Fort Drum ranges appealing to Air Force

FORT DRUM — About a half-dozen Air force personnel stood on a range, talking by radio to the pilot of an A-10 Thunderbolt II. They had identified a target some 2,000 feet away and, once the controllers cleared the pilot, the Warthog, as the stubby attack plane is better known, flew in from behind the airmen’s shoulders, dropped 500-pound bombs and immediately cut left to avoid being hit by their blast.

Black and white smoke billowed before the shocking boom could be heard.

The airmen are students and instructors of the 6th Combat Training Squadron at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., training on post this week. The local range allows them to learn using high-explosive bombs – instead of training munitions – and allows pilots the space to maneuver, much as they would in real life.

It was the first time in a year that Air Force Staff Sgt. Sergio A. Meneses, an instructor at the school, had seen a live bomb drop. It’s also the second time he had been on the post, which appeals to him.

“It’s pretty large,” he said, “and it’s rich in targets, and the fact we have aircraft out here dropping large munitions – it helps a lot.”

It’s the largest range where the Air Force can drop large munitions in the Northeast, said Lt. Col. Alfred E. Tomaselli of the New York Air National Guard’s 174th Fighter Wing, Syracuse.

“It provides the ability to have realistic changes in the direction of attack in different environments when most ranges are really small and you have to only run in on one heading and don’t have a lot of options,” he said. “The reality of the current war is that you don’t have an exact front line.”

Many units would have to go to the American Southwest to receive similar training, so East Coast units have been attracted to the north country post, because they save money. They also are funded to train only for the basic level of proficiency, he said, so the financial savings allow them to be more creative in their training at Fort Drum.

“They just don’t get that opportunity in too many places and without spending a lot of dollars to send units,” he said. “Here, we try to match all the training units’ needs.”

For Sgt. Meneses, the experience is valuable for his students who intend to embed with Army units overseas and provide them with air support at close ranges.

There are subtleties, he noted, such as a shock wave from a real bomb, that the airmen want to experience before supporting soldiers in actual battles.

“It might be the first time to see a live munition drop, so for them to be able to see this before they go into combat … it builds a little more confidence for them,” he said. “Plus, it’s cooler.”