Kicking it up a notch: instructors incorporate combat experiences into training

In learning any new job or skill, experience is often the best teacher. That being the case, aspiring F-16 Fighting Falcon pilots at Luke Air Force Base, Ariz., are in an ideal learning environment, thanks to file efforts of a small cadre of Air Force Reserve pilots.

Like F 16 pilot instructors at other locations, the re servists, wire are assigned to the 944th Fighter Wing, use the Air Education and Training Command Initial Qualification Course syllabus to teach their students. However, in addition to this standard training, they kick the course up a notch by incorporating their experiences flying combat sorties in Afghanistan into the training.

Members of the 944th are especially proud of the fact that they are able to pro vide first-class training while maintaining their ability to be "ready for war," particularly since the wing operates as a formal training unit and not a combat-coded flying wing. The wing converted the 302nd Fighter Squadron, maintenance and support squadrons, and manning positions from combat-coded units to formal training units in October 1999. Three months later, the 944th reactivated the 301sL FS as an associate unit to the active-duty 56th FW at Luke.

"The main focus of the 944th is to train combat F-16 pilots for the Air Force," said Col. Craig Ferguson, wing commander. "In addition to training future fighter pilots, this wing has demonstrated the capability of providing seasoned combat pilots to the air expeditionary force."

Ferguson said the 944th was one of three air reserve component units that changed missions as a result of a mandate by the Air and Space Operations Directorate at the Pentagon to produce more F-16 pilots for the combat air force. The two others are Air National Guard units--the 149th FW, Kelly Field Annex, Lackland AFB, Texas; and the 178th Fighter Group, Springfield-Buckley Municipal Airport, Ohio.

"Before the change was announced, we made a number of suggestions that would allow us to perform the training During a weekend mission but stay combat coded," Ferguson said. "This was due in part to concerns over the economy of scale in only having 15 primary assigned aircraft and the need to gain a minimum of five D models (two-seat F-16s) to be able to make the training syllabus flow.

"Once the announcement was made that we would be converting, we got organized and made it happen in the most efficient and effective way we could. We had to get the five D-model aircraft through acceptance and phase and depot inspections and at the same time begin programming our student training. The experience level of the maintenance people and pilots working together got aircraft flying and the mission rolling quicker than projected by everyone involved."

Before the 302nd FS could start training prospective F-16 pilots, the reservists had to hit the books to become qualified instructors. However, this requirement didn't present much of a problem for a number of the reservists.

"Many of the pilots assigned and recruited into the unit were active duty instructor pilots at one time," said Col. Lance Undhjem, 944th FW vice commander and former operations group commander.

Undhjem said the 302nd was able to spin up to its new mission quickly, with the unit starting its first course in November 2001. The squadron graduated its first six fully qualified F-16 pilots June 7, 2002.

The 301st was able to start training immediately upon reactivation because it was able to hire instructor pilots separating from active duty and have them turn right around and fly as reservists with Luke's active-duty squadrons.

As the wing operations group commander, Undhjem had two distinct flying operations under his span of control, each with its own identity.

"With the 302nd, I was initially concerned with the flying operations of training fighter pilots, as well as keeping the squadron instructor pilots trained and ready in case shortfalls occurred within the command's other F-16 units," he said. "We wanted to be able to support them without hindering our main mission of training new Viper (F-16) pilots.

"With the 301st, my role was more related to customer service, both with the 56th Fighter Wing and the reservists, I was responsible for providing the 56th FW with experienced pilots it could employ on a daily basis, and for my Reserve pilots I had to ensure they were allowed promotion opportunities and received all their entitlements."

Undhjem said the 56th FW has been more than pleased with the instructor pilots hired by the 944th and assigned to the 301st. Reservists embedded within the active-duty wing have anywhere from two to five years of instructor pilot experience and typically 15 or more years of total military service. As a result of their experience level and knowledge of the pilot training environment, they are considered the "old dogs" of their attached squadrons.

One of these so-called "old dogs" is Lt. Col. Dudley Kelsey, assistant director of operations for the 62nd FS. Kelsey flew as an active-duly pilot in the 62nd from 1996 to 2000, and after a year in Korea rejoined the squadron as a reservist in January 2001.

"I am clearly just like any active-duty pilot filling an instructor pilot position," he said. "There are virtually any number of jobs reservists could be, and are, assigned to do."

Kelsey said the squadrons of the 56th Fighter Wing that have reservists assigned to them average one active Guard and Reserve, five air reserve technician and five traditional Reserve billets. The reservists perform such duties as chief of flying scheduling, flight safety, and standardization and evaluation along with their traditional flight instructor responsibilities.

While instructor pilots from the 301st are operationally assigned to one of the six 56th FW squadrons to fly with on a daily basis, it is not unusual to see Reserve pilots move between squadrons to keep the training schedule full and ease any pilot short-falls.

"Everyone is here to train F-16 pilots, and reservists are a transparent part of that," Kelsey said.

Fighter pilot training is without question the No. 1 priority for the 944th FW, and the demands for fulfilling that responsibility are great, said Maj. Ross Anderson, deputy operations group commander. In addition, he has to focus on how to keep 302nd FS pilots ready in case shortfalls occur in the combat air forces.

In order to meet the demands of AETC and the F-16 Initial Qualification syllabus, Anderson oversees his students' 90 hours of flying, 54 hours of simulator training, 265 hours of academic instruction, 114 practice bomb deliveries and six live bomb deliveries over the span of six months.

The course covers the gamut from initial takeoff and landing instruction, and basic and advanced air-to-air instruction to surface attack training that includes large force employment and surface attack tactics.

When the students leave on Friday afternoons for the weekend, the 302nd and other 944th FW squadrons switch from a training to a combat operation. During weekend unit training assemblies, traditional reservists are the focus of attention, with bomb loaders loading live munitions, crew chiefs preparing and turning aircraft, fuels troops training to refuel jets loaded with live munitions, and support people doing their part to ensure the combat flying training goes on as planned.

"The training ground troops receive is vitally important to the wing," said Lt. Col. Linda McCourt, 944th Maintenance Group commander. "In order to provide safe and effective aircraft for our training mission and to support AEF rotations and other real-world contingencies, our people need to be 100-percent ready to go to war."

McCourt admits that flying six days a week with a higher number of sorties per aircraft than most units is difficult on maintenance and support functions, but people are willing to give it their all to support training and contingency operations.

Along with maintaining the training mission, the maintenance group supported Operation Southern Watch last year by deploying more than 150 people to Southwest Asia. In addition, the operations group sent 21 instructor pilots to support OSW and Operation Enduring Freedom during AEF 8.

"On weekends our pilots focus on combat readiness to be prepared if and when Air Combat Command and AFRC call. They have all completed the required number of sorties and specific events to be combat ready," said Anderson, who flew three com bat sorties over Afghanistan and 12 OSW missions during the AEF rotation.

"As an instructor pilot, it is impossible to overemphasize the importance of real-world application to what we teach," he said. "The sorties we flew in support of AEF 8 were essential to maintaining our skills in the F-16 and our credibility as fighter pilot instructors. We fight a consistent battle to resist stagnation while flying in the basic student environment. Flying over Iraq anti Afghanistan with their different threats and scenarios refocuses you and instantly alleviates any tendency to get complacent."

With the Air Force's need for trained aviators and operationally ready airmen, the reservists of the 944th FW stand ready to fight and will continue to train on a daily basis tomorrow's warfighters for the combat air force.

RELATED ARTICLE: F-16 associate program 'only as good as the people'.

By Tech, Sgt. Bean P. Houlihan

When Lt. Col. Steve Masters strolls away from his desk to look at his squadron's daily flying schedule, the F-16 pilot gets a comforting feeling knowing the next generation of Air Force fighter pilots he is responsible for are receiving the best training available.

Much of the comfort Masters feels as the director of operations for the 62nd Fighter Squadron is due to the experience and capability of the 10 Air Force Reserve instructor pilots attached to his unit from the 301st Fighter Squadron, an AFRC associate squadron that augments his active-duty squadron.

The 62nd is one of five active-duty squadrons at Luke Air Force Base, Ariz., that have Reserve associate program pilots flying as instructor pilots either on a full, or part-time basis. Currently, it has five part-time traditional reservists and five full-time reservists. Among the full-timers, some are air reserve technicians, while others are serving in active Guard and Reserve positions.

"It takes the right guy to be a good F-16 instructor pilot and a traditional reservist," Masters said. "The 'Spikes' (the squadron call sign for trainees) are fortunate enough to have five of the best part-time instructor pilots anywhere. I don't hesitate to look to them to fly with those challenging students."

Masters said the reservists really make a difference within the squadron, providing important corporate knowledge of what works or what doesn't work with regard to F-16 training. They serve as assistant squadron director of operations, standardization and evaluation pilots, weapons officers and supervisors of flying.

"This program is only as good as the people" who are assigned to work within the squadron, he said. "I just hope the 301st is able to continue finding and keeping great pilots like those currently assigned to the unit."

The 301st has 58 instructor pilots on the books who help the active duty teach the six-month "B course" for brand-new F-16 pilots as well as the recertification course for officers getting back in the fighter after staff jobs or school upgrades.

"We fly sorties and train pilots just like our active-duty counterparts in the 56th Fighter Wing," said Lt. Col. Scott Davis, 301st FS operations officer. "There is no difference in the treatment of reservists or active-duty pilots. Everyone is here doing what Air Education and Training Command tasked us to do--train F-16 Viper pilots."

Davis said to accomplish that mission there is an almost equal number of full-time and traditional Reserve instructor pilots assigned to each fighter squadron. Traditional reservists normally work eight days a month flying six to seven sorties.

Leaders from the 301st FS stay in constant contact with the 56th operations group commander and his five squadron commanders who fly as associate instructors. The average turnover for these positions is every 18 to 24 months.

Because of this turnover, Davis said there is an air of uncertainty on the part of active-duty leaders on how the employment process works with reservists and how they can help with reservists' professional development and career advancement.

"Our commander, Lt. Col. Tom Harwood, spends a great deal of time and energy educating his active counterparts on Reserve issues and 301st FS capabilities," Davis said. "Tom and I are constantly amazed by the change in attitude of most active-duty leaders once they understand what Reserve instructors bring to the training business. They typically move from skepticism to a distinct pride and feeling of 'ownership' in our pilots, and we wouldn't want it any other way.

"The 301st is a mature, but growing, program that continues to conduct business better by flying safely and graduating the best pilots possible," he said. "Our results show we've gotten better with every new instructor we hire."

RELATED ARTICLE: Squadrons embrace Tuskegee lineage.

By Tech. Sgt Sean P. Houlihan

Many units throughout the Air Force Reserve trace their lineage to historically significant organizations that played key roles in defending the United States during time of war.

Two of the most important and famous of these units can be found at Luke Air Force Base, Ariz., in the 301st and 302nd Fighter Squadrons. Both of these squadrons trace their beginnings back to the 332nd Fighter Group. During World War II, members of the group were among America's first black military airmen. Because they were trained at Tuskegee Army Air Field in Alabama, the pilots were known as the Tuskegee Airmen.

Rounding out the 332nd FG was the 100th FS, which remains active today as the Reserve's 100th Flying Training Squadron at Randolph AFB, Texas. Pilots trained at Tuskegee also served in the 99[h Pursuit Squadron, later known as the 99th FS. That unit still survives as a Reserve flying training squadron, also at Randolph.

"Everyone in the 301st and 302nd knows the accomplishments of the Tuskegee Airmen and what they overcame to become aviators," said Col. Lance Undhjem, vice commander of the 944th Fighter Wing at Luke and a history buff. "It's important to lake the lead from those who have gone before us."

During reactivation ceremonies for the 301st in January 2000 and the 302nd in July 1987, members of the original Tuskegee Airmen came out to Luke to be a part of the celebrations and once again help shape history.

"It's good to see Tuskegee Airmen who live in the local area come out to the unit and tell stories to today's aviators," Undhjem said.

Reinstituting historic tradition, the men and women of the 302nd repainted the tail of their squadron F-16 flagship aircraft in the original red paint scheme used on the squadron's P-51 Mustangs during World War II. In their time, the Tuskegee Airmen flew more than 15,500 sorties in the skies over North Africa, Italy and Germany destroying or damaging 409 enemy aircraft, and numerous fuel and ammunition dumps. In addition, they provided fighter escort support for more than 200 bomber missions.

The Hellions of today's 302nd have flown literally hundreds of combat sorties in support of Operation Deny Flight in Bosnia, Operation Southern and Northern Watch in Iraq, and Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan.

Aviators from both the 301st and 302nd maintain an open line of communication with their predecessors by attending the annual Tuskegee Airmen National Convention. Additionally, some of the original Tuskegee Airmen make visits to the Luke-based squadrons whenever they're in town just to say hello.

"We want the Tuskegee Airmen to feel like it's still their squadron," Undhjem said. "This is quite a story, to be a part of keeping their heritage alive and prospering."

COPYRIGHT 2003 Air Force Reserves
COPYRIGHT 2003 Gale Group