{"id":34063,"date":"2020-07-13T20:43:23","date_gmt":"2020-07-13T20:43:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/uncategorized\/2020\/07\/13\/commando-crucible-special-operators-practice-combat-in-florida-north-carolina\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T21:01:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T21:01:10","slug":"commando-crucible-special-operators-practice-combat-in-florida-north-carolina","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/news\/your-air-force\/2020\/07\/13\/commando-crucible-special-operators-practice-combat-in-florida-north-carolina\/","title":{"rendered":"Commando Crucible: Special operators practice combat in Florida, North Carolina"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Teams of airmen, including special tactics<\/a> operators, practiced a series of combat skills<\/a>, including how to secure an airfield overseas, beginning last month at Hurlburt Field, Florida, and Kinston, North Carolina.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The exercise, known as Commando Crucible, was held June 18 to July 3, the Air Force said in a release Monday. The training exercise, led by special tactics operators, involved 253 participants and 40 aircraft from across Air Force Special Operations Command<\/a> and Air Combat Command.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The training allowed the airmen to practice skills such as precision strike, personnel recovery and how to deal with foreign internal defense capabilities, the release said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As part of the training, special tactics operators traveled from Hurlburt to Kinston to practice quickly securing an airfield to use as a forward air refueling point. This exercise involved F-15 Eagles, F-22 Raptors and MC-130s from AFSOC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An unidentified special tactics airman said in the release that this part of the training helped AFSOC and ACC get more used to working together.<\/p>\n\n\n\t