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Laughlin Airmen train Afghans down range

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Scott Saldukas
  • 47th Flying Training Wing Public Affairs
LAUGHLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Texas --  Five Laughlin Airmen met up while deployed to Kabul, Afghanistan, working as air advisors to an Afghan C-27 airlift squadron.

The Laughlin pilot's mission come in two parts, said Maj. Allen Smith, deployed from the 86th Flying Training Squadron here.

"On one level, we are teaching the Afghan members how to set up and run a traditional, western style airlift squadron," he said. "This includes teaching the different components of a squadron that you would see in the U.S. Air Force such as a training, tactics, standards and evaluations shop as well as scheduling and operation supervisors."

He explained how the other level is about teaching pilots and loadmasters how to operate the aircraft correctly and fly one of the two separate flying missions there.

"The other is flying basic airlift missions throughout Afghanistan. A typical crew is comprised of one American pilot, one Afghan pilot, one American loadmaster and one Afghan loadmaster," Smith said. "Also, the training mission here is very similar to what you would see in a training squadron at Laughlin."

Capt. Mathew Bruckner, deployed from the 47th Operations Group, explained how doing Laughlin's mission for three years has really helped him adapt to his mission while deployed.

"Having the experience of flying with young students allows us to anticipate many problems we could encounter during flight," Bruckner said. "Granted, some of the Afghan pilots we fly with have been flying for years, but they were trained in very unorthodox ways."

He added how his experience and exposure to the same situations helps him focus first on safe flying and then on proper instruction to prevent the same occurrence down the road.

"For this reason, Laughlin has been invaluable and has provided a strong set of tools to fall back on when we run into situations none of us have encountered before," Bruckner said.

He said being deployed with people he knew doing a similar mission at home station is extremely helpful for him while deployed.

"It is awesome being deployed with them," he said. "Knowing that you know what your brothers know professionally makes everything click. It is truly an advantage for the five of us. Having each other as a soundboard for sanity checks considering the multitude of absolutely crazy things that are considered here enables everyone to benefit and overall, makes us all more effective."