A squadron of special tactics Airmen from the Kentucky Air National Guard wrapped up a grueling five-day training exercise on St. Croix, testing their ability to operate across land, sea and air in a maritime environment while responding to simulated enemy threats, a press release announced.
The training on St. Croix was part of Emerald Warrior 25.2, a large-scale special operations exercise staged in multiple locations by Air Force Special Operations Command. The Kentucky Airmen — including combat controllers, pararescuemen and special reconnaissance troops — conducted missions using both fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft, according to the press release.
“Our Airmen exercised their unique skillsets to parachute into contested territory, establish airfield operations, control aircraft, respond to search-and-rescue scenarios, manage notional medical evacuations, and conduct reconnaissance and targeting operations on a very tight timeline,” said the special tactics officer who served as lead planner.
He noted that St. Croix and its neighboring islands offered an ideal training environment. “Operations in the Caribbean simulate many of the geographical features our forces may encounter when deployed around the globe. Having to overcome the kinds of challenges presented here will make us a more lethal and effective force the next time we conduct littoral operations anywhere in the world.”
High-Stakes Scenarios
The exercise began Aug. 26 when six Airmen parachuted into the Caribbean Sea with an inflatable boat, three miles off the coast of St. Croix, from a Kentucky Air Guard C-130J Super Hercules. Eleven more combat controllers and pararescuemen then jumped directly into Henry E. Rohlsen Airport. Within minutes, both groups had secured the airfield, established perimeter security and implemented air traffic control, allowing the C-130 to land and offload crucial assets, the press release stated.
Over the following days, Airmen traveled 75 nautical miles by boat to conduct reconnaissance and targeting operations on a nearby island held by simulated enemy forces. In another test of endurance, pararescuemen and combat controllers carried out a 32-hour search-and-rescue mission. The scenario required them to locate survivors of a simulated plane crash at sea, parachute into the ocean with inflatable boats, provide medical care on the open water and coordinate helicopter hoist evacuations, the release stated.
Additional training included insertion and extraction by UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters from the Mississippi Army National Guard’s 185th Aviation Brigade, as well as a mass-casualty exercise that called on Airmen to triage patients, deliver battlefield medical care and oversee medical evacuations from the Virgin Islands Air National Guard Station, the release stated.
Partnership and Planning
The complexity of the missions required extensive coordination with the U.S. Coast Guard; the U.S. Virgin Islands Governor’s Office, Police Department and Air National Guard; airport officials; local marinas; and dozens of businesses. The squadron’s combat mission support team — including radio technicians, parachute riggers, vehicle maintenance crews and diving specialists — was also essential to the effort, the release stated.
“An exercise of this scope, which has been in the planning stage for over a year, would not have been successful without the combined efforts of everyone involved, from our combat support troops to the governor’s office to local citizens who were so supportive of our efforts to ensure our nation’s security,” the planner said.
Long Record of Response
Kentucky Air Guard special tactics Airmen are among the most highly trained military operators in the world, capable of deploying by land, sea or air into almost any environment for combat or humanitarian operations. Their mission sets range from establishing airfields in contested territory to reconnaissance, tactical weather forecasting, battlefield trauma care and personnel recovery, the release stated.
The unit is also known for its humanitarian-response missions. After Haiti’s 2010 earthquake, the Airmen directed C-17 airdrops of aid and controlled a massive resupply operation. In 2005, they established a helicopter landing zone on a New Orleans overpass following Hurricane Katrina, helping evacuate nearly 12,000 residents. And in 2017, after Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria, they rescued more than 300 flood victims in Houston and provided air traffic control in the Virgin Islands to support the evacuation of more than 1,200 people from St. Maarten, the release stated.
