Photo By Tech. Sgt. Sarah McClanahan | Air National Guard Airman 1st Class Matthew Bembenek, information technology...... read more read more
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Before every successful training mission, a group of essential personnel arrives at the site well in advance of the main body to ensure mission readiness upon the start of the operation. This team is called the advanced echelon (ADVON) team and typically involves site planning and preparation, initial equipment delivery and set up, and consulting with the local community. For the DAEOC Tri-State Innovative Readiness Training (IRT) 2019 mission in Barlow, Ky., that team consisted of service members from active and reserve components of the Air Force and Navy, explains Air National Guard Airman 1st Class Matthew Bembenek, information technology specialist and ADVON team member.
The ADVON team worked to ready three locations for the IRT mission in Barlow, Ky., Cairo, Il., and Sikeston, Mo. in preparation for no-cost, temporary healthcare clinics intended to provide both real-world training for military professionals to hone their skills and essential medical services to anyone in the local communities.
“Upon arrival, I worked closely with the command staff to explain our capabilities and discuss expectations and needs for communications at this site,” said Bembenek. “After that, we issued out information technology equipment and met with local IT professionals to derestrict the network at the mission site.”
Bembenek explained that once the main body of personnel, with other communications personnel, joined him, their role then was ensuring the issued IT equipment was fully functional. With set up complete, their job shifted from proactive to reactive as they moved from set up to stand by for any potential troubleshooting of issues.
“Once we were on standby and our workload slowed way down, I asked the optometry noncommissioned officer in charge if they needed any additional help,” said Bembenek. “With one of the optometry technicians being injured and unable to work, they were happy to train me and I was happy to learn.”
The following day Bembenek was able to assist the optometry clinic with basic vision screenings, operating the autorefractor machine, and glaucoma screenings. Once he felt comfortable with these tasks, he was able to perform a full eye exam with supervision.
“Being able to work outside of my career field is a really great experience and opportunity to help other people while learning new skills,” said Bembenek.
In addition to providing no-cost healthcare to the local community of Barlow, Ky., the IRT mission simulates a deployed environment where service members may need to step outside of their usual roles.
“It’s important to be well versed in as many areas as possible, because in a deployed environment there are times when you may need to fill varying roles when the need arises,” said Bembenek. “The IRT mission is designed to train military personnel for deployment while at the same time helping out the local community.”
Hands-on, real-world experiences provided by IRT missions not only keeps military professionals proficient in their skills, it helps them prepare for mission readiness in unfamiliar or atypical situations.
“It’s an ever-changing world and you never know what to expect in a new environment,” said Bembenek. “But, being prepared can greatly lessen the headache and allow you to reach maximum effectiveness for any mission.”
| Date Taken: | 06.19.2019 |
| Date Posted: | 06.19.2019 17:51 |
| Story ID: | 328389 |
| Location: | BARLOW, KENTUCKY, US |
| Web Views: | 163 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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