Photo By Staff Sgt. Micah Coate | A firefighter with the Ellison Onizuka Kona International Airport in Kalaoa, Hawaii,...... read more read more
KONA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, Hawaii. (Jan. 27, 2020) - Approximately 80 Airmen from five different units at March Air Reserve Base are participating in the annual Operation Patriot Palm this week in Hawaii.
Patriot Palm is a joint service humanitarian training exercise that simulates the DoD’s, as well as federal, state, and local agencies' response to a natural disaster emergency. Representatives from the Air Force, Army, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, Federal Bureau of Investigation, and local first responder teams are among the participants.
TSgt. Simba Sims, a loadmaster with the 452nd Contingency Response Squadron at March and organizer of this year’s exercise, said that Patriot Palm is about rapid mobility.
“We practice how fast we can get all of our cargo, people, and assets together and in the air,” said Sims. “During a natural disaster, we could be distributing anything from food and water to forklifts and bulldozers in support of the humanitarian mission.
Simulating real-word events, teams of participants set up 3 different command centers across the Hawaiian Islands that facilitate inbound and outbound cargo carrying aircraft. Every day of the exercise, each of the participating military aircraft will fly four to five sorties between the three locations.
For some, Operation Patriot Palm will also serve as the capstone to a cargo inspection and certification course that the 452nd CRS team teaches to affiliates of the Air Force throughout the country.
“CRS is an academic program that teaches a two-week course to other branches of the military on how to get their cargo ready for airlift,” Sims said. “I consider this exercise as the final exam.”
This is March ARB’s 13th year participating in Patriot Palm.
| Date Taken: | 01.27.2020 |
| Date Posted: | 05.09.2020 01:13 |
| Story ID: | 366619 |
| Location: | KAILUA KONA, HAWAII, US |
| Web Views: | 51 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Humanitarian Training Exercise Tests Rapid Mobility, by SSgt Micah Coate, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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