Major international drill based at D-M to focus on rescue skills, coordination

Tucson Region
Major international drill based at D-M to focus on rescue skills, coordination
By Carol Ann Alaimo
Arizona Daily Star
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 11.15.2008
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To troops downed in combat, few sights are sweeter than the approach of military rescuers. In a few weeks, Tucson will be at the center of efforts to speed up that lifesaving process.
Personnel from around the globe will converge at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base from Dec. 1 to Dec. 12 for the largest rescue exercise of its kind.
The effort, dubbed Angel Thunder, will involve the U.S. Army and Air Force, troops from Germany, Chile, Colombia and observers from Canada, Mexico, Brazil and Pakistan.
Several non-military U.S. agencies such as the State and Justice departments, the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency and the National Reconnaissance Office, also will take part in the drills, which aim to smooth interaction between military branches, allied nations and civilian agencies.
With about 450 personnel involved, Angel Thunder "is the most complex and largest Department of Defense personnel- recovery exercise to date," said a news release from Air Combat Command in Langley, Va.
D-M will be at the hub of the effort, but most of the mock rescue action will take place elsewhere in Arizona and in New Mexico.
Tucsonans may notice some unfamiliar aircraft in the skies during the drills, such as Vietnam-era UH-1N Huey helicopters, which will be used to airlift personnel and equipment to and from training.
But D-M officials predict minimal impact on city residents because some of the base's normal training will be suspended during the exercises, and the heaviest traffic will be at remote sites.
For many of the military participants, the drills will serve as pre-deployment training for missions in Iraq and Afghanistan, said Maj. Brett Hartnett, a D-M rescue pilot and project officer in charge of the event.
Some of the practice runs are classified â?? the Defense Department doesn't want enemies knowing the methods used by military rescuers â?? so few details are being released, Hartnett said.
But a major part of training will center on a mock earthquake in a foreign country near a combat zone â?? the same scenario that arose in Pakistan a few years back when U.S. combat rescuers in Afghanistan were diverted over the border to aid civilian survivors.
Military rescuers often are called upon to save civilians during natural disasters abroad and at home. No matter who needs saving, many basic rescue skills are the same, Hartnett said.
Such training is crucial to keeping skills sharp, and ensuring agencies can work together well, Hartnett said.
"We need to do what we need to do to bring the kids back home," he said.