LRAFB C-130Js flex muscle at exercise

A jumpmaster from the Army’s 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, dons camo face paint prior to a jump Aug. 6 near the March Air Reserve Base, Calif. The 41st Airlift Squadron, along with the 61st Airlift Squadron, provided C-130J Combat Airlift for the troops and heavy equipment during Operation Dragon Spear.
A jumpmaster from the Army’s 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, dons camo face paint prior to a jump Aug. 6 near the March Air Reserve Base, Calif. The 41st Airlift Squadron, along with the 61st Airlift Squadron, provided C-130J Combat Airlift for the troops and heavy equipment during Operation Dragon Spear.

The 41st, 61st and 48th Airlift Squadrons delivered Herculean muscle to Operation Dragon Spear on Aug. 6. Dragon Spear was one of the most complex joint-training exercises in more than a decade. The Joint Force Exercise at the U.S. Army’s National Training Center at Fort Irwin, California, included more than 1,500 fighting forces from XVIII Airborne Corps, the 82nd Airborne Division, the 75th Ranger Regiment, the 3rd Battalion, the 10th Special Forces Group (Airborne) and the U.S. Air Force.

Joint Forcible Entry exercises train the Global Response Force and demonstrate its readiness to deploy and fight globally within hours as a Joint Force. Joint Force Exercise Dragon Spear focused upon the interoperability, interdependence and integration of Conventional and Special Operations Forces in a complex dynamic combat scenario.

The March Air Reserve Base was used as a staging ground for aircraft, paratroopers and heavy equipment — C-130s and C-17s were used to carry and drop more than 600 paratroopers from the Army’s 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division. The cargo planes also delivered more than 30 Army assets, such as militarized all-terrain vehicles, howitzers and M1126 Stryker combat vehicles.

Not only was the mission of the C-130s to deliver equipment and personnel during the exercise, but also to sustain the Army after its initial needs were met, such as re-supply and follow-on forces, and to medevac injured personnel.

“This was new territory,” said Lt. Col. Thomas Lankford, 41st Airlift Squadron commander. “The Army has never done an airborne assault like that there before, and we have never executed out of that location before.”

The new environment and the opportunity for Team Little Rock to work with sister services provided a unique learning experience for the airmen.

“This exercise was a great experience for the airmen because it was different,” Lankford said. “It was phenomenal training because it got everyone out of their comfort zones, and we don’t always get the opportunity to train with the Army and their equipment.”

Lankford went on to explain that day-to-day training revolves around airdrops.

“We’ve been deployed back to back, and the squadron has been very combat-focused in the last year, so what we have to do is get back to the basics — get back to the airdrop missions. It’s a core competency and something the Army expects us to be good at,” he said.

With most exercises, there are areas of improvement identified and lessons learned, which is where training to adapt and overcome is put into play.

“The mission was successful, but not without a few hiccups,” Lankford said. “But that’s good training, too, because now we have to figure out how to flex and continue sustaining the Army.”

“The airmen for Team Little Rock who were involved with planning and execution performed extremely well,”

Lankford said. “The Army leadership was extremely happy with the mission accomplishment. It was a great team effort, and I’m glad we were a part of Dragon Spear.”

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