20th FSS hosts search, recovery exercise

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Destinee Sweeney
  • 20th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
The 20th Force Support Squadron hosted an exercise to practice search and recovery efforts with the 20th Civil Engineer Squadron and the 20th Fighter Wing Public Affairs Office at Shaw Air Force Base, South Carolina, May 23.

The event simulated a downed F-16D Fighting Falcon, which allowed the units to practice handling an aircraft emergency.

“I think working with the CES gave us experience on how things would actually be,” said Staff Sgt. Tykeas Holland, 20th FSS resource advisor. “When we have exercises everyone should be involved. … Now we know it’s a whole team effort to get things done, they played a big role.”

During the exercise, Airmen worked together scanning for simulated human remains and personal effects, documenting incident evidence and plotting the scene via GPS coordinates.

Afterward, the participants gathered to discuss what happened, what was learned and what could be made better.

“Hot washes point out the good, the bad, the things you need more training on or need to improve on and if there’s any equipment problems,” said Master Sgt. Tyree Glenn, 20th CES lead Wing Inspection Team member. “(For example,) we deal with a lot of electronic equipment, but we can’t always depend on it. If we run into that issue now, during a real-world operation we can avoid that and we’ll have mastered the back-up system.”

By participating in joint training, 20th FW units can better prepare themselves for real-world emergencies and ensure the mission, Airmen and families are taken care of during aircraft accidents.