Last of the CH-46 Crew Chiefs

Today at Camp Pendleton, I covered the last graduating class of Marine Crew Chiefs for the CH-46 Sea Knights. The CH-46 was introduced to the Marines during the Vietnam War where it served as a troop transport/cargo and assault Helo. The Helo that was present for the ceremony is the oldest one still flying for the Marines.

The CH-46's will all be replaced by the new tilt rotor, MV-22 Osprey, but no date has been set yet.
Present flying was also some Cobra attack helicopters.

Iron Fist 2013

Today, I attended the Iron Fist Exercise held at Camp Pendleton, a US Marine Base located in northern San Diego County, where the 13th MEU (Marine Expeditionary Unit) and the Western Army Infantry Regiment held a joint training exercise.

Today's mission consisted of an Air Assault with Marine aviation units, the USS Boxer, and Japanese troops, and then an Amphibious landing from the USS Pearl Harbor, with Marine AAV-7 transporting Japanese troops to Red Beach.

NAF El Centro 01/31/2013

I decided to head out to Imperial County and go to Naval Air Field El Centro. I had heard that the Navy's Blue Angels had arrived, but that was not my main focus. I wanted to see who else might be flying.

As soon as I arrived the two solo pilots of Blue Angels were practicing, and when they were done, the field's activity increased ten-fold. F/A-18's started lining up and taking off. There were 2 Navy squadrons VMFA 106 & 122, and the Royal Canadian Air Squadron 425, the "Alouettes" or "Skylarks" flying their version of the 18 called the CF-188.

They launched and recovered for several hours and the weather was nice being sunny and about 65 degrees with no wind. Always a pleasure to visit NAF El Centro during the winter time.

Brown Field

Brown Field is located along the US/Mexican border in southern San Diego County. It got it's start as a US Navy auxiliary field during the second World War, and eventually sold to the City or County of San Diego.

Now, the field is used for private aviation, flying schools, US Customs checking flights from Mexico, and more than occasionally, the US Military, especially the Marine Corps. Due to the people who bought homes around Miramar, and then complained about the noise, The Marines will often send units to the air field for training. I have been fortunate enough to check often and have seen The Sharpshooters, the Death Rattlers, and the Snipers. The Occasional Air Force C-130 rolls in, along with a Navy plane who I believe is doing parachute drops of Navy SEALs. There are also National Guard Blackhawks, and Navy Seahawks almost every time I go.

On Friday, the 1st of February, there was one Navy Seahawk flying and a new squadron for me, the Red Devils, whom I had just met several of their pilots earlier in the week at Miramar. Along with the Red Devils, the Sharpshooters were flying some plane in as I was leaving. I just love this place.

Red Flag 13-2

Out in the Nevada desert, just outside of Las Vegas sits Nellis Air Force base and its different live fire training areas, called the Nellis Range Complex. The Nellis Range complex is located northwest of Las Vegas and covers an area of 60 nautical miles (111 km) by 100 nautical miles (190 km), approximately half the area of Switzerland. This space allows the exercises to be carried out on a very large scale. The last two weeks of January, the skies become thick with roars of jet engines and angry sounds after burners being engaged. Each year, since 1975, air combat units from the United States and its allied countries come together four to six times a year and learn how to survive in air to air combat. The origin of Red Flag was the unacceptable performance of U.S. Air Force pilots in air-to-air combat during the Vietnam War, in comparison to previous wars. Things had to fixed and Red Flag was born.

For Red Flag 13-2, the following US Units were involved:
- 57th Wing, 64th Aggressors Squadron F-16Cs, Nellis AFB, Nev.
- 57th Wing, 65th Aggressors Squadron F-15Cs, Nellis AFB, Nev.
- 138th Fighter Wing, 125th Fighter Squadron F-16s, Tulsa, Okla.
- United States Navy, VFA-25 F-18Es, NAS Lemoore, Calif.
- United States Navy, VAQ-138 EA-18G Growlers, NAS Whidbey Island, Wash.
- 366th Fighter Wing, 389th Fighter Squadron F-15Es, Mountain. Home AFB, Idaho.
- 2nd Bomb Wing, 20th Bomb Squadron B-52s, Barksdale AFB, La.
- 7th Bomb Wing, 9th Bomb Squadron B-1s, Dyess AFB, Texas.
- 52nd Fighter Wing, 480th Fighter Squadron F-16CJs, Spangdalem AFB, Germany.
- 23rd Wing, 41st Rescue Squadron HH-60s, Moody AFB, Ga.
- 23rd Wing, 71st Rescue Squadron HC-130s, Moody AFB, Ga.
- 552nd Air Combat Wing, 960th Airborne Air Control Squadron E-3s, Tinker AFB, Okla.
- 22nd Air Refueling Wing, KC135s, McConnell AFB, Kan.
- 606 ACS, Spangdalem AFB, Germany

In addition to U.S. aircraft, Netherlands' F-16s, Singapore's F-16s, United Arab Emirates Mirage 2000's, and Sweden's Grippens participated.

This reporter was present for 5 days of the exercise, and being the first time at this type of exercise, I wasn't sure what to expect. On the day before Media Day, I stationed myself near the Las Vegas Speedway just to the north of Nellis AFB, and was joined by as many as 75 photojournalist and amateur photographers as plane after plane was launched into the sky, and then being recovered throughout the 3-4 hour operation each day. The Blue Forces are made of the Allied Forces, flying various planes from B-1's and 52's, F/A-18's , F-22's to F-15's and 16's, while the Aggressor Red Forces were made up of US Air Force F-15's and F-16's, all painted in different camouflage schemes. First to take off were the AWAC's and Bombers, then the Refuelers, followed by the Aggressor forces, and then shortly thereafter, the Allied forces were launch. It seemed that there were at least 80-100 planes in the air at any one time. On Media Day, the US Air Force graciously allows both American and Foreign media onto the base, where we were stationed between the two runways for up and close photographing of the exercise as the planes are taking off and landing. This is an amazing experience to be had, as one can feel the heat from the engines as the fighters take off, and feel the ground rumble beneath your feet. I spent the rest of my time, after Media Day, continuing to photograph the exercise from outside of the base. This was impressive display of what our Air Force and Allies are doing to get our pilots ready to face in the enemy in any future war, and make sure they have every chance of surviving a Dog Fight.

There was a few hic-ups during the exercise. I had made my reservations for my hotel from the day before the Media Day and for two afterwards, because I was supposed to be scheduled to be onboard an KC-135 and do a refueling run with the Blue Forces. When I arrived at Nellis, I found out I was scheduled for the following Monday. This was becoming expensive. So I went home on Friday, and then drove back on Monday morning, another 5 1/2 hr drive, another $80 in gas, one way. I got to the base on time, and was in the OP's room waiting to get on the plane, and due to a lack of communication, the plane left, leaving me sitting there, and facing a very long drive home. Otherwise, this was a great experience.