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By Staff Sgt. Jason Ketterer, 123rd Airlift Wing Public Affairs
[caption id="attachment_8488" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Flight Engineer Tech. Sgt. Daniel Wormley assists Master Sgt. Clint Stinnett with his loadmaster duties after marshaling a communications truck onto the 165th Airlift Squadron's C-130. (U.S. Air Force photo/Staff Sgt. Jason Ketterer)"]
ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- Members of the Kentucky Air National Guard’s 165th Airlift Squadron flew northwest to Anchorage, Alaska, on July 7 to provide airlift for the Alaska National Guard’s 103rd Civil Support Team.
The Kentucky Airmen were responsible for transporting four troops and a 19,410-pound communications truck from Anchorage to Volk Field, Wis., for Operation Joint Patriot, a multi-service training scenario designed to test homeland-defense capabilities.
The Alaskan contingent’s primary job was to respond to a simulated radioactive dispersal device, said Army Staff Sgt. Nicholas Dutton, communications team chief for the 103rd CST.
The communications truck — delivered courtesy of a 10-hour flight aboard a Kentucky Air Guard C-130 Hercules — played a crucial role in the scenario, Dutton noted.
[caption id="attachment_8490" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Loadmasters Master Sgt. Clint Stinnett and Staff Sgt. Jerry Passafiume secure 19,410 pound cargo. (U.S. Air Force photo/Staff Sgt. Jason Ketterer)"]
“This truck provides reachback for our unit to establish both secure and unsecure Internet connections through satellites, and also interoperability for radio communications,” he said.
The 3,000-mile airlift sortie and subsequent download of the truck was just one of hundreds of airlift missions the Kentucky Air National Guard and their C-130 aircraft will execute this year.
[caption id="attachment_8489" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Aircrew from the 165th Airlift Squadron begin their approach to Standiford Field in Louisville, Ky. (U.S. Air Force photo/Staff Sgt. Jason Ketterer)"]
While many of those missions will support other units and military operations around the world, the 165
th Airlift Squadron also provides rapid-response airlift for the operational capabilities of its parent unit, the Louisville, Ky.-based 123
rd Airlift Wing. Those capabilities include special tactics search-and-rescue, expeditionary medical care and a dedicated crisis-response group.