Something to - Bragg - About!

The men and women of the 820th Red Horse Squadron from Nellis Air Force Base really got their hands dirty in this year’s Joint Operations Access Exercise on Fort Bragg. -Captain Kenneth Cooper SB: “We came out here to train with the 20th Engineering Brigade to work on our, our airfield damage repair capability, which can be inserted through any means necessary but primary here at Bragg they stick with the Airborne method, which would be parachutes from C-17s and C-130s.” These Airmen jumped with the Army and experienced a sensation they rarely feel in the clear blue skies of the Nevada desert. -Captain Kenneth Cooper SB: “It was a unique jump that was provided during a 200 foot cloud ceiling and you literally left the aircraft and were in clouds until about 150 feet before you hit the ground. So, passing through that was defiantly unique and a great opportunity. I don’t think any of my jumpers will probably get that experience again.” The soldiers from Fort Bragg learned just as much as they taught during the training. -1st Lt Jonathan Hendricks SB: “We have, we have similar mission when it comes to repairing and maintaining a field landing strip, and so, we wanted to see how the, the Air Force did it, and show them how the Army does it, and uh, to see if we can learn anything from each other, and to see how in a real world situation how we would complement each other.” -Captain Kenneth Cooper SB: “The Air Force does this on a day to day basis and I think that over the last ten years of the war, the Army is adapted and taken on a different mission, and now we’re trying to reset and get back to basics of where we would go from here and what we would do in the future. So, the more that we can train and and work together in this joint environment, the better off the, the country will be in the long run.” The Red Horse squadron’s participation in JOAX took these Airmen back to the down-and-dirty roots of their job, and ensured their ability to work in a Joint environment regardless of the location. Airman First Class Rachel Maxwell, Fort Bragg, North Carolina.