Third Army/U.S. Army Central hosted twenty-seven representatives from nine countries in its area of operations for the third International Aviation Symposium in Atlanta, Ga., July 20-24.
"USARCENT was given the task several years ago to conduct a series of three aviation symposiums to bring together aviation representatives from our partner nations and discuss and further ideas in the hopes that we would be able to work closer together in the future and solve common problems," Lt. Col. Eric W. Kaempfer, Third Army/USARCENT Deputy Chief, G32 Aviation said.
This was the third year of the three symposia set.
The first part of the week involved briefings given by aviators from both the United States and partner nations in attendance.
Brig. Gen. Muhammad Amir Khan, Pakistan Army pilot, delivered a briefing on his nation's aviation programs.
In his presentation Khan stated that people must know that they are fighting an enemy which is the enemy of everybody, every country, every community, every nation, and every individual.
"Now they know what we are doing and what our concepts of aviation are," Khan said.
In addition to briefings, participants also conducted a hands-on group exercise.
"We were presented a hypothetical situation where we were given different types of aircraft and a variety of conditions," Chief Warrant Officer Jamie Escobar, Third Army/USARCENT Panther team said. "In this case it was an earthquake and we had to bring food to different parts of a made up country. Each country presented how they would do it."
After working together to determine a plan of action, the group traveled to Fort Rucker, Ala., to the U.S. Army Aviation Center of Excellence where they watched the mission they had created on a screen.
"They exchanged a great number of ideas on how to accomplish the humanitarian mission," Kaempfer said. "Then they were able to come to see the mission flown using the simulator facilities at Fort Rucker. I think it's a great success and is going to add greatly to our understanding between the Army Aviation partners and USARCENT."
Khan agreed that the symposium was important in not only learning about aviation programs but also that it held deeper meaning in fostering relationships between the countries.
"I think it is a good opportunity to meet so many people from different countries to share the experience, to share the problems we are facing, and to find solutions to them," Khan said.
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