Nellis Air Force Base hosts paratrooper training exercises

With their parachutes billowed and buffeted by strong winds, they dropped through the sky from dozens of Hercules planes following a string of behemoth C-17 Globemaster jets that unleashed heavy cargo minutes before.

For about a half hour, the airspace over the sage-dotted Air Force range looked like a frame from D-Day.

Hundreds of special operations soldiers and airmen from Nellis Air Force Base and across the world staged a "forced entry" exercise this week to hone their skills for putting troops on the ground with equipment to repair a damaged, dirt airstrip.

But before they could land Wednesday in a dust storm on a remote part of the Nevada Test and Training Range, 200 miles by air north of Las Vegas, a rapid deployment airborne surveillance team jumped in days ahead to spy on some high-value targets and order airstrikes to wipe out a missile truck.

Camouflaged and dug in, the soldiers from Fort Bragg, N.C., hid in the hills with their M-4 carbines and special communications gear to locate the "bad guys" and send encrypted signals back to a base 3,000 miles away

"This is the first time anybody did it over the horizon with man-portable radio and satellite gear," said 1st Lt. Brian Fitzgerald of the 18th Airborne Corps Long Range Surveillance Company.

A seasoned soldier, he joined the Army in response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks and has four tours - two each to Afghanistan and Iraq - under his belt. He has no regrets about having to endure constant training.

"I love it," Fitzgerald said. "I'm getting paid to do this. Are you kidding?"

Before the drop, F-16 Fighting Falcons cleared the airspace, and A-10 Thunderbolt "Warthogs" swooped in and attacked the high-value targets.

Then, with wind speeds on the cusp of having to curtail part of the exercise, ground controllers gave the green light for static-line air-drops as the C-130 Hercules barreled 1,000 feet over the high desert. Chutes opened and the paratroopers, mostly from the 820th RED HORSE (Rapid Engineer Deployable Heavy Operational Repair Squadron Engineer) at Nellis steered to safe landings under tricky conditions, simulating a battalion-size drop. One escaped with minor injuries after being dragged head-first across the rugged terrain. Another got caught in a thermal updraft and spent six minutes in the air.

Lt. Col. Eric Crider, of the 1st Squadron, 38th Cavalry Regiment's 525th Battlefield Surveillance Brigade, landed unscathed even though he said, "I was drug nine feet before I could release the canopy."

One after one, C-17s landed on the dirt airstrip, kicking up tornadolike clouds of sand and gravel as they taxied and turned, unloaded and reloaded, then took off again, each clearing the drill within 25 minutes.

With $8 billion in assets in the air and on the ground and priceless training for the rapid responders, the Mobility Forces Exercise was nothing short of success.

"It was definitely an excellent event for integration of a joint force," said Lt. Col. Matt Lengel, of Fort Bragg's 18th Air Support Operations Group.

"We continue to learn about new ways to work together and make it better for the next time."

Contact reporter Keith Rogers at krogers@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0308.