571st MSAS Trains the Trainers in Final Mobile Training Mission

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Levi Reynolds
  • 621st Contingency Response Wing Public Affairs
SAN JOSE, COSTA RICA. --  

San Jose, Costa Rica — In a mission that closes out nearly a decade of partner-nation airdrop instruction, the 571st Mobile Support Advisory Squadron conducted its final Mobile Training Team (MTT) deployment this month, training members of the Costa Rican Public Force's Servicio de Vigilancia Aérea (SVA) on airdrop operations, parachute rigging, maintenance, and night landing zone procedures using the Cessna C-208 Grand Caravan.

What set this MTT apart from the squadron's previous missions was who did the teaching. Rather than 571st MSAS advisors leading instruction directly, members of the Belize Defence Force (BDF) — trained by the squadron during earlier deployments — traveled to Costa Rica to serve as co-instructors, passing on the same airdrop and rigging skills they had learned from U.S. Air Force advisors over the past several years.

Air Mobility Command leadership traveled to Costa Rica to witness the training firsthand. Brig. Gen. Derek Salmi, AMC's director of operations, strategic deterrence and nuclear integration, joined Col. Sarah Kaiser, 621st Air Mobility Advisory Group commander, and Chief Master Sgt. Dennis Flanagan, the 621st AMAG senior enlisted leader, on-site to observe the culmination of the squadron's work — and the tangible results of years of prior MTTs that had trained both the SVA and the BDF.

"Watching the Belize Defence Force train the SVA on skills they once learned from the 571st MSAS is exactly what security cooperation is supposed to look like. This isn't just partnership, it’s partnership that sustains itself,” Salmi said.

“Seeing the BDF stand up as instructors for the SVA is the payoff of years of deliberate, patient investment by our advisors.“ Kaiser said.

The arrangement marked a full-circle moment for the squadron, which is set to inactivate in September after years of building aviation capacity across partner nations in the region.

"This was our last MTT, and honestly, I couldn't have asked for a better way to close it out. Watching BDF pilots brief SVA aircrews on procedures we taught them years ago — that's the mission working exactly the way it's supposed to," said Maj. Abror Samatov, 571st MSAS C-208 instructor pilot.

On the ground, instruction centered on drop zone and landing zone operations, including night operations — a skill set critical to SVA's ability to conduct airdrop resupply missions independent of daylight and weather constraints.

"We spent years building trust with the BDF on DZ and LZ procedures. Seeing them turn around and teach the SVA those exact same standards, with the same attention to detail, that’s the proudest moment of this deployment for me," said Tech. Sgt. David Rost, 571st MSAS air traffic controller.

The use of BDF instructors reflects the squadron's broader approach to security cooperation: training partner nations not just to operate independently, but to become trainers themselves, multiplying the reach of U.S. airdrop instruction throughout the region without requiring direct U.S. involvement in every iteration.

With the 571st MSAS's inactivation approaching, leadership pointed to this mission as evidence of the unit's lasting impact.

The 571st MSAS has conducted mobile training missions across 40 countries since 2011, focused on building partner-nation capacity in airdrop, aircraft maintenance, and tactical airlift operations.