McConnell returns from multi lateral exercise

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Ronald Lafosse
  • 22nd Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs
MCCONNELL AIR FORCE BASE, Kan. --  Team McConnell members returned home from an undisclosed location April 24 after completing a Multi-lateral exercise testing their special operations air refueling capabilities.

The ten-day exercise, which began April 15, tested Airmen on their ability to forward deploy and generate aircraft in support of special operations air refueling missions without home station support.

The complex exercise scenario orchestrated over 900 Special Operations members from 6 commands and multiple branches of the military in support of Joint Chiefs of Staff and National Command Authority directives. This exercise was critical to provide necessary training to ground troops and aircrew before deploying for world-wide operations. The role of the KC-135 was to provide air refueling to the other aircraft participating in the exercise and to assist in the certification of other aircrew and units in SOAR training. KC-135s flew 16 sorties out during this exercise and offloaded over one million pounds of fuel to 39 receivers.

More than 80 Airmen from 21 different agencies or specialties, supported five aircraft and aircrews from McConnell, proving these Airmen there are SOAR ready.

"When you look at the crews deployed to the desert and all the other TACC missions we are tasked with, it makes it extremely difficult to train and be prepared for contingency responses," said Maj. Larry Schutz, detachment commander. "It is definitely a challenge for McConnell, but that is what we get paid to do, overcome those challenges--and we are now much more capable of responding to special ops contingencies,"


"The Airmen performed superbly; this was the smoothest Multi-lateral exercise that I have been associated with," said Major Schutz.