Special Operators put power behind Piston
Feb. 10, 2003
By Master Sgt Michael Farris
353rd Special Operations Group
CLARK AIR BASE, Republic of the Philippines - Senior Airman John Butterbaugh, an aircraft electrician with the 353rd Maintenance Squadron, enjoyed his 15 minutes of fame at Balance Piston Friday.
"It's awesome," he said. "I recently came out of a back-shop and now, getting a chance to work on the planes and being integrated into the mission is a big responsibility."
"Friday, a Combat Shadow was ready to taxi. The crew called me in with a question on an electrical system. In addition to the crew and two-dozen jumpers in the back of the plane, two helicopters were already in the air. A lot of people relied on me to get the problem fixed -- and the plane in the air. It felt great to troubleshoot the problem and watch the plane take off on-time."
Butterbaugh is on his first deployment with the 353rd SOG, having been assigned to Kadena Air Base, Japan only three months ago.
Balance Piston is a month-long joint combined exchange training exercise designed to improve the interoperability and increase tactical proficiency between U.S. and Philippine Armed Forces.
Midway through Balance Piston, the Special Operations Command, Pacific team was joined on the Clark Air Base ramp by six U.S. Marine CH-53 helicopters - conducting a separate exercise.
Master Sgt Kevin Parks, maintenance production superintendent, said this posed unique challenges arranging parking spots for nine helicopters and up to seven C-130s in a relatively small space.
"In addition to the limitations of working out of parts bins, we were tasked with supporting a wide variety of missions requiring different aircraft configurations and fuel loads," he said. "Often we would configure a plane for an afternoon mission and then again for a night flight."
Parks said fantastic support from a local aviation-fuel company and liquid oxygen supplier added to the success of the SOG maintainers.
The U.S. Army's 1st Battalion, 1st Special Forces Group (A) also completed a combat lifesaver course and a jumpmaster course with their Philippine counterparts.
Sergeant 1st Class Chong Yi headed the jumpmaster course and said the benefits reaped from the course will remain with them for years to come.
"We graduated 30 certified jumpmasters and 30 members from the combat lifesaver course," he said. "All in all, it's been a productive training event."
Lieutenant. Col. Leonard Smales served as the air boss for Balance Piston. He said the teamwork among three U.S. services kept operations safe on the ground and in the air.
"With so many moving parts, it's paramount to communicate well and keep safety on the front burner," he said. "We had great support from our Philippine hosts in conducting an enormous number of training scenarios."
As a co-pilot with the 17th Special Operations Squadron, Capt. Dan Franklin had a chance to put into practice techniques and procedures learned by MC-130P squadrons around the world in recent conflicts.
"We're fortunate to have all the pieces here - the Special Tactics Teams, the Army helicopters, Army Special Operations Forces," he said. "We've practiced some skills that we've been knocking around for awhile and have had quite a few successes."
Franklin said training in the Philippines affords fantastic flexibility to fulfill requirements that are difficult to complete elsewhere.
"We've accomplished a lot here in just a short time. Getting our crews current on events such as airdrops, night-vision goggle operations and air-refueling was a high priority coming into Balance Piston. We've enjoyed both good quality and quantity."
For Joe Langevin, it's like déjà vu. Twelve years ago, as a staff sergeant, he worked Clark radar approach control. Today he's working with old friends in the Clark tower. Only now his Philippine Air Force buddies are civilians running the airfield and he's a master sergeant and the Special Operations Group's chief controller.
Langevin serves as the go-between for U.S. aircrews and the Philippine civilian controllers.
"Knowing the ropes around here gives me a lot of credibility with the controllers," he said. "Understanding the way they do business helps immeasurably."
Langevin also de-conflicts airspace between all U.S. air assets and a variety of civilian aircraft to include United Parcel Service and a hot air balloon festival.
The JCET is scheduled to wrap-up within two weeks. (PACAFNS)
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