Total Force: Reserve Fighting Falcons train with Lakenheath Strike Eagles

93rd Fighter Squadron F-16C Fighting Falcons and 482nd Fighter Wing support personnel from Homestead Air Reserve Base, Fla., participated in Dissimilar Air Combat Training, here, with U.S. Air Forces in Europe units and partners and allies in the region, this month.

The 93rd FS’s goals during this Flying Training Deployment were to sharpen combat readiness, exercise the ability to operate from a deployed location and strengthen strategic partnerships.

“We came to conduct training with our USAFE and Royal Air Force partners to help prepare our men and women for contingency operations,” said Lt. Col. Lindsey Lamb, 93rd FS operations director. “This not only made us better by sharpening our sword and readying us for combat, but the training itself and the partnerships we developed with the host nation was wonderful.”

During the two-week FTD, the squadron’s primary focus was working with USAFE and RAF units, demonstrating the U.S. Air Force’s ability to integrate a Total Force team during training and operations.

Air Guardsmen and Reservists provide critical support throughout the U.S. Air Forces in Europe-Air Forces Africa theater by deploying to the area of responsibility and building relationships with partners and allies. During the FTD, the 93rd FS flew more than 136 sorties and accumulated nearly 180 flying hours.

“Almost every sortie we flew from here was with either our USAFE partners, the Bolars [492nd FS] or with the RAF,” said Capt. George Cook, 93rd FS F-16 fighter pilot. “It was a great learning opportunity, and the overall training experience was fantastic.”

Due to the U.S. Air Force’s forward presence in Europe, RAF Lakenheath and units conducting routine FTDs, like the 93rd FS, are able to work with partners and allies to develop and improve ready air forces capable of maintaining regional security.