Mountain Home war games boast international competition

MOUNTAIN HOME, Idaho – German and Canadian fighter planes dodged above the Idaho desert on Tuesday, battling alongside U.S. Air Force jets to win an imaginary battle and bragging rights for the next two years.

The international war games under way at Mountain Home Air Force Base this week are part of an effort to boost cooperation and standardize training among U.S. allies, said Lt. Col. Brian Kirkwood, the commander of the 391st Fighter Squadron at Mountain Home.

“World opinion will no longer support a unilateral operation by the United States,” Kirkwood said. “Almost without exception, we’ll be going in with allies. Every chance we get to train internationally brings dividends down the road.”

Now in its fourth running, the biennial Tiger Meet of the Americas brought more than 300 soldiers from eight bases across the continent and Germany to Mountain Home, base spokesman Capt. Mike Chillstrom said. Bases may participate if they have a tiger — or at least a big cat — as part of their squadron theme. Loosely modeled after NATO’s international war games program, the event pairs soldiers from different bases to work together in a mock war.

“We have the Canadian, German and U.S. Air Force personnel that are all trying to get together to standardize leadership,” said Maj. Jean-Marc Brzezinski with the 416th Tactical Fighters Squadron in Cold Lake, Alberta, Canada. “So this allows us to train together, with a mix of aircraft usually not seen in any one base.”

During past conflicts, military allies have been unsure what to expect from their comrades, Brzezinski said.

“During Kosovo, the first Gulf War and to some extent the second Gulf war, there was always doubt as to what the other members would do. There were different reactions to different threats presented,” Brzezinski said. Now “if someone in front is posed with a problem, those people behind him know how he will react.”

The squadrons work together in some events — such as the mock air war — and compete on their own in nightly games and sports.

The winning squadron hosts the next meet, and its members get to boast of their flying prowess until a new winner takes the honors.

The meet makes Mountain Home’s tarmac look like something from a “War of the Worlds”-style movie, with German Tornado warplanes from Geilenkirchen Air Base parked alongside a NATO Airborne Warning and Control System, neighbored by F-18s from Canada and American F-16CJs and F-15s.

Some of the soldiers’ spouses are treated to a rare chance to see their significant others in action, watching the fighter jets refuel in air from the boom controls of a KC-135 refueling tanker. In the evenings, the soldiers compete in skeet shoots and golf tournaments or celebrate Oktoberfest, courtesy of the German soldiers.

“There’s a trend toward training more with our allies,” Chillstrom said.

“Ironing out some of the wrinkles by training together makes going to war that much easier. You want to make sure your team is prepared.”