Marine Corps saves money training a JBER

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Omari Bernard
  • JBER Public Affairs
JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska --  Marines from Okinawa, Japan, saved money and accomplished critical training on JBER Sept. 5.

Forty five Marines from Marine Aerial Refueler Transport Squadron 152 (VMGR-152) flew 14 hours on three C-130J Super Hercules, more than 7,400 miles, from tropical Okinawa to sub-arctic Alaska for two weeks to train at unique ranges and build their core mission skills on tactical navigation, aerial delivery and threat reaction.

"Some of the things we are doing out here are critical to our operations plan that we are responsible for over in Okinawa," said Marine Maj. Jason Kaufmann, the executive officer at VMGR 152 and the detachment officer in charge. "We have found operating in Alaska is cost effective."

It's pretty simple, Kaufmann said.

"We have mission and core skills that need to be polished," he said. "We bring our Marines, we bring our gear, and we bring guys that are ready to train. The spaces here are awesome. We've been flying every day since we've been here, except on the weekends to allow the maintenance crew to catch up on work on the planes."
The principle difference between training in Okinawa and Alaska has been the size of the area of operations Kaufmann said.

"Okinawa is a small island surrounded by water," he explained. "All of the ranges and territory around us here have been certified for training which is hard to get back at Okinawa, because of the space available, agreements with Japan, and weather."
In Alaska, there are more ideal weather conditions and opportunities for the Marines to get as much training in as possible.

"If the weather is bad, we can move to another area and still get our training accomplished," Kaufmann said. "Everywhere we go to train our unit, we have to travel. There are very few areas in the Pacific that you can travel to that offer the type of training you can receive here in Alaska. It's really the closest thing to us that provides a smorgasbord type of environment that we can do."

While on JBER, a few of the Marine pilots are getting their qualifications and the certifications per their training requirements.

During one of the many operations of their two week stay, the Marine pilots performed an aerial delivery of more than 100 soldiers from JBER, using three C-130s on a circuit course, to the Malemute drop zone on JBER.

"This really is a one stop shopping area for training," Kaufmann said. "We can get advanced training for our senior pilots and flight leadership in addition to the lower level training for some of the junior pilots that are able to 'rehack' their skills."

While here, the Marines saved money and maximized training by staying at the Red Flag facilities on the installation.

"Our aircraft are parked on base, so there are no mat fees and no fees for handling our aircraft," Kaufmann said. "Everything is provided for us right here at Red Flag."