Posted on 04/05/2010 4:49:10 PM PDT by SandRat
SIERRA VISTA — Parts of Cochise County will be used for a major Air Force exercise later this month, Davis-Monthan Air Force Base’s Angel Thunder 2010.
Southern Arizona’s terrain lends itself to meeting the goals of the exercise, which will bring in personnel from a number of nations, Staff Sgt. Jacob Richmond said.
Along with American forces, others involved in the event will be coming from Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, said Richmond of the Davis-Monthan 355th Fighter Wing Public Affairs Office.
Additionally, a number of different aircraft, from fixed winged to helicopters, will be involved, he said.
The Air Combat Command’s annual personnel recovery and combat search and rescue exercise will take place between April 12 and 23, the spokesman said.
The exercise will be headquartered at Davis-Monthan, where in 2006 Angle Thunder began as a local endeavor, with major operations including heavy flying beginning on April 14, Richmond noted.
Although the headquarters for the event is at the Tucson air base, operations in other southern Arizona and New Mexico areas will take place, he added.
Angel Thunder is designed to simulate a comprehensive government response to isolated citizens and is the world’s largest personnel recovery exercise integrating other services, state, national and multinational assets, Richmond noted.
Besides the foreign personnel, those participating will include people from the Army, National Reconnaissance Office, National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, Justice Department, Joint Forces Command, Southern Command, Special Operations Command and other federal agencies, according to the operations plans.
Cochise County Sheriff’s Office has been notified of the planned exercise, which includes use of the Bisbee-Douglas International Airport, spokeswoman Carol Capas said.
They sure are inviting some unusual guests. Like the Justice Department.
That should set off the blogs.
Just what does that mean?
Whatever happened to exercises like Brave Shield where you knew you were staging to defend the Free World? Now it's "comprehensive government response to isolated citizens!" Is that a euphemism for the invasion of Galt's Gulch?
I’m not sure either, As the exercise unfolds and it gets covered I’ll post it.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.