PEORIA, Ill. – The Illinois Air National Guard 182nd Airlift Wing and the German Air Force flew together above Peoria Tuesday, preparing for a collaborative training mission.
Last year, Peoria soldiers developed a relationship with the German Air Force at the NATO training event Air Defender 23 in Hanover, Germany. This year, German soldiers were invited to the U.S. to participate in what the Air National Guard calls “Proptoberfest”.
182nd Airlift Commander Rusty Ballard tells 25 News, it’s an initiative to improve practices by training, exchanging perspectives, and advantages.
“It’s communicating and working together, finding how they plan different missions, how they handle different threats, and are there other ways to look at it from a different perspective,” Ballard says.
The joint training will last two weeks across the country, offering a variety of terrains and tactical scenarios.
“We’re going to go to a low-level mountain flying course in the desert, Fort Huachuca,” Ballard says. “From there, we’re going to go to Colorado Springs, do a high-density, altitude mountain flying course, land in some unapproved landing surfaces, and then go to California, fly over the Pacific Ocean, down to San Diego, and drop some Navy SEALs.”
German Air Force Lt. Col. Dimitri Wilk believes this opportunity will help his pilots return home more qualified and experienced.
“We’ve not met before, but we’re able to do missions together, to accomplish tasks, and that’s awesome,” Wilk said. “It’s not only the work thing, it’s also the personal thing, to see your guys and build a relationship.”
Forty soldiers from the Air National Guard 182nd Airlift Wing and 22 German Air Force soldiers will participate in the training.
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