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thedrifter
04-10-07, 05:41 AM
April 10, 2007
Experienced reservists head south

By Lisa Horn
Montgomery Advertiser

The mission called Coronet Oak is just a little more experience for a reserve group that has already transported everything from pallets of Power Rangers to real life Marines.

Sixty reservists from Montgomery's 908th Airlift Wing have flown to Central and South America as part of the mission, and more reservists from the Maxwell Air Force Base unit will fly out on April 21.

They are leaving for Coronet Oak, a training mission and operation that the 908th has taken part in annually for the past 24 years. The mission goes on throughout the year with Air National Guard and other Air Force Reserve Command C-130 units taking part in the rotations.

The 60 members who flew out Saturday are already getting experience providing airlift support to U.S. embassies and other government agencies throughout Central and South America.

The 908th itself has plenty of transport experience. In 2005, the unit flew Marines out of Haiti following an uprising after President Jean Bertrand Aristide left office. Airmen with the unit also have flown workers, government contractors and patients to and from U.S. Naval Base, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

"We're a bus (and) a truck," joked Lt. Col. Jeffrey Spencer, "and whatever the 'boss' tells us to haul, we'll do it."

Members of the 908th have also assisted in rescue operations, spotting lost vessels and downed planes from the air as well as assisting U.S. and foreign authorities in counter-drug, counter-terrorism, medical and humanitarian missions.

Master Sgt. Darrell Wilson has flown Coronet Oak missions every year since 1985 except for this year and in 2006, when he deployed to Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. The 908th's maintenance operations center supervisor said that what airmen learn during the mission will help prepare them for deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan.

"It gives (us) a chance to do deplaning activities and hone their skills," said Wilson, a Tallassee resident. He added that this is necessary because of the number of things that can go wrong during such operations.

Master Sgt. Jack Hunter, a 908th loadmaster, agreed.

"In Colombia, some of the airfields look like the airfields from Vietnam," Hunter said. "You're their sole life line."

Ellie