Marine F/A-18s train at Utah Range

  • Published
  • By Deanna Shallenberger
  • 388th Fighter Wing public affairs
HILL AIR FORCE BASE, Utah --  From January 13 to February 8, Hill Air Force Base welcomed Marine All-Weather Fighter Attack Squadron 224 to the Utah Test and Training Range, allowing the service members experience dropping live ordnance and working in a cold climate. The F/A-18 Hornet squadron, also known as the Bengals, came to Utah, and found valuable training in the UTTR's wide-open airspace and climate.

The squadron trained with about 10 two-seater Hornets and about 160 Marines. These Marines included those working in ordnance, powerlines, and operations.

Captain Joseph Rix, weapons and sensors officer with the VMFA(AW)-224, said it is unique for their squadron to work over large airspace, like the UTTR. The UTTR provides the largest block of overland, special-use airspace in the continental U.S. and measures over 2,624 square miles (2.3 million acres). The range allows various aircraft, F-16s, A-10s, unmanned aerial vehicles, helicopters and tankers, to work together in protecting ground troops. In the east coast, airspace is much harder to come by.

"We don't have that kind of airspace to work with on the East Coast because of congestion and lost air traffic area with New York and Florida," said Captain Rix. "There are not a lot of opportunities to work in that large of airspace."

The Bengals came with the goal of dropping 300,000 pounds of munitions in three weeks, including laser and GPS-guided bombs.

Sgt. Thomas Koulianos, an ordnance Marine with the squadron, worked with live munitions at HAFB. He and many others trained in the cold, transferring live bombs to the jets.

"It has been some really good training," said Koulianos. "It is very different because of the ice and snow."

"We have a small crew here and a lot of new, young guys. They haven't had a lot of realistic training with live weapons," said Sergeant Koulianos. But working together in extreme conditions forced the crew to gel together. "We got in a groove out here and learned what it is like to work with each other," he said. The sergeant said this opportunity gave his crew the opportunity to see what they are capable of.

Recently graduated pilots and weapon systems officers, are also benefiting from this training said Maj. Jabari Reneau, a Bengals pilot. In coming to the UTTR, they are preparing pilots for the weapons and tactics instructor course. He said in order for them to have success at WTI they need to train here.

For F/A-18 pilot 1st Lt. Robert Guyette this training exercise was his first time dropping a live bomb. "We don't have a lot of opportunities to go out and drop live weapons," he said. "But in the West Coast we have wide open spaces." He said for the pilots this is a great experience, allowing them to see the bomb deploy and impact the target. He said that from loading the bomb to dropping it, everyone is learning.

"Keeping up with 300,000 pounds is a team effort. You just can't have ordnance out there with the bombs ready to go if you don't have the aircraft up and ready to go," said Major Reneau. Getting the aircraft ready to go is a responsibility Cpl. Jeremiah Johnson is familiar with.

Corporal Johnson, a powerline Marine, works on the F/A-18 engine each day. He inspects the jet daily to make sure it is ready to fly. Corporal Johnson said he wanted to work on the Hornets to be part of protecting America's freedoms. At times, he said his job can be challenging. He is always on call and everything on the jet has to be just right.
When asked about the feeling he had knowing a jet he worked on returned safely and successfully from the UTTR, he said, "For me it is indescribable. Just glad to see planes come back and everything is good to go."

Major Reneau said pilots also worked with ground units during the exercise by coordinating via radio to locate and take out targets. "Every exposure you have is something different," he said. "It raises your experience level and makes you more comfortable in an environment that is not necessarily a canned scenario."