Air Force pararescue exercise receives national accreditation

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Saphfire Cook
  • 355th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
DAVIS-MONTHAN AIR FORCE BASE, Ariz.. (AFNS) --  The Angel Thunder exercise received Joint National Training Capability accreditation and certifications Nov. 30.

Angel Thunder is an Air Combat Command-sponsored personnel recovery exercise held annually at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Ariz. Rescue units from all over the world send pararescueman and equipment to participate in the training.

When a program receives a JNTC accreditation, it's the equivalent of a restaurant receiving a positive Zagat review. As Zagat, a restaurant review guide used by national media and consumers world-wide, is to restaurants as JNTC is to governmental programs. Having their stamp of approval lends an exercise more credibility.

"The JNTC program was developed to improve the joint training environment across the Department of Defense," said U.S. Navy Lt. Cmdr. James Zoulias, the Angel Thunder service coordination action officer. "Essentially, this gives Angel Thunder a pedigree that says we have the ability to provide a realistic training environment for the tasks that we have been accredited, which in Angel Thunder's case is personnel recovery and command and control."

To receive a JNTC accreditation, a program must have a sponsor. Angel Thunder was sponsored by ACC and nominated for the official recognition.

"We were looking for a fledgling program that was able to stand on its own," said U.S. Navy Captain Chris Harkins, the JNTC division chief of the operations and plans division.

The program was developed at Davis-Monthan AFB  in 2006 and started out as a base exercise. Throughout its six cycles, Angel Thunder has grown exponentially with its last exercise featuring approximately 17 countries, 46 aircraft and training more than 1,000 participants.

"We are receiving an accreditation and certifications," said Col. Jason Hanover, the 563rd Rescue Group commander. "The accreditation recognizes the actual Angel Thunder exercise and the certifications validate the training areas that we use all over southern Arizona."

At the time Angel Thunder was developed, there were no personnel recovery exercises in the DOD.

"This is a David and Goliath story of an exercise being founded by rescue Airmen in the trenches because what we needed was not in the system," said Brett Hartnett, the exercise coordinator and creator of Angel Thunder. "With no budget, we built the world's largest and most dynamic rescue exercise in our spare time. In turn, ACC recognized our success and made us their official personnel recovery exercise."

Angel Thunder is the only personnel recovery exercise to be JNTC accredited and certified and the only personnel recovery exercise to be used government wide.

"ACC wasn't going to push for the accreditation until we were able to show a history," Hanover said. "And for six years we have said here's the exercise standard. It's stable and able to be repeated iteration to iteration. It has a steady base line and has been able to grow. JNTC got us a seat at the joint training table and ACC wanted to be sure that Angel Thunder could bring something valuable to that table before they took us to the next level."