Twitter
Facebook
Airmen from the 86th Airlift Wing and the 435th Air Base Wing, as well as jumpmasters from the 5th Quartermasters at Rhine Ordnance Barracks, joined forces with Bulgarian military forces to conduct Exercise Thracian Spring in Bulgaria from March 26 to Sunday.
***image6***
Thracian Spring, an annual bilateral training exercise between the U.S. and Bulgaria, continues to provide training and interoperability between the two nations.
The two-week event included training and knowledge-sharing for paratroopers, pilots, firefighters, security forces, aircraft and equipment maintainers, air traffic controllers and medical, communications and command and control personnel.
Lt. Col. Mark August, the operations officer from the 37th AS, was deployed mission commander for Thracian Spring and said there were three objectives he wanted his unit to accomplish during their time at Bezmer Aviation Base.
“We want to see Hercs in the air, paratroopers under canopy and interface with the Bulgarians at every opportunity,” he said. “And I think we’re accomplishing all of those.”
Colonel August said the exercise progressed better than expected, starting with a planning team that set them up for success and a welcoming reception from the Bulgarians.
“Our initial planners and site surveyors did a phenomenal job organizing and fine tuning the preparations for this exercise, and the support the Bulgarians have shown us is far beyond my expectations,” he said. “They have been incredibly accommodating and extremely receptive to what we are trying to do here. I have nothing but good things to say about the air base leadership and the men and women of the Bulgarian air force.”
***image3***
Colonel August said some challenges that the crews faced while at Bezmer were normal problems that accompany 45-year-old aircraft.
“But we’ve had great cooperation between our operations and our maintenance crews to balance their missions and get the best and most productive training out of the iron that we have here,” he said. “We talk to maintenance about what is possible versus what we’d like to do and we go from there.”
Lt. Col. Kevin Therrien, 86th Air Mobility Squadron commander, was the exercise support commander. He agreed that some challenges existed, but they were nothing the crews couldn’t overcome or that significantly impacted the mission.
He said the one thing that could have been a significant problem was fuel shipments that took longer than expected to reach Bezmer, but there were many people on the Bulgarian side who worked the problem and got the fuel to the base in time.
He said the men and women from the 86th AW and the 435th ABW continue to surpass his expectations.
They constantly impress me with their professionalism and how hard they work to make sure the mission is a success,” Colonel Therrien said. “From start to mission complete – they are responsible for making this mission happen and they don’t quit until it’s done.
“With this exercise, we are supporting the 37th off-station training. As a result, we accomplish the theater security cooperation engagement plan,” he said. “We’ve gained valuable training. Our groups in the 86th are working together; building important relationships and friendships that make us one team. Things like this make us better trained and better prepared for exercises or when we need to deploy as a team.”
Colonel August believes this visit built upon the successes of last year’s exercise.
“Because of that success, this year we have more opportunities for each air force to truly integrate and operate bilaterally, while still learning from each other,” he said. “We see our interoperability improving more and more as we go, and that’s a major success of this exercise.”
He said he and the Airmen really enjoyed the opportunity to do this, and his favorite part of his job is when he is able to go on the road with his team and really see what they can do.
“The best part of this exercise is taking two wings and three groups and seeing how well they work together to make this mission a success,” said Colonel August. “We are getting an outstanding opportunity to conduct training in conditions that aren’t always possible at Ramstein. The effort and integration surpasses anything we’ve done before and I hope it gains us an invitation for next year.”
Colonel Therrien agreed that the exercise was improving the ability to work together within the air force units, as well as with the Bulgarians.
“Communication is the key to understanding and cooperation – we’re doing that. By doing the first, we hope to achieve the last,” he said. “I know our guys enjoy this and are learning from the opportunity to train with another country. I hope the Bulgarians can see how professional our Airmen are, not just from the air operations point of view, but in all other fields.”
