They look at
real-world
events and try to
solve such problems
as potential hostilities
with North Korea
or China
make sure we have what we need to
graduate our students.’
Yet another di culty of being away
from Nellis and the rest of the weapons
school is the relative lack of integration.
‘We’d love to be at Nellis — we’d create
better ‘patch-wearers’ hands down,
without a doubt,’ says McClung. ‘The air
force, as a whole, would also create better
‘patch-wearers’ because they don’t get to
integrate with us as much as they’d like.
Since B-1s are only at Dyess and Ellsworth[South Dakota], it’s very hard for us to go
out and integrate with other players.’Only the best
Eight students graduate from the 77th
each year. That breaks down to two
pilots and two WSOs per course, and two
courses a year. ‘I know that isn’t many’,
admits McClung. ‘Other squadrons try
to produce more, but I refuse to do that
unless I can get more sorties. I do not
want to water down my pro le just to[usually] solve a problem, and if they
can’t, they know who to call to nd
someone who can.’
Being located away from Nellis
presents challenges the 77th must
overcome. At the start of the six-month
course, known as ‘Core 1’, all students
converge at Nellis for a week of non-
ying classroom academics. Once air ops
begin, they return to their aircraft, which
means B-1 students must go back to
Texas. It isn’t until the integration phase
portion of the course that B-1s return
to Nellis to join the rest of the weapons
school just prior to graduation.
Another challenge is that the 77th
doesn’t own its own aircraft. It too
borrows B-1s from the host 7th Bomb
Wing. While the 77th tries to only y
four sorties a week, that can sometimes
be a drain on the 7th’s resources while
it tries to generate enough missions
for its combat-ready brethren. ‘That is a
huge challenge,’ says McClung, ‘but they
understand the value of the investment
that they provide by giving us jets. They
know they’re going to get a product in
the end that makes them better. The
bomb wing bends over backwards toAbove: ‘Patch-
wearers’ from the
77th WPS load up
for a mission from
Dyess.
Below: B-1B serial
85-0077 carries
special marks for
the commander
of the 77th WPS.http://www.combataircraft.net // June 2018 33
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