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Patrick ground zero for airmen training Afghans

PATRICK AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. — Aviators at Brevard County’s beachside base are honing skills they will take to Afghanistan as part of efforts to build that country’s air force well ahead of the expected withdrawal of U.S. forces in 2014.

“We were really happy when the Air Force said, ‘Can we use your guys?’ ” said Paul O’Sullivan Jr., deputy director of the Department of State Air Wing at Patrick Air Force Base. “We’re happy to be able to help them.”

When word came about the need to train pilots on the Italian-made C-27 twin-engine cargo planes, the Department of State Air Wing became a natural partner. The air wing, along with its main contractor, DynCorp International, and the Air Force are working together to help strengthen the Afghan air force.

“Our guys here will train the trainers in Afghanistan,” said Eric Huppert, DynCorp’s C-27 program manager. “It’s basically (to) teach them to fish.”

The plan is to have enough Afghan trainers in place when American forces withdraw from the country.

The State Department’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs has four former Air Force C-27s, as well as expertise with the aircraft. The wing, headquartered at Patrick, conducts aerial eradication and interdiction operations in cooperation with governments of drug-producing countries, including Afghanistan, Colombia, Guatemala and Peru.

In addition to the pilot training, enlisted men and women are learning to repair and maintain the C-27 and also will go to Afghanistan on one-year deployments to teach the Afghan military.

Curt Johnson, air adviser with the Air Force Air Education and Training Command that oversees the program, said the training is different from anything it has handled.

“This is one of the bigger projects that we have had to manage,” he said.

The training employs four DynCorp contracted pilots, two loadmasters and two maintenance instructors who are training the active duty airmen. They then will go to Afghanistan to train instructors to Afghan pilots.

The C-27, whose civilian equivalent is known as the G-222, is used by the military in several African and Latin American nations. The State Department planes formerly belonged to the Air Force, and have fold-down canvas seats.

One instructor, Lt. Col. Robert “Tookie” Key, has more than 30 years of flying experience and is in the process of retiring from the Air Force Reserve’s 920th Rescue Wing.

“I think it’s admirable what [the United States is] doing,” Key said. “We’re being the big brothers, helping them get on their feet.”

The first pilots to complete the six- to eight-week training courses did so in August, and some already are acting as trainers and advisers in Afghanistan.

Air Force Maj. Earl Burress, a pilot from Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., completed the two-week classroom part of the training and continues the practical portion at Patrick. Already experienced in several other aircraft, he recently took his first flight in a C-27.

“I think that the air adviser’s mission is a very important mission,” Burress said. “It will not only potentially save American lives but provide valuable training for the Afghans.”

The Afghan pilots are expected to be trained and flying transport missions in the C-27 by the time the United States withdraws from Afghanistan, scheduled for 2014.

The United States is providing about 20 upgraded aircraft that were once part of the Italian air force.

Master Sgt. Melanie Platt came from Whiteman Air Force Base, Mo., to train at Patrick. Having already served 21 years, she had the option to retire, but chose the one-year deployment and the chance to help build up an air force.

“I think it’s going to be a cool event for me,” said Platt, who will act as an aircraft maintenance instructor. “I get to help set up and stabilize their own security and their air force so they can take care of their own people and won’t need us.”