ANDERSEN AIR FORCE BASE, Guam -- Air Force, Marine and Navy units from around the Pacific theater continued exercise Valiant Shield 2010 with a live-fire training sink exercise here Monday.
Units involved in the training were able to gain experience in tactics, targeting and live-firing, which is difficult to gain through simulation training.
Marine All Weather Fighter Attack Squadron 225, or the Vikings, out of Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, Calif., are the main squadron from the Marine Corps side that flew out in support of the live-fire training.
The Vikings are slated to land in Iwakuni as part of the Unit Deployment Program after the conclusion of Valiant Shield.
The live-fire training required the supporting units to take turns firing at the former USS Acadia at different times of the day in an attempt to sink it into the ocean.
“The only way that you are going to, one, understand the actual effects of the weapon and two, find out how reliable those weapons are, is to use live weapons,” said Air Force Col. Alan Kollien, 613th Air and Space Operations Center vice commander.
Another benefit is pilots can learn new ways to employ those weapons effects by training with live weapons, Kollien added. The participating units used a variety of gunfire, bombs and torpedoes during the training.
While many of the units were successful in hitting their target and sank the ship by the end of the day, some units ran into problems. Although the Vikings flew out in support of the exercise, they were unable to fire their missiles.
When the VMFA(AW)-225 pilots approached their target, a fishing boat in the area forced them to abort their portion of the exercise.
“We were ready to go. It would have worked. It just wasn’t our day,” said Marine Capt. Dustin Cook, a VMFA(AW)-225 pilot.
“You can’t replicate (the experience gained) unless you‘re able to do the live shoot and train with the real thing.”
The missiles carried by the VMFA(AW)-225 F/A-18s were properly unloaded and stored upon their return.
Navy Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 25 also participated in the sink exercise and was ready for the hands-on training.
“You can read a lot about a system and you can kind of practice with it, but actually going out there and using the system as it was intended to be employed is where you learn a lot,” said Navy Lt. Patrick Salvitti, an HSC-25 pilot. “It’s one of the few times you get real-world tactical training.”
Many of the pilots and gunners involved in the exercise were firing the live ammunition at a target for the first time and found the training invaluable.
Salvitti said it was his and his gunner’s first time working with the system they used during the sink exercise.
“The biggest thing is getting familiar with a new system,” said Salvitti. “It’s something that just takes experience.”
Extensive environmental compliance was observed during the whole of the training. Area surveys were conducted prior to the sink exercise to ensure human and marine mammal life were not in the area to be harmed.
Before being sunk, the former USS Acadia made numerous Western Pacific and Far East deployments and earned multiple awards before being decommissioned in 1994.