Real ThunderDome

[Anklecranker]

EIELSON AIR FORCE BASE, Alaska (AFPN) -- With more than 47 aircraft from the United States, Japan and the United Kingdom converging on the flightline here for Cooperative Cope Thunder, the "Thunder Dome" is serving as the nerve center of maintenance activities vital to deployed units.
















i-Newswire, - The Thunder Dome is nothing like the gladiator-style arena seen in the movie, "Mad Max." It is a 90,000-square-foot maintenance hangar used by 353rd Combat Training Squadron Airmen for this air combat training exercise taking place June 9 to 24 here and at nearby Elmendorf Air Force Base.



The exercise, the largest multilateral air combat exercise in the Pacific, also includes units from Germany, Singapore, Australia, Sri Lanka, Mongolia, Thailand, Bangladesh and South Korea, officials said.



"Maintenance support is the backbone of this exercise," said Capt. Terry Koester, 353rd CTS exercise support division director. "It is critical to sustaining the on-time takeoffs for the sorties."



Aircrews are flying about 60 sorties a day to train on things such as interdiction, counter-air, and close air support missions in a simulated combat environment.



The amount of flying here is putting a heavy burden on the aircraft, and increases the possibility of maintenance problems, said Tech. Sgt. Karl Burgess from Kadena Air Base, Japan.



"Luckily, we've only had minor problems so far, and our guys are so on top of it. They're fixing them as they come up," he said.



The maintenance teams bring most of the supplies and parts with them, and depend on Eielson only for equipment that cannot be deployed.



Captain Koester and a staff of 11 maintainers and support Airmen ensure the deployed cargo is bedded down inside the Thunder Dome.



"We have the active-duty supply to tap into if we need to," Sergeant Burgess said, "and the Alaska Air National Guard commander has also offered assistance if we need it."



Another person complimenting the maintenance support is Japanese Master Sgt. Mototsugu Minoura, who is working as a maintenance coordinator in the maintenance operations center.



He said the greatest challenge for him, though, is the language barrier.



"Communicating in a different language is challenging for most of us here," Sergeant Minoura said.



Another challenge he said they face is the equipment they borrow is not compatible with their items, and it takes them a while to become familiar with the equipment to make it work.



Senior Airman Adela Zertuche, an electro-environmental technician with the Texas Air National Guard's 149th Fighter Wing, said the biggest challenge for her is working out of a box.



"Back ( in San Antonio ) we have everything set out and organized for us, and we're not digging through boxes," she said. "It's not really a problem, it just takes a little more time to get some things done here than back home."



"But overall, we're having a lot of fun here learning about new cultures and the way other nations do business," said Sergeant Minoura.



by Master Sgt. Ann Bennett

Cooperative Cope Thunder Public Affairs

[March Hare]

..10 planes enter......1 plane leaves................

[Anklecranker]

Where else could you find and article about MadMax, Thunderdome, Alaska and San Antonio and it not have the arrest of Anklecranker in it?


There is hope for mankind.

[rockatansky4073]

Here in AUSTRALIA, we've had a 'real' THUNDERDOME for years, NASCARS race in it, THUNDERDOME is its official name.

[March Hare]

... is that the track called Calder Park Raceway.???..............or is there another? ..That is the only result I found that wasn't MM related.....

[Anklecranker]

San Antonio has the.............. AlamoDome

[cynical]

Quote: Originally posted by Anklecranker on 22 June 2005






Where else could you find and article about MadMax, Thunderdome, Alaska and San Antonio and it not have the arrest of Anklecranker in it?





Ancle, I didn't realize YOU got arrested, too!


And TOTALLY off topic, not only does San Antonio have the "AlamoDome", more importantly we have the SBC Center, the home of the NBA playoff champion SPURS!!! ("spoken" whilst still recovering from last night!)


(O.K., other than that lame statistic, S.A. still SUCKS!!)

[Anklecranker]

I didnt get arrested...thanks to Chris and his superior subterfuge.


All hail "PULSE"

[Bronze21-MFP460]

47 planes enter...only A-10 WARTHOG leaves!


Kick 'er in the turbofans Barry! Yeah! She's the last of the gunslingers! Fires 30mm rounds! The GAU-8 man! Tell 'im about the GAU-8! Fires Depleted Uranium Armour-Piercing rounds! The GAU-8 man! Rounds 11.41 inches long! You can kill tanks with this one! Yeah, she's the Hawg's guts! Shoots 1280 rounds in 10 seconds! The GAU-8 man! She's meaness that's low and slow, and the bitch is born to kill...OK, so when do we go "Plinking?!" HEHEHE! SWINE!


She can get shot with 300 rounds of small arms fire, lose half of one wing, one engine, one elevator/stabilizer, a quarter of the other wing and still make it back to base 400 miles away, on the main centerline fuel tank. Mean, green killin' mo-chine! The ire of So-Damn-Insane. They even called one of the roads that the A-10 strafed on a routine basis, "The Highway of Death" because nothing survived...troops, tanks, vehicles, even the highway was riddled with AP rounds.


"And the A-10...that was the last thing they ever saw..."