F.E. WARREN AIR FORCE BASE, Wyo. -- The 20th Air Force will hold its first week-long, Olympic Flag exercise at F. E. Warren Air Force Base, Wyoming, to bring ICBM operators from the three missile wings together to demonstrate their expertise and to collect best practices across the ICBM force.
“I'm really excited about our new approach to Olympic Flag,” said Maj. Gen. Anthony Cotton, 20th AF commander. “Similar to Flag Exercises seen across the Air Force, this one meets two of my objectives; witnessing the readiness of our line missile combat crew members and all the activity from mission planning, instructing and debrief in a simulated operational environment. Olympic Flag is about tapping the shoulder of certified crews and instructors and seeing them showing off their stuff. And like other Flags, we can garner best practices to incorporate across the Numbered Air Force.”
Cotton randomly selected the operators from each missile squadron to participate in the exercise.
“Eligible members were missile combat crew commanders and deputy missile combat crew commanders that aren’t marked as experienced, and instructors assigned to the missile squadrons,” said Capt. Bryce Acres, 20th AF ICBM Nuclear Command, Control and Communication operations chief. “We established criteria to select younger operators to provide them with a unique training experience that they can build upon as they move forward in their careers. These are the Airmen who are out doing the mission every day and will provide the opportunity to gather lessons learned that can then be applied to the whole crew force.”
The following Airmen are participating in the Olympic Flag exercise:
90th Missile Wing
1st Lt. Matej Osyka and 1st Lt. Kendra Smith, 319th Missile Squadron
1st Lt. Nicholas Anderson and 2nd Lt. Timothy Olinger, 320th Missile Squadron
1st Lt. John Pacheco and 2nd Lt. Seth Hirschauer, 321st Missile Squadron
1st Lt. Caleb Larsen, instructor
91st Missile Wing
1st Lt. Carerra Burris and 2nd Lt. Mathew Trevino, 740th Missile Squadron
1st Lt. Vincent Flory and 2nd Lt. Jacob Farrell, 741st Missile Squadron
1st Lt. Daniel Wang and 2nd Lt. William Yau, 742nd Missile Squadron
Capt. Marian Dinkha, instructor
341st Missile Wing
1st Lt. Eric Maloney and 2nd Lt. Kayla Reed, 10th Missile Squadron
1st Lt. Margaret Schuetz and 2nd Lt. Maximiliano Castera, 12th Missile Squadron
Capt. Kristen Bumgardner and 2nd Lt. Tyler Griffin, 490th Missile Squadron
Capt. Kenneth Clement, instructor