'Bad guys' add realism to capabilities exercise

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Elliott Sprehe
  • 27th Special Operations Wing
CANNON AIR FORCE BASE, N.M. (AFNS) --  An Army Special Forces team jumped out of an MC-130W Combat Spear and deployed their parachutes to slowly descend to the landing zone. After hitting the hard New Mexico soil, they fanned out and moved toward their objective.

This began the scenario of the Cannon Air Force Base capabilities exercise that included Airmen, civilians, and family members here June 24.

Suddenly, all-terrain vehicles drove up a dirt road carrying a number of opposition forces members who fanned out and began shooting at the Special Forces team.

The quiet of the mid-day operation was soon interrupted by the sound of gunfire and grenades, which echoed across the open plains of Melrose Air Force Range as spectators watched from the safety of viewing stands on a mesa.

An AC-130H Spectre gunship provided close-air support with its 105mm Howitzer cannon and 40mm Bofors cannon. Explosions from the gunship masked the already-fading sound of the gunfire as the team effectively neutralized the opposition.

In a final act of desperation, one of the remaining opposition forces ran toward the Special Forces team, finger on the trigger of what later would be discovered to be a suicide vest.

The Special Forces team returned fire and kept the suicide bomber from detonating her bomb. As she lay there, the vest exploded, one of the last remaining sounds of the battle.

Despite its victory in the scenario, the Special Forces team did take a casualty. Shortly after calling in for a casualty evacuation, an M-28 Skytruck landed on an improvised runway, loaded the victim, and took off just minutes after landing.

With its mission complete, the team regrouped, awaiting the arrival of a CV-22 Osprey for exfiltration from the battle scene.

The team boarded the aircraft and quickly flew away, not giving any time for the remaining opposition forces members to engage the aircraft with a rocket-propelled grenade.

With his loaded RPG in hand and no target to fire on, the lone opposer stood motionless, marking the end of the capabilities exercise.