New Predator training chief Breeden praised by AF Reserve commander

Jace Radke

Monday, Dec. 20, 2004 | 9:42 a.m.

The new commander of Nellis Air Force Base's Predator training squadron is the first of many long-term investments that are now paying off, said Lt. Gen. John Bradley, commander of the nation's Air Force Reserve soldiers.

Lt. Col. John Breeden is the first Air Force Reservist to become a commanding officer of an active-duty Air Force unit, Nellis' 11th Reconnaissance Squadron, and there are plenty more qualified airmen with the National Guard and Reserves who can serve in similar roles, Bradley said.

"America has invested a lot of money and training in these airmen and we want to bring them back and continue using those skills," Bradley said Friday at the Indian Springs Auxiliary Airfield following Breeden's change of command ceremony. "This will be a great morale boost to the Reserves, because it shows our airmen that anything is possible."

Breeden's command is part of an Air Force-wide initiative to better utilize National Guard and Reserve resources through integrated units.

"I'm proud to be a part of this experiment, and I think both sides are going to be happy with the result of a total, global force that fights terrorism every day," Breeden said.

Breeden's promotion is scheduled to be followed by the activation of a fourth Predator unit at Nellis sometime next year. That unit will feature active-duty airmen, and guard and reserve troops.

Breeden was the first reservist to graduate from flight training on the the remote-piloted Predator aircraft in 2002, and the Predator program has since become one of the main testing grounds for the integration process.

"Predator is the model for Air Force integration," said Col. Mark Morris, commander of the 57th Operations Group that oversees Nellis' three predator squadrons. "Right now we have Predators being flown in Iraq and Afghanistan from Nellis and Indian Springs by Air National Guardsmen, Reservists, active duty Air Force and airmen from the United Kingdom."

Predators are the most in-demand air asset in Iraq and Afghanistan, making the 11th Reconnaissance Squadron's job of training pilots and sensor operators crucial, Morris said.

Those who graduate from the 11th to Nellis' 15th and 17th Reconnaissance Squadrons are flying missions in the Middle East within two days of being declared flight-ready, officials said. And, they said, the 11th has graduated 98 pilots, 100 sensor operators and more than 20 instructor pilots over the last two years.

The 15th and 17th have fired 21 Hellfire missiles from MQ-1 Predators in Iraq since Aug. 1, with the majority of the strikes against targets in Fallujah, officials said.

"There are many, many, coalition forces that are alive today because of the (11th Reconnaissance) Squadron," Morris said. "There is not an organization that has had a bigger impact on the war on terror than the 11th."

Along with the new integrated Predator unit to be based at Indian Springs, about 45 miles northwest of Las Vegas, the Air Force plans for two similar Predator units to be stationed at bases at yet to be determined locations in Texas and Arizona.

Pilots and operators for those new units will be trained at Nellis by the 11th.