KEESLER AIR FORCE BASE, Miss. -- Members from the 815th Airlift Squadron conducted airdrop training during the 403rd Wing’s Unit Training Assembly Sunday.
This is a standard tactical Container Delivery System airdrop mission according to Senior Master Sgt. Darren Bannister, a loadmaster with the 815th AS.
“It allows us to practice for real world resupply of people on the ground with anything from food and water to building supplies or ammunition,” he said.
These bundles were barrels filled with water to simulate the weight of real-world supplies that the 815th drops during missions within a deployed location.
“In 2011, our squadron set the record for one month of CDS airdrops from C-130’s during our deployment to Afghanistan,” said Bannister. “I did four mass CDS drops in one day.”
In order to practice for that level of operations, crews fly these training missions multiple times per week.
This mission also acted as preparation for their upcoming Green Flag exercise, which involves multiple large scale CDS airdrops.