Hometown Tour: Hurlburt Field

Florida Hurlburt Field Officials here say this base is becoming one of the most relevant to the United States Air Force.

by Chad Petri

Published: Thu, October 29, 2009 - 1:45 pm CST Last Updated: Thu, October 29, 2009 - 2:22 pm CST

HURLBURT FIELD, Florida - There are two white helicopters sitting on a runway on Hurlburt Field. From the outside, the choppers look normal, but on the inside, you can see that the Russian-made MI-17’s aren’t from around here. There are Russian words on controls and panels throughout the vessel. It's just one training tool for the 6th Special Operations Squadron, or SOS, they train and improve the air forces of US allies.

“Whatever that country requests we will modify our training at home station to provide them the training in country,” says Lt. Col. Joe Michalek, Commander of the 6th SOS. He says the ultimate goal is to improve ties with partner countries.

“If we need to deploy for a special operations wing, for a fight, hopefully we've already built that relationship we have a good relationship with that country we're going to and we can better integrate that wing into combat operations in that nation,” says Michalek. Aviation advisors spend months in language and cultural training as well.

“Have to realize that they don't think like we do and what comes easy to me and what makes sense to me won't necessarily make sense to them,” says Aviation Advisor Major Jeremy Smith. However, the 6th SOS is one small part of Hurlburt. Everything they do at Hurlburt Field is in support of Special Operations, which is a larger mission of the US Air Force

“We are probably the most relevant base in the Air Force as far as heading overseas contingency operations around the world right now,” says Lt. Col. Greg Lengyel, Commander 1st Special Operations Wing. Colonel Lengyel says special ops importance to the military has exploded since September 11th.

“The skills that we have in special operations command are uniquely suited to fighting the type of war we're fighting right now,” says Lengyel. You can learn more about Hurlburt Field tonight at 6 pm during our Hometown Tour of the base.

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