SUMPTER SMITH JOINT NATIONAL GUARD BASE, Alabama — Operating a military aircraft and being a U.S. Air Force aircrew member doesn’t just mean knowing what to do inside the cockpit or inside the boom pod; it also means knowing how to float.
Every three years, U.S. Air Force aircrew members are required to complete water survival training. A combination of classroom and hands-on training is used to ensure military aviators know how to survive, evade and ultimately be recovered in the case of an unanticipated water landing.
Alabama Air Guard members recently completed water survival training. The experts who trained the Guard members at the 117th Air Refueling Wing are assigned to the unit’s aircrew flight equipment shop, or AFE.
Master Sgt. Justin Bruce, an AFE technician with 14 years of experience in the career field, was the first to brief the flyers, providing them with their agenda for the morning training.
“You’ll need to get into the pool and swim to the raft using any swim stroke – breaststroke, backstroke or side stroke – you just have to demonstrate a swim stroke,” Bruce said.
Once the Airmen reached the recovery raft, they immediately began climbing aboard. The first person was positioned by the boarding ramp, ready to assist the other members out of the water and into the craft.
“Once you board the raft, we’re going to start talking about survival, evading and recovery,” Bruce reminded the Airmen.
“This training is critical to our mission here at the 117th,” said Col. Mike Adams, commander of the 117th Air Refueling Wing. “Our local refueling routes consistently take us over water, and we are spending more time in the INDOPACOM [U.S. Info-Pacific Command] area of responsibility, so ensuring our aircrews know these procedures is a matter of life and death.”
The rafts used during training are the same as the rafts found on every one of the KC-135R Stratotankers, and each one is capable of holding 20 people. The water survival training class consisted of about 20 people. Each group put 10 aircrew members into the raft, but the numbers don’t matter.
“Once you’re inside the raft you have two mindsets,” said Master Sgt. Steven Harper, one of the four AFE technicians facilitating the day’s training. “One, immediately! What do you have for consumption, right? The second is, you don’t know when you might get picked up [rescued], so you’re forecasting – hey, how can I get this stuff for later to sustain us for maybe a long time, right?”
“Over the years we’ve done this is training in a lot of different locations,” said Col. Jim Whaley, 187th Fighter Wing deputy commander. “We’ve gone as far as Oak Mountain State Park, nearly 20 miles from here. And now, being able to do it within minutes of the base is huge in regard to our ability to train and maintain the readiness of our crews.”
The Birmingham-based 117th Air Refueling Wing is an associate unit, composed of regular Air Force and Air National Guard Airmen. The wing operates with unified crews, comprising regular Air Force and Air National Guard pilots and boom operators, all of whom rely on the expertise and experience of their aircrew flight equipment technicians.