103rd FSS Troops Take Skills on the Road

Senior Airman Christina N. Muniz and Staff Sgt. Christopher M. Jones, both from the 103rd Force Support Squadron, 103rd Airlift Wing, Conn. Air National Gurad, give a status report for appropriated fund/nonappropriated fund operations to Lt. Col. Ann C. Ware, 103rd Force Support Squadron commander, during a combat training exercise March 24, 2011, at Dobbins Air Reserve Base, Ga. A team of 15 Connecticut Guardsmen deployed with members of the 104th FSS and MacDill AFB where they focused on wartime/contingency operations relative to a force beddown. (Photo courtesy of Master Sgt. Melissa A. Letizio)

103rd FSS Troops Take Skills on the Road

Airman 1st Class Joshua A. Powers, 103rd Force Support Squadron, Conn. Air National Guard, is suited up for a Search and Recovery training effort during a combat training exercise March 24, 2011, at Dobbins Air Reserve Base, Ga. A team of 15 Connecticut Guardsmen deployed with members of the 104th FSS and MacDill AFB where they focused on wartime/contingency operations relative to a force beddown. (Photo courtesy of Master Sgt. Melissa A. Letizio)

103rd FSS Troops Take Skills on the Road

Senior Airman Vitaliy Gorbachyk, 103rd Force Support Squadron, Conn. Air National Guard, cordons off a UXO during a combat training exercise March 24 at Dobbins Air Reserve Base, Ga. A team of 15 Connecticut Guardsmen deployed with members of the 104th FSS and MacDill AFB where they focused on wartime/contingency operations relative to a force beddown. (Photo courtesy of Master Sgt. Melissa A. Letizio)

FSS troops take skills on the road

Published April 18, 2011
By Master Sgt. Melissa A. Letizio
103rd Force Support Squadron

DOBBINS AIR RESERVE BASE, Ga. -- Members of the 103rd Force Support Squadron, Sustainment Services Flight, Connecticut Air National Guard, recently took their skills to the road again to participate in their periodic Force Support Combat Training at Dobbins Air Reserve Base, Ga.

The team of 15 Connecticut Guardsmen deployed with the 104th FSS from the Massachusetts Air National Guard and with members from MacDill Air Reserve Base. Together, they focused on wartime/contingency operations as it applies to a force beddown.

Asked how the experience was, Senior Airman Vitaliy Gorbachyk replied, "This is the best training I have received. It provides real-world events and opportunities to apply what we have learned."

Although several of the participants are Haiti deployment veterans, many were placed in functional areas that they may have had little or no experience.

"It was a different experience this time around for us Haiti deployers since we just did the real thing a year ago. It was definitely beneficial to utilize our skills from our real-world experience; however, it was an eye opener for some of our newer troops. I think now they realize how mission-critical our field training really is," said Master Sgt. Melissa Letizio.

Members spent seven days living in tents and eating meals ready-to-eat and unitized group rations. The food service team provided two hot meals per day that were cooked out of the Single Pallet Expeditionary Kitchen (SPEK) while the fitness and recreation team organized sporting events and team building exercises for the group.

It was a long, exhausting week capped off by a very realistic and challenging exercise. Once again, the members of the 103rd FSS shined and is ready to pack their bags for the next deployment!