Exercise Virtual Flag provides training for one Misawa Airman Published May 9, 2012 By Airman 1st Class Kia Atkins 35th Fighter Wing Public Affairs MISAWA AIR BASE, Japan -- In March, Tech. Sgt. Travis Carpenter, 610th Air Control Flight weapons director technician, was the only Airman assigned from the 35th Fighter Wing to participate in a 10-day exercise called Virtual Flag at Kirkland Air Force Base, New Mexico. The Virtual Flag exercise is designed to provide realistic warfighter training in a simulated environment. "Exercise Virtual Flag is an opportunity for all U.S. military forces to get together and share information on one another's weapons systems platforms," said Carpenter. "So when we go to war together, we know the capabilities of the other (sister) services and how to better complement them by working together to get the information to higher headquarters, who will make the decision on what we should do." Participants of Exercise Virtual Flag interacted with live air and space operations. They resolved command and control issues while facing air and ground threats from opposing forces using live, virtual and constructive simulations. "We had multiple simulators connected to a dial link that pumped the information we gathered to Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona, which served as the Air Operations Center," said Carpenter. "Downrange, the AOC is where the big decisions are made by all the joint-force commanders." Exercise Virtual Flag is an opportunity to work with the Army, Navy and Marine Corps, who Airmen may be tasked to deploy with, said Carpenter. This exercise is like a trial run; if you make a mistake, no one gets hurt. It gives you the chance to see and correct your mistakes, because in war there is no room for error. "It was a great learning experience," said Carpenter.