Training in Pacific Tests Readiness and Agility

Hundreds of pilots, maintainers, and support personnel from the 388th Fighter Wing’s 34th Fighter Squadron and Fighter Generation Squadron are participating in two back-to-back large force exercises with the F-35A Lightning II.

Following Red Flag, which ran from 22 July to 2 August at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, the squadron forward deployed as part of Bamboo Eagle, an Air Force Warfare Center exercise designed to create a combat representative environment across large portions of the eastern Pacific Ocean.

While Red Flag is typically carried out by a large Air Expeditionary Wing, operating primarily from Nellis AFB, Bamboo Eagle stretches that command-and-control structure across several “hub and spoke” locations across the Western Unites States.

Approximately 3,000 service members from four branches will operate more than 150 aircraft from nearly a dozen locations to create the separate force elements of Bamboo Eagle.

During the exercise, 34th FGS maintainers will live and work from a tent city under field conditions, communications will be degraded, and the ‘tyranny of distance’ will test aviators and their mission plans.

In the past, 388th Fighter Wing squadrons have been tasked with quarterbacking the fight, leading offensive and defensive counter air missions. “We cultivate lethality, readiness and agility in our everyday training and local exercises.

To meet the needs of our national defense strategy, we are building that warrior mindset – mission-ready Airmen required for agile combat operations,” said Col. Michael Gette, 388th Fighter Wing commander. “What Bamboo Eagle provides is a scope, scale and integration that we’re just not able to replicate here at Hill.”