Nellis puts on show for top brass

Stephen Curran

Monday, July 22, 2002 | 11:01 a.m.

The desert just outside Las Vegas looked like a war zone Friday morning. Multimillion-dollar jets and helicopters flew overhead, bombing and shooting at distant and not-so-distant targets.

But the narration and background techno music made this sound more like a war movie.

Friday's well-produced exercise was an exhibition for 40 newly promoted generals and admirals from all branches of the armed services, who descended on the Nellis Air Force Range about 20 miles northwest of Las Vegas to watch the Air Force flex its muscle.

The display was part of a program known as Capstone, in which military leaders travel to different bases to see what each respective branch can do. The goal is to facilitate cooperation among the branches' top brass.

It came just days before the services were scheduled to work together for Millennium Challenge 2002, a joint wargame beginning Wednesday that will combine live field exercises with computer simulations to see how ready the military is for rapid deployment.

The wargame, to be held on seven bases in Nevada and California, including Nellis, will test new concepts in the services: the Air Force's expeditionary aerospace force, the Army's medium-weight brigades and the Navy's newest philosophy on deploying its ships, "Forward From the Sea."

But the event wasn't just for the generals. About 2,000 civilians joined the generals and community leaders to view the exhibition.

"It's mainly for the one- and two-star generals, but we might as well educate the public," said Air Force Lt. Col. Fred Van Wicklin, the event's organizer.

The education included watching nine different aircraft, ranging from the Vietnam-era B-52 to the state-of-the-art B-2 Stealth bomber, perform tactical maneuvers that included shooting bombs into the empty rangeland.

Among the demonstrations was a simulated rescue of a stranded pilot by the crew of a specially outfitted HH-60 Pavehawk helicopter and an F-16C jet dropping four cluster bombs on an area the size of two football fields.

As bombs were dropping over the range, concerns about fire from an errant bomb were minimal, base spokesman Master Sgt. Richard Covington said.

"We've never had a big fire issue at the range," Covington said. "The odds of a forest fire are slim because there's no forest nearby."

During the exhibition, bombs ignited two small flares on the range, but the fires were quickly extinguished.

While the bombs did not ignite any major fires at the site, they did ignite the imaginations of a Las Vegas Boy Scout troop, comprising soon-to-be eighth graders.

"It was awesome," said Evan Gubler, 13, who is considering a career in the Air Force. "When I get older I want to fly."

It wasn't just the teenagers who watched wide-eyed as the aircraft flew overhead. Zane Fisher, an air conditioning technician from Las Vegas, never served in the military but has an active interest in military affairs.

"I didn't realize how uneducated I was as to how advanced our military is," Fisher said. "I thought it was spectacular. We ought to send a videotape to Saddam Hussein."