165th Airlift Squadron supports Alaska National Guard, Operation Joint Patriot

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Jason Ketterer
  • 123rd Airlift Wing Public Affairs
ANCHORAGE, Alaska --  Members of the Kentucky Air Guard's 165th Airlift Squadron flew to Kulis Air National Guard Base here July 7 to provide airlift for the Alaska 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.

"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 crew and their C-130 aircraft will execute this year.

While many of those missions will support other units and military operations around the world, the 165th Airlift Squadron also provides rapid-response airlift for the operational capabilities of its parent unit, the 123rd Airlift Wing. Those capabilities include special tactics search-and-rescue, expeditionary medical care and a dedicated crisis-response group.