DNG News 2002

Delaware National Guard
Report from the field:
166 CES deploys 46 to Silver Flag
By Tech. Sgt. Kenneth L Bennett, 166 CES,
with information from 823 Red Horse Squadron Detachment 1, Tyndall AFB, FL, and Capt. Elias Danucalov, 166 CES

Background: Air Force Civil Engineers must be able to support air operations worldwide. This requirement is one of the few constants in a changing world. But different times demand new solutions to old problems. In 1992, the Air Force CE leaders decided a new direction was needed for CE readiness training. One of their decisions was to create the Silver Flag program to train mobile Prime Beef teams.

Mission: The 166 Civil Engineer Squadron deployed 3-9 Mar 02 to Tyndall AFB, FL for readiness training. 166 CES was transported to "Houch City" on arrival to the Silver Flag Training Site of the 823 RED HORSE Squadron, Detachment 1.

Purpose: The purpose of Silver Flag exercise program was "to provide crew task qualification free from home station constraints where Prime Beef and Prime RIBS core crews can train, practice, and complete contingency operations in a realistic environment for rapid deployment, anytime ... anywhere." The Silver Flag program is essential to CE readiness training, because many contingency tasks simply cannot be trained at home stations. The Silver Flag Exercise at Tyndall is free of many or all home station constraints and resource limitations. The airfield pavement, facilities, equipment, and qualified cadre are here so you can train in actual contingency tasks under realistic conditions using the same hardware you would have in a real world operation.

Concept: The Silver Flag program provides training for Prime Beef personnel. The curriculum focuses on preparing crews and individuals to perform both beddown and base recovery tasks, and students see the "big picture" in these exercises. Students are grouped by functional area (technical specialty) into crews for specialized training and task evaluation. Selected tasks included in the exercise show how functional areas work together.

Some students will receive training in "non traditional" tasks (those they think belong to another specialty). This was built into the program because real world contingency situations have demonstrated that the need to perform together as a team is critical to successful operations. Non traditional training is necessary to ensure that all mobile Prime Beef teams have some people trained in tasks, which the team could be called on to use in a contingency.

Just a note: Instead of great FL weather, our guys didn’t get to experience that. Instead they arrived when the temperature was a whopping 28 degrees. And of course, when they had to leave their great vacationing spot, the weather was a great 75 degrees. They sure experienced "real world" weather conditions.

Attendees: These personnel participated in the Silver Flag Exercises: Maj. Klabunde, Maj. Canning, Maj Devore, Capt. Danucalov, Chief Master Sgt. Porter, Senior Master Sgt. Hoffman, Master Sgt. Clugston, Master Sgt. Kitchens, Tech Sgt. Dialessandor, Tech Sgt. Clinton, Staff Sgt. Baxley, Senior Airman Whitfield, Tech Sgt. Lopez, Staff Sgt. Minner, Master Sgt. Tomeczyk, Senior Airman Williams, Senior Airman Pinnock, Airman First Class Harrison, Senior Master Sgt. Marrondola, Senior Airman Golden, Senior Airmen Griffith, Senior Airman Steward, Master Sgt. Curley, Tech. Sgt. Kohn, Master Sgt. Mesmer, Staff. Sgt. Bolen, Staff. Sgt. Hoopes, Senior Airman Montejo, Senior Airman Catts, Master Sgt. Sklodowski, Master Sgt. Spiering, Tech. Sgt. Caldwell, Master Sgt. Kay, Tech. Sgt. Morris, Senior Master Sgt. Stewart, Master Sgt. Chudzik, Senior Master Sgt. Darling, Master Sgt. Reedy, Master Sgt. Anderson, Tech. Sgt. Ledden, Tech. Sgt. Davis, Tech. Sgt. Knightly, Staff. Sgt. Moran, Staff. Sgt. Hultberg, Staff. Sgt. Sammon, and Tech. Sgt. Williams.