Storm Flag 25-05 Soars Through Louisiana Skies Published April 1, 2025 By Staff Sgt. Solomon Cook 43rd Air Mobility Operations Group Public Affairs POPE ARMY AIRFIELD, N.C -- Servicemembers from both the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Army participated in Storm Flag 25-05, a Mobility Air Forces exercise, in multiple locations, March 15-31, 2025. Designed, led and documented by the 34th Combat Training Squadron (CTS), located at Little Rock Air Force Base (AFB), Arkansas, the two weeklong event serves as a 300-level exercise to demonstrate Air Force joint and coalition capabilities. Storm Flag is a brand of mobility exercise that is a joint military exercise and Air Mobility Command’s (AMC) only exercise with Joint National Training Capability (JNTC) accreditation, designed to simulate a deployed combat environment. “Storm Flag is integrated with the U.S. Army’s Joint Readiness Training Center (JRTC), a premier crucible training experience that prepares units to fight and win in the most complex environments,” said Lt. Col. Leonard Trujillo, 34th CTS director of operations. “The mission of JRTC is to conduct large-scale operations on a decisive action battlefield against a near-peer threat with multi-domain capabilities. JRTC exercises are a force-on-force, free-play environment supported by air mobility and combat airpower.” Taking place in multiple locations, Storm Flag shows the delivery of rapid global mobility and air power at its finest. Planning begins at Little Rock AFB months in advance. With a mixture of virtual and in-person meetings, members of the 34th CTS mesh the mission sets and warfighting assets from across the U.S. Armed Forces and international allies. Next, the staging occurs at Pope Army Airfield. During this time, Airmen and Soldiers conduct training and finish last minute taskings for approximately a week. As the tempo of the exercise continues to ramp up, members involved are transported to the primary exercise area at the Alexandria International Airport in Alexandria, Louisianna. The training area, affectionally called “The Box,” is a simulated deployed environment in rural areas of Louisianna. “Storm Flag supports AMC’s key priorities by providing a dynamic training and planning environment that enables Airmen to develop the skills necessary for advanced warfighting in a controlled environment,” Trujillo explained. “The 34th CTS also gathers lessons learned to provide better training for future iterations and allows AMC to identify critical training for the Mobility enterprise.” “[The exercise] provides a fast-paced learning environment under safe conditions to increase our tactical abilities and ensure our strategic advantage to provide rapid global mobility for Joint and Coalition partners,” he continued. “[This] enables Airmen to try different methods within regulations to push innovation across the joint and coalition force to improve rapid global mobility.” Ensuring the safety and success of this simulated deployment requires attention to detail and a complete team of subject matter experts who can make corrections on the spot. Having these technical professionals to translate the different dialects of the same language of warfare is key to the success of Storm Flag. “Some of the major obstacles that we must overcome are the differences in operational standards within each specialty and the language that is used to communicate between services and functional areas,” said Master Sgt. Jonathan Lange, 34th CTS senior enlisted leader. “We must also ensure that the Joint enterprise is speaking with clarity to ensure that everyone involved has a clear understanding of what needs to be accomplished to achieve commander’s intent.” Speaking to the same sentiment of accomplishing the mission, Trujillo spoke to the younger Airmen, some of which were not only experiencing Storm Flag for the first time, but also participating in their first military exercise. “Storm Flag provides unmatched combat-realism associated with projecting combat power,” Trujillo elaborated. “It is critical for younger Airmen to develop an understanding of the combat environment, and individual requirements before they would be put in an actual wartime scenario.” Wrapping up the exercise, the planners and participants reflected on lessons learned. With the massive undertaking complete and diligent notes received, the only thing to do now is to plan for the next iteration.