Red Flag-Alaska 07-1 complete, participating members return home

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Kimberly Moore Limrick
  • 28th Bomb Wing Public Affairs
ELLSWORTH AIR FORCE BASE, S.D. --  Editor's note: This article is part 4 of a series.

One hundred seventy three members and six B-1s returned to Ellsworth after the 16-day exercise Red Flag-Alaska 07-1 ended April 21. 

"We came to Alaska at the perfect time of the year; the local conditions were great," said Lt. Col. David Stimac, 28th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron commander. We just missed the cold weather. It was actually warmer in Alaska than back at Ellsworth, on the other hand; the Navy and F-16 units enjoyed the cooler temps. 

Great weather was a bonus for members who participated in the exercise. 

Maintenance went extremely well during this exercise. With the very few exceptions all units met the daily flying schedule, Colonel Stimac said. 

Major William Lynch, 37th Bomb Squadron assistant director of operations, agreed the exercise went well. 

"I thought Red Flag-Alaska was a success," Major Lynch said. "It was great to train in a large-force scenario with international players in a high-threat air-to-air and air-to-ground environment. It gave the 37th a chance to work on flying skill sets that are more difficult for us to practice from Ellsworth on normal training sorties." 

Major Lynch said one of the best things about the exercise was the ability in mission planning to ask questions in person on how other air platforms operate and what capabilities they bring to the fight. 

Master Sgt. Michael Kadrlik, 28th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron first sergeant said, in his opinion, the best part was working with the Navy and French Air Force. 

"This was the first time I worked closely with a sister service and a foreign service. Communication was sometimes difficult but we took the time to work with them. I started inputting what I wanted to communicate into a computer and used a translation web site to translate it into French, this worked fine. I feel the exercise went well." 

"The results from Red Flag speak for themselves," said Colonel Jeffry Smith, 28th Bomb Wing commander. "As the lead wing for such a large and diverse exercise, our men and women truly did outstanding work as we assumed the responsibility for the entire Flag training, one that traditionally was a fighter centric one. All our Airmen were exceptionally professional and capable which proved Red Flag-Alaska to be such a tremendous success. The 11th AF Commander lauded all their efforts." 

Colonel Stimac said this was a great deployment, the outstanding professionalism and team work displayed from all the units made his job extremely easy. Col. Stimac added he can't forget to give credit to the Red Flag staff for the awesome support they provided; their preparation set Ellsworth up for success.