Exercise Angel Thunder provides lifesaving training

  • Published
  • By Maj. Kristi Beckman
  • Air Combat Command Public Affairs
DAVIS-MONTHAN AIR FORCE BASE, Ariz. (AFNS) --  About 900 Air Force, joint, coalition, interagency and international players participated in a personnel recovery exercise that ran Dec. 1 through Dec. 12 at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base.

Exercise Angel Thunder 2008 included people from the active duty Air Force and Army, Guard and Reserve, National Reconnaissance Office, State Department, National Geospatial Intelligence Agency, Joint Forces Command and the Department of Justice as forces flew 262 sorties and completed 25 recovery events.

Air Combat Command officials sponsored the exercise, making it a nationwide event involving people and aircraft from all over the country. International players from Chile, Colombia and Germany also joined in the training while military members from Mexico, Canada and Pakistan were on hand to observe. 

Mexican Brig. Gen. Jose Vega, the Mexican air force deputy chief of operations, thanked Col. Lee DePalo, the 563rd Rescue Group here and Angel Thunder commander, for the opportunity to observe the exercise. 

"I am impressed with the participation and the exercise, and hope in the future to participate with you," General Vega said. 

Lt. Gen. Norman R. Seip, the 12th Air Force and Air Forces Southern commander, said he was proud of how well everyone worked together.

"My hat's off to all of you," General Seip said. "The (personnel recovery) business is an extremely important one. You all are always standing by to respond to those in need. Whether it's rescuing a fallen comrade, helping out our fellow countrymen or assisting our international friends, we are all in this together." 

A downed helicopter and survivors taking fire, to an earthquake-stricken host nation, and to a U.S. Ambassador in need were all training scenarios designed to simulate deployment conditions and contingencies. 

The unique part about the exercise is that it's planned from the bottom up, said Maj. Brett Hartnett, the Angel Thunder project officer.

"Units that participated got together in the initial planning conference and told us what they wanted to practice," Major Hartnett said. "The leaders did not dictate what the training would be, the participants did. When the planning was complete, a list of 204 objectives was ready to be met."

Other important aspects of the exercise being tested were the command and control hub called the Rescue Operations Center and the rapid deployment package, Lightning Bolt.

"The Lightning Bolt concept of quickly deploying lean, fixed and rotary wing personnel recovery packages to an austere environment was validated during Angel Thunder," Colonel DePalo said. "During the complex scenarios that were conducted, this concept was very applicable. And we set the template for the ROC, the imperative command and control model used successfully during our recent disaster relief responses to hurricanes Ike and Gustav, to effectively run this impressive personnel recovery exercise."

Dan Baumgartner, the deputy director of personnel recovery policy, who accompanied exercise participant Ambassador Charles Ray, the deputy assistant secretary of Defense for prisoner of war/missing personnel affairs, said Angel Thunder set the bar.

"We use all of our capabilities we have in a global fashion to recover personnel," Mr. Baumgartner said. "In order to better those capabilities, this vital training is necessary to save lives and is, quite frankly, the only exercise in the department and the U.S. government that is already on its way to implement the recently signed national policy for personnel recovery embodied in Annex 1 to National Security Presidential Directive 12, 'U.S. Citizens Taken Hostage Abroad.'

"This exercise is not only ahead of its time, but will be an important rehearsal for how DOD and our interagency and international partners prepare for persistent operations and applying soft power effectively," Mr. Baumgartner said. 

The exercise not only validated the Air Force's ability to plan, control, and execute personnel recovery across the spectrum of military and other U.S. government activities, but also it did so in a way that harnessed and unified the tremendous rescue capacity found across the joint, interagency, and international communities, said Col. Glenn Hecht, the ACC Combined Search and Rescue Operations Division chief.

"No other exercise exists anywhere in the world that does so, which makes it a role model for all others to follow," Colonel Hecht said.

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