OSCODA, Mich. - Active duty and reservists from the U.S. Air Force and Marine Corps conducted a C-5 Galaxy defuel and simulated missile threat evacuation during Exercise Northern Strike 24-2 at Oscoda-Wurtsmith Airport Aug. 9.
Air Force personnel from Dover Air Force Base, the Michigan Air National Guard and Marine Corps Reservists from Wilmington, Delaware, defueled a C-5 Galaxy into R-11 refueler trucks.
“We have our basic refueling capabilities, but this is more specialized,” said Staff Sgt. Jackson Kincaid, aircraft maintenance technician with the 123rd Contingency Response Group, Kentucky Air National Guard.
Within 20 minutes of the C-5 landing, the mock forward operating base received simulated intelligence of a missile alert threat.
“We had a missile alert threat coming into our base and had to quickly turn around the plane and defuel it in a timely manner,” said Kincaid.
The defuel was accomplished in less than 20 minutes.
“That’s pretty fast for a C-5 and the capability we were trying to prove. We accomplished it very well,” said Kincaid.
With the C-5 successfully defueled, the Air National Guard contingency response teams involved were forced to evacuate.
“Once we found out that we had to get out of there and flush the system, we got back to the base and we were ex-filled appropriately,” said Kincaid.
Personnel were evacuated on three U.S. Navy H-60 Seahawks.
The exercise tested the efficiency of refueling in high-stress scenarios and prepared participants for rapid, coordinated responses to emergencies.
The exercise underscored the importance of agile combat employment, multi-capable airmanship and joint operations. In preparing for diverse and complex military scenarios, the exercise ensured readiness and efficiency for domestic and international contexts.
“We want to be able to prove that we can get planes and fuel to where it needs to be at any given point around the globe, whether domestic or international,” said Kincaid. “We know that when we have these kinds of operations like this with our joint partners, we feel very confident that we can project that power wherever it needs to be around the globe.”
Over 6,300 participants from 32 states and territories are participating in Northern Strike 24-2, one of the Department of Defense’s largest reserve component readiness exercises, at Michigan’s National All Domain Warfighting Center Aug. 3-17.