{"id":18037,"date":"2023-07-08T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-07-08T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=18037"},"modified":"2023-07-09T06:42:13","modified_gmt":"2023-07-09T06:42:13","slug":"air-guard-thai-counterparts-plan-air-refueling-engagement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=18037","title":{"rendered":"Air Guard, Thai counterparts plan air refueling engagement"},"content":{"rendered":"
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CAMP MURRAY, Wash. (AFNS) — \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Leaders from the Royal Thai A<\/strong><\/a><\/span>ir Force<\/strong><\/a> and Washington Air National Guard<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/strong> wrapped up the final planning conference on what could be a historic engagement in the Kingdom of Thailand later this year.<\/p>\n


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There are a lot of eyes on this exercise that we are planning,\u201d said Brig. Gen. Gent Welsh<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/strong>, Washington ANG<\/span> commander. \u201cThe opportunity to have two National Guard states participate together and work with our counterparts in the Royal Thai Air Force on a first-of-its-kind air refueling exercise is exciting for all involved.<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, leaders from three organizations began planning a potential air refueling exercise involving the Washington ANG 141st Air Refueling Wing, the Oregon National Guard\u2019s 142nd Fighter Wing and a Royal Thai Air Force fighter group. The idea went from thought to paper to practical concept and now likely execution.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cWe appreciate this relationship with the Washington Air National Guard and are very excited about this exercise,\u201d said <\/span>Royal Thai Air Force\u00a0Group Capt. <\/span>Anurruk Romnarak. \u201cThis should be a very enjoyable exercise, good experience and one that will be historic for both partners.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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While the focus of the conference for the staff officers was the air refueling exercise, the partners also discussed future training and how Airmen from the 141st Air Refueling Wing, 194th Wing and Western Air Defense Sector could support the State Partnership Program<\/strong><\/a> objectives in the Kingdom of Thailand.<\/span>\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cEvents like this make us grow better and closer together,\u201d Welsh<\/span> said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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During the visit, Washington Air Guard members and Royal Thai Air Force officers discussed future engagements in smaller working groups about operations, logistics and administration or protocol. The group also toured the Western Air Defense Sector, which conducted its first Air Defense Exchange with the Royal Thai Air Force in March 2023, learned about Washington\u2019s Air Support Operations Group and took a flight to Fairchild Air Force Base<\/strong><\/a> to discuss the future exercise with the wing\u2019s leadership.<\/span>\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Since 2002, the Washington National Guard and the Kingdom of Thailand have been partners in the Department of Defense National Guard Bureau State Partnership Program. They have held exchanges focused on close air support, medical aid, cybersecurity and defense and conducted numerous Airmen-to-Airmen conversations.<\/span>\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cThese types of partnerships are critical to <\/span>our N<\/span>ational <\/span>D<\/span>efense <\/span>S<\/span>trategy<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/strong>. Through engagements with our Royal Thai counterparts, both in the Air and Army, we are building the trust that is required to ensure both our nations are prepared for threats,\u201d Welsh<\/span> said. \u201cThis program provides a maximum value and often at an extremely low cost, and that happens because of the creativity and ingenuity our Guard members bring to it. This is the true power of the program.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The State Partnership Program\u00a0<\/span>has been successfully building relations for <\/span>30 years<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/strong> and now includes 88 partnerships with 100 nations around the globe.<\/span>\u00a0<\/p>\n

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U.S. Air Force Logo<\/title><\/p><\/div>\n<\/section><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>CAMP MURRAY, Wash. (AFNS) — \u00a0 Leaders from the Royal Thai Air Force and Washington Air National Guard wrapped up the final planning conference on what could be a historic engagement in the Kingdom of Thailand later this year. There are a lot of eyes on this exercise that we are planning,\u201d said Brig. Gen. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":18039,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18037","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18037","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18037"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18037\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18040,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18037\/revisions\/18040"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/18039"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18037"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18037"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18037"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}