ELLSWORTH AIR FORCE BASE, S.D. -- Airmen from the 28th Logistic Readiness Squadron and the 28th LRS Travel Management Office have begun operations for Red Flag Exercise 17-1.
In just two days, these Airmen loaded approximately 321k pounds of equipment onto 17 trucks destined for the desert of Nevada Jan. 16 and 17.
“It went really smooth,” said Staff Sgt. Joshua Stage, the non-commissioned officer in-charge for TMO’s outbound cargo assigned to the 28th LRS. “It’s been a lot, but we’ve gotten through it.”
The platforms, generators, floodlights and hydraulic lifts loaded will be used by Airmen from the 28th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron and 37th Bomb Squadron participating in this iteration of Red Flag at Nellis AFB, Nevada. The exercise will take place Jan. 23 to Feb. 10.
“It’s necessary for this equipment to be down there,” said Senior Airman Matthew Nielson, the assistant team leader assigned to the 28th LRS. “These jets break down, so we need our maintainers down there to fix them, but without the proper tools, they can’t do that.”
Red Flag tests combat air forces’ ability to train and fight together on more than 15,000 square miles of airspace and 2.9 million acres of land. The exercise hosts squadrons from across the U.S., training bomber, fighter and Remotely Piloted Aircraft pilots and aircrew members in air-to-air combat.
“It feels pretty good knowing the cargo we load is going to be used,” Stage said. “We have a lot of job satisfaction knowing everything we touch tends to be the real stuff going to go do work.”