Approximately 
200 airmen from Shaw AFB, S.C., and F-16s from Shaw’s 79th Fighter Squadron last week completed a Green Flag training exercise at Nellis AFB, Nev. The two weeks of training are designed to help prepare Air Force pilots and maintainers for upcoming deployments through realistic scenarios. They allow them to work with Army soldiers and Air Force joint terminal attack controllers. In this case, the Shaw airmen even had the opportunity to fly with B-1 bombers. “This is the capstone training event for both our pilots and maintainers,” said Capt. Patrick McGarry, 79th FS assistant director of operations. He added, “We simulate a deployed operations tempo, which helps maintenance gauge their readiness to operate as a deployed aircraft maintenance unit.” And the pilots have “an invaluable opportunity to practice communication with the JTACs and employment of precision weapons,” he noted. (Shaw report by SrA. Alexandria Mosness)
Air Force exercises in the Indo-Pacific may soon get even bigger and more robust, as lawmakers move to invest more than $620 million in such efforts. The bulk of that money, contained in a $150 billion reconciliation package currently making its way through Congress, is $532.6 million for earmarked for…