Bombers deploy to Valiant Shield 2007

  • Published
  • By Master Sgt. Greg Steele
  • 917th Wing Public Affairs
BARKSDALE AFB, La. --  On July 31 approximately 36 members and two B-52s from the 917th Wing deployed to Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, to participate in Valiant Shield 2007. 

Valiant Shield is a training exercise designed to bring multiple branches of the military together in response to global contingencies. The focus is to provide a seamless force which can respond to a broad range of mission scenarios. The 93d Bomb Squadron was tasked with participating in the SINKEX portion of the exercise. "SINKEX is a scenario within Valiant Shield," said Lt. Col. William Floyd, 917th Operations Support Flight director of operations. "Our mission here is to drop laser guided bombs on target ships out in the ocean." 

The 917 WG B-52s that participated in Valiant Shield left Barksdale AFB, La., carrying four GBU-12s, 500-pound laser-guided bombs. After landing at Guam, the aircraft parked alongside active-duty B-52s from Barksdale, which have been positioned at Andersen since May fulfilling an Air and Space Expeditionary Force commitment. 

"Because folks from the 20th were already in place here, it cut down on the amount of equipment we would normally have to bring to support our aircraft," said Master Sgt. Wesley Phillips, 917th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron superintendent while deployed. "The maintainers here have been great and have really bent over backward to help us." 

Members of the 20 AMXS not only shared tools and equipment, but also their limited office space. On the flight line, both active-duty and reserve maintainers joined together to recover B-52s returning from their sorties, regardless of the squadron they belonged to. "It's been good interaction and an opportunity to exchange ideas to make the mission happen," said Capt. Daniel Uchtmann, 36th Expeditionary Aircraft Maintenance Squadron officer in charge. "We've taken advantage of their experience, since most of the reserve maintainers have been working this airframe a lot longer than our active people." 

For some 917 AMXS members, this was their first deployment since being in the Reserve. "It's been great," said Senior Airman Jessica Landry, 917 AMXS weapons loader. "This is my first time to ever deploy and also my first time loading live GBU-12s." 

The WG B-52s were equipped with targeting pods, which enabled them to perform their own laser designation for dropping the laser-guided bombs. Unfortunately, the B-52s weren't the only aircraft striking the target ships. During both attempts to release their weapons, the ships sank before the B-52 aircrews could get their first bombs off the aircraft. They were then directed to release their weapons on the Farallon de Medinilla target range, a 200-acre island about 150 miles north of Guam. "We were disappointed that we weren't able to hit the ships, but we were still able to show that we can put bombs on target," said Colonel Floyd. "Regardless, our traditional reservist crew members received excellent training on use of the targeting pod."