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PLOVDIV, Bulgaria — Ramstein Airmen from the 86th Airlift Wing and 435th Air Ground Operations Wing, along with U.S. Army jumpmasters and Bulgarian armed forces, trained together for Thracian Spring 2012 here, from June 13 through 28.
The training exercise brought U.S. and Bulgarian military forces together to build on and strengthen the bonds currently shared between the two NATO allies. The U.S. and Bulgaria have been working together, teaching their respective practices in these military training exercises since 2007.
“I have personally been coming to Bulgaria for four years,” said Staff Sgt. Myron Austin, 435th Security Forces Squadron jumpmaster. “Each time is a new experience, but the goal remains the same. We learn each other’s procedures, we jump with each other’s parachutes, and it is an all-around experience for paratroopers from both countries.”
Throughout the year, Bulgarian paratroopers have very limited opportunities to practice. During Thracian Spring, they nearly double their jumps for the year with each participant jumping two to three times a day for two weeks.
“Without the U.S.’s help we wouldn’t be able to reach our airborne requirements,” said Col. Iavor Mateev, Joint Facilities Department chief for the Bulgarian Ministry of Defense.
U.S. pilots from the 37th Airlift Squadron provided airlift for the jumpers using two C-130J Super Hercules aircraft. They also used the opportunity to train in situations that are difficult to practice at their home station in Germany.
“We get a very agreeable air traffic control that allows us to fly lower and in more difficult terrain than what we would be able to in Western Europe,” said Capt. Jameson Richart, Thracian Spring 2012 mission commander and pilot for the 37th AS. “We get to use the C-130J to its utmost capabilities.”
In addition to flying low-level routes and dropping airborne personnel, the pilots are also learning a new cargo deployment method called low cost, low altitude, or LCLA.
LCLA starts with aerial delivery personnel building a pallet using cost effective and biodegradable material that could be left behind if there is not enough time to retrieve it during a contingency, including the parachute that is rigged up to the cargo pallet.
Aerial port personnel load the pallet onto the C-130J and loadmasters ensure it is safely secured within the aircraft. Once the pilots get to the drop zone, flying at heights as low as 300 feet, the loadmaster cuts the strap that holds the pallet in place and pushes it off the aircraft where the parachute deploys immediately.
“When you can tell a guy, ‘All I need is a few pieces of cardboard and some plywood and an old plastic bag that you can rig up and drop accurately from a low altitude,’ that’s a great capability to have,” Richart said. “Especially at some of the places we are going to now and in the future where you need that safety margin that coming in low provides.”
All of the training accomplished at this year’s Thracian Spring has not come without challenges. This is the first year this exercise has been held in the summer, meaning long work days in hot and humid conditions.
This, along with language barriers and unfamiliarity with each other’s equipment, procedures and capabilities, did not stop the two countries’ desire to continue building partnership capacity and increase the effectiveness of each other’s armed forces.
“Thracian Spring is very important to us,” Mateev said. “It is one of the biggest exercises we have in Bulgaria every year and we look forward to continuing it just like this in the future.”
