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	South Korea’s largest air exercise proves ‘Accept Follow-on Forces’ mission
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        <h1 class="title">South Korea’s largest air exercise proves ‘Accept Follow-on Forces’ mission</h1>
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                 alt="Republic of Korea Air Force F-15K Slam Eagles and FA-50 Golden Eagles parked on the airfield at Kunsan Air Base, ROK"
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                <div class="image-title">South Korea’s largest air exercise proves ‘Accept Follow-on Forces’ mission</div>
                <div class="image-caption">Republic of Korea Air Force F-15K Slam Eagles and FA-50 Golden Eagles parked on the airfield at Kunsan Air Base, ROK, April 12, 2024. ROKAF follow-on forces arrived from across the country to participate in Korea Flying Training 2024. (U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Nicholas Ross)</div>
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                 alt="A U.S. Air Force KC-135 assigned to the 909th Air Refueling Squadron prepares to take off during Korea Flying Training 2024 at Kunsan Air Base, Republic of Korea"
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                <div class="image-title">South Korea’s largest air exercise proves ‘Accept Follow-on Forces’ mission</div>
                <div class="image-caption">A U.S. Air Force KC-135 assigned to the 909th Air Refueling Squadron prepares to take off during Korea Flying Training 2024 at Kunsan Air Base, Republic of Korea, April 18, 2024. KFT 24 is an annual combined ROK-U.S. large force exercise designed to improve integration of combined and joint airpower. (U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Samuel Earick)</div>
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                 alt="U.S. Air Force and Republic of Korea Air Force leaders deliver indoctrination briefing for service members before the start of Korea Flying Training 2024 at Kunsan Air Base, ROK"
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                <div class="image-title">South Korea’s largest air exercise proves ‘Accept Follow-on Forces’ mission</div>
                <div class="image-caption">U.S. Air Force and Republic of Korea Air Force leaders deliver indoctrination briefing for service members before the start of Korea Flying Training 2024 at Kunsan Air Base, ROK, April 12, 2024. KFT 24 tested Kunsan Air B’s ability to accept follow-on forces as it brought on 24 additional airframes and hundreds of supporting personnel to the installation. (U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Emili Koonce)</div>
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                 alt="U.S. Air Force Col. Michael G. McCarthy, 8th Operation Group commander, delivers opening remarks at a welcoming briefing before the start of Korea Flying Training 24 at Kunsan Air Base, Republic of Korea"
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                <div class="image-title">South Korea’s largest air exercise proves ‘Accept Follow-on Forces’ mission</div>
                <div class="image-caption">U.S. Air Force Col. Michael G. McCarthy, 8th Operation Group commander, delivers opening remarks at a welcoming briefing before the start of Korea Flying Training 24 at Kunsan Air Base, Republic of Korea, April 12, 2024. KFT 24 is an annual large-scale U.S. and ROK Air Force integration flying exercise designed to improve interoperability of combined and joint airpower execution, face-to-face combined mission planning, flying execution, and effective debriefing to train mission commanders and aircrew to operate and succeed in robust, complex scenarios. (U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Emili Koonce)</div>
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                 alt="U.S.-ROK follow-on forces operate out of an alternate air operations center for the Korea Flight Training 2024 exercise at Kunsan Air Base, ROK"
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                <div class="image-title">South Korea’s largest air exercise proves ‘Accept Follow-on Forces’ mission</div>
                <div class="image-caption">U.S.-ROK follow-on forces operate out of an alternate air operations center for the Korea Flight Training 2024 exercise at Kunsan Air Base, ROK, April 18, 2024. KFT 24 tested the 7th AF and ROKAF’s ability to bed-down, sustain, and redeploy joint forces and susport agile combat employment. (U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Nicholas Ross)</div>
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    <div><b>By Staff Sgt. Nicholas Ross,</b> <span class="date">/ Published April 22, 2024</span></div>
    <span class="dateline-text">KUNSAN AIR BASE, Republic of Korea, </span>
    <p><span style="font-size:larger;">A crucial aspect of any exercise for the 8th Fighter Wing is the reception of forces, and that was no different as the Wolf Pack hosts the largest air exercise in the Republic of Korea.</span></p>

<p><span style="font-size:larger;">The 8th Logistics Readiness Squadron deployment readiness cell played a vital role in accepting an additional 24 airframes and hundreds of personnel for Korea Flying Training 2024.</span></p>

<p><span style="font-size:larger;">“It was four and a half months of planning meetings involving 7th Air Force, Republic of Korea Air Force’s Air Operation Center, and all the participants for the exercise, in addition to weekly coordination with the units around base to pull this off,” said U.S. Air Force Capt. Jeremy Fagan, 8th LRS installation deployment officer. “Organizing all those details over the past couple of months has been the job of the [Installation Deployment Readiness Center.]”</span></p>

<p><span style="font-size:larger;">KFT 24 is the annual combined ROK-U.S. large force exercise designed to improve integration of combined and joint airpower. For this year’s iteration, Kunsan AB welcomed aircraft and personnel from 20 different units across the U.S. Department of Defense and the Republic of Korea Air Force.</span></p>

<p><span style="font-size:larger;">Over the past month, the “port dawgs” [air transportation personnel] were responsible for downloading cargo from 10 aircraft, and the whole of LRS worked to ensure that the people and cargo got to where they needed to be for mission execution.</span></p>

<p><span style="font-size:larger;">“KFT took extensive planning, but accepting ‘follow-on forces’ can be a very quick process,” said Fagan. “We could get notified a day before that people, assets and/or cargo are coming, and as long as our port dawgs are here, we can go out and make it happen.”</span></p>

<p><span style="font-size:larger;">As KFT progresses, the 8th Operational Support Squadron has been crucial in maintaining safe and efficient flying operations.</span></p>

<p><span style="font-size:larger;">“The ops temp has tripled from usual,” said Tech. Sgt. Kathy Sells, 8th Operational Support Squadron non-commissioned officer in-charge of airfield management operations. “Our Airmen have increased flight planning and airfield safety checks daily to go along with the increased daily sorties.”</span></p>

<p><span style="font-size:larger;">Coordinating where jets will park and ensuring the airfield environment can support aircraft movements at a moment’s notice, the Airfield Management team has been essential to making sure all the aircraft that traveled to KFT 24 can effectively train.</span></p>

<p><span style="font-size:larger;">“Deconflicting with all the airframes has been a huge planning process,” said Sells. “Within our career field we have to be flexible, and we have different courses of action for these situations ; knowledge that's proven pertinent during KFT.”</span></p>

<p><span style="font-size:larger;">Kunsan’s ability to accept follow-on forces is a huge advantage to ROK and U.S. forces participating in the training and in the grander mission to defend the prosperity of the Peninsula. Training like KFT that test that function and the interoperability of dissimilar aircraft from the ROK-US Alliance ensures the combined force is battle-ready for any potential situation.</span></p>
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