About two dozen airmen from across the globe spent two weeks at Ft. Campbell, Ky., learning everything from convoy operations to how to egress a mine- resistant, ambush-protected vehicle when it rolls over. They were among 200 participants in the Army’s Expeditionary Contracting Command’s Operation Joint Dawn 2011. The largest joint exercise of its kind, Joint Dawn is designed to train military contractors how to operate in a contingency environment with a special emphasis on deployments to US Central Command’s area of responsibility. Col. Roger Westermeyer, director of contracting at Ogden Air Logistics Center at Hill AFB, Utah, emphasized the importance of joint training, saying airmen work alongside soldiers, sailors, and marines while deployed to joint regional contracting centers. “[I]f that’s the way we’re going to operate in theater, then we should train that way now,” Westermeyer said. (Ft. Campbell report by Ed Worley)
The B-52 bombers that flew off the coast of Venezuela on Oct. 15 were accompanied by Marine Corps F-35s as part of a so-called “Bomber Attack Demonstration,” according to new images and information from the Pentagon.
