In January 2005, the 158th Fighter Wing of the Vermont Air National Guard deployed aircraft and personnel to Tyndall AFB, located in the Florida panhandle, to participate in Combat Archer. Conducted by the 53rd Weapons Evaluation Group, a tenant unit., Combat Archer is an Air-to-Air Weapons System Evaluation Program (WSEP) designed to exercise and evaluate the total Air-to-Air weapon system capability of Air Force combat aircraft.

For the Green Mountain Boys who normally fly with training weapons at home, live-firing their first missiles in Combat Archer instead of in combat provides confidence. Such an exercise allows pilots to experience what they would see and feel in combat. During standard training flights, pilots go through all the steps to fire a missile except actually firing one and cannot clearly validate wheter the shot would have hit the target other than what is written in manuals as a valid simulation. Since pilots rarely get an opportunity to engage in actual Air-to-Air combat, this is truly a unique opportunity. This type of training requires a very large area, free from both ground and air traffic, to conduct the training safely. All the shooting is done over the Gulf of Mexico with the support of the 82nd Aerial Targets Squadron operating from Tyndall AFB as well. The squadron provides Full-scale Aerial Targets and Sub-scale Aerial Targets for participants in the program to shoot down.

Combat Archer also provides aircrews, maintainers, weapons loaders and other members of the unit an opportunity to work together and a chance to prepare and deploy as a team before AEF deployments.

"I feel that as a traditional guardsman you don't get the chance to work with the other shops in a high tempo environment, especially with live munitions. Being able to work closely with the other shops gives you a better understanding of the overall picture. It was great to know that the LAU-129 rail that I had taken apart, inspected and reassembled two months ago prior, worked as advertised!"said TSgt R. Bellerive. Without programs like Combat Archer, most guardsman such as weapons loaders would never have a chance to work on a flightline with live munitions being delivered, loaded and fired. For them, the experience of working on an active duty base and a flightline as busy as Tyndall's is invaluable. During Combat Archer, some pilots from the 158th Fighter Wing even had the opportunity to fly BFM with the F-22As from the 43rd Fighter Squadron. The 43rd FS is based at Tyndall AFB and is responsible for training pilots flying the new F-22A Raptor.

This was another successful deployment for the Green Mountain Boys!

More photos from Combat Archer with the Green Mountain Boys!