Silver Flag

The Silver Flag Exercise Site, located at Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla., is home to Detachment 1, 823rd RED HORSE Squadron. The squadron's 68-person cadre provides combat support training to active-duty units, the Air National Guard, Air Force Reserve Command, Army, Marine Corps and allied nations. More than 5,600 people are trained each year at the site. During the five and one-half day primary course, civil engineer, Services, and Personnel Support for Contingency Operations (PERSCO) personnel learn how to build and maintain bare-base operations at forward-deployed locations. Students hone a variety of combat and survival skills, such as repairing bomb-damaged runways, setting up base facilities and disposing of explosive ordnance. Services members receive additional training on providing food service and lodging under simulated wartime conditions, while PERSCO members receive training on accounting for deployed forces, processing casualty reports and conducting personnel sustainment actions. The Silver Flag cadre also hosts the Air Force Institute of Technology's Introduction to Base Civil Engineer Organization and Services Initial Skills course four times a year for Air Force and allied officers. The Silver Flag site is the home of Readiness Challenge, the Air Force's biennial contingency support competition. This international competition tests the leadership, teamwork and war-fighting skills of civil engineer, Services and PERSCO personnel. The staff of Detachment 1 plans and executes competition events and acts as host for the several hundred participants and visitors who come to the area for the event. Silver Flag training was originally conducted at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, but moved to Tyndall in 1972. Training at that time consisted primarily of beddown, demolition, well-drilling and security operations. In 1979 training moved to Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., near Ft. Walton Beach, to take advantage of an unused runway and taxiway system. Silver Flag training returned to Tyndall in 1992. The site is located on 1,200 acres north of U.S. Highway 98, about eight miles east of Tyndall's main gate. It has 25 permanent buildings and a 6,000-foot training runway. Over the years, training has expanded to its current program, which includes force beddown, advanced base recovery after attack, disaster preparedness, fire protection, explosive ordnance disposal, food service and lodging skills, chemical warfare operations and personnel accountability.