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Show WIGMTER fTOUNim 388th Fighter Wing Supplement to Hilltop Times August 1993 exercise labelled a 'success VDoig by SrA. Bob Crenshaw LOGSTARs visit 388th Fighter Wing Editor, Fighter Country The 388th Fighter Wing recently completed a Phase II combat readiness exercise, but according to the wing's plans and exercise chief, wing personnel should get ready for more. A Phase II exercise tests the wing's ability to wage war and provides training and practice for larger inspections. The wing's recent exercise was the first in a series of exercises in preparation for an Air Combat Command Operational Readiness Inspection to be held in October 1994. "We practice the procedures and simulations that you have to do for an inspection," said Lt. Col. Bob Herris, Wing Plans and Exercises chief. "Though we are not in a combat environment, we are expected to show combat capability and potential to inspectors during higher headquarters inspections. We exercise to smooth out the procedures and simulations needed to show realistic capabilities when the time comes." Many different aspects of the wing's readiness, from the individual on the flightline's job performance to how well bombs are dropped, are tested during the exercises. To hone these skills and determine if any changes need to be made concerning the way the wing conducts business, Herris and his evaluation team make observations and recommend changes to the wing commander. "I would rate this exercise as a success," said Herris. "In general, the wing does a real good job at what it does. There are some minor items that need work, but we (the evaluation team) didn't see anything in a critical area that was bad." The wing commander, Col. James E. Sandstrom, backed those comments up, adding his own personal praise to the people on the flightline: "The wing did an excellent job during the exercise. I was particularly impressed with the maintenance effort. Our main objective in this exercise was sortie production. We limited our chemical warfare play to accomplish this objective. Our aircraft performed much better than in fewer aborts, fewer April (the wing's last exercise) fewer breaks, inflight emergencies. That doesn't just d attention to detail happen. It's the result of maintenance." Limiting the chemical warfare play to enhance sortie generation met its success; however, some wing members expressed some concerns about the realism of the exercise by not wearing the chemical warfare gear during the whole exercise. Herris commented on this, and said that exercise planners try to ensure the exercise is as realistic as possible, but various restraints demand changes. "There are two sides to an exercise, unit perfor-hard-nose- I Col. Michael J. Koerner, 388th Operations Group commander, shows John Myers, chief executive officer for Thiokol, the flight simulator used by wing pilots. is 388th Fighter Wing's LOGSTARs, a the of one Myers F-- 16 mance and individual performance," he said. "We set a scenario up against a certain location so we can practice the procedures we would be expected to follow if we were actually deployed to that area. That we chose Korea, against the many places the wing might actually be tasked, gives the unit a scenario to use from the command and control perspective more than anything, From the flying, execution and individual perspective, it gives us the opportunity to practice the types of like saying procedures that would be used in Korea alarm "blue" instead of "red" as they do in Korea. "As for the people who think the exercises are unrealistic, I guess realism is in the mind of the beholder," Herris continued. "The way you're going to respond to an alarm condition, whether you're doing a scenario from Europe, South America, Korea or Saudi Arabia is going to be the same." Herris also commented that it is probably easier to go to war for real, than to simulate a realistic exercise. "You can only get so real sitting in Utah compared to sitting in Korea with a Korean scenario. In war, you have a real threat you don't have to project yourself into a scenario when you have the potential of a real Scud missile coming in," he said. "When we're doing an exercise, we have to input these things into the scenario to practice our capabilities. 1 388th Fighter Wing sponsors enlisted - The 388th Fighter Wing enlisted corps is sponSaturday, at the Hill soring an enlisted dining-iAFB NCO Club. The social hour will being at 6 p.m. with dinner at 7 p.m. The uniform will be battle dress uniforms n, (BDUs). Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force (Retired) r dining-i- n Robert D. Taylor will be the guest speaker for the event Prices are: Airman basic through sergeant, $ 1 2; Staff sergeant through technical sergeant, $ 14; and master sergeant through chief master sergeant, $ 1 6. Tickets are still available through your squadron chiefs and first sergeants. program which teams local civic leaders with 388th commanders to improve understanding between community leaders and the Air Force. Five LOGSTARs received an orientation tour of the wing's facilities Aug. 6. "The guy on the line might say, 'Well, we're in Korea and from what I know, the potential of four Scud attacks and three air base attacks is very unrealistic. We'd never get that.' Well, that may be true if we're really in war over there," Herris said. "We may not see any attacks. But, the point is, the scenario has to show and test those capabilities. It's got to show personal response. It's got to show ability to survive and operate capability. The IG team will expect to see that (during the ORI). The only way you can show your capabilities is to force it through the scenario. Is it totally realistic? Of course not, but we try to get as close as we can." Whether the exercises get more realistic to the men and women of the 388th or not, they'll have plenty of time for gearing up. The wing plans to have five more exercises before the ORI. These exercises will be combined Phase I and Phase II exercises, incorporating the deployment process with the combat effectiveness and get ready for them to be a little rougher portion than previous ones, according to Herris. "We should exercise a whole lot harder than what we should expect to get from the IG team," said the colonel "We should basically pound ourselves somewhat into the dirt, so that when the IG team showup, it's a piece of cake. "In future exercises, perhaps not the frequency of the attacks, but the intensity and timing of the attacks will not be so "convenient" as they were in the last one," he said.. There will be more of a command and control requirement in the reaction and the length of the exercises, the lengths of condition black will be longer than what we expect the IG team will do to us. We mean to make it as hard on ourselves as we can without shutting ourselves down. That would serve no purpose." "If we can work in the most difficult circumstances now, when the IG team shows up and does it to us for real, everyone can stand up and say, 'Shoot, we've seen this before. This is a piece of cake.'" i fighter Country b a supplement to the Hilltop Times, published by MorMedla, Inc., a private firm In no way connected with the U.S. Air Force, under exclusive written contract with the Ogden ALC Public Affairs Office. This commercial enterprise Air Force newspaper Is an authorized publication for members of the U.S. military services. 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