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910th aircraft event garners praise
VIENNA
A combination training/competition exercise involving nine C-130 aircraft hosted by the 910th Airlift Wing at the Youngstown Air Reserve Station on Thursday drew praise and hope for the future from Maj. Gen. Stayce Harris, commander of the Air Force Reserve’s 22nd Air Force.
The exercise is unique because of the large number of planes involved, and it displays the facilities and expertise at Youngstown Air Reserve Station, said Harris, commander of the 22nd Air Force, Air Force Reserve Command at Dobbins Air Force Base, Ga.
“The 910th’s aerial spray mission is critically important, and we expect to see it continue,” said Harris, whose civilian occupation is commercial airline pilot.
“This is a fantastic training exercise, and we’re grateful for all the airmen who made it happen,” said Harris, who flew in specifically to see the event.
“It shows a great spirit of cooperation. This is how we deploy, working together,” she said.
Thursday’s training exercise, also a competition, involved nine C-130s from the 910th, the Ohio Air National Guard’s 179th Airlift Wing at Mansfield, the Connecticut Air National Guard and Dobbins Air Reserve Base.
The mission for each plane was to make two air drops at the Camp Ravenna Joint Military Training Center near Newton Falls; one a pallet simulating heavy equipment such as a Humvee, and another pallet simulating four 55-gallon drums. The drops landing nearest the target won the competition.
The event, dubbed Deploy, Deliver, Defend, was proposed by the 910th after a similar annual event was canceled.
The 910th vision is to be an operation force for rapid global mobility with integrated and sustainable capabilities supporting national security. The 910th is home to the Department of Defense’s only large-area, fixed-wing aerial spray mission, said Col. James Dignan, 910th and YARS commander.
The competition aspect of the event is for “bragging rights,” but more importantly, it shows that the 910th and YARS have the skills and capability to host this type of activity, Dignan said.
“This is the only place in the country this is happening. We would like to make it an annual event,” he said.