Photo By Staff Sgt. Milton Hamilton | U.S. Air Force Tech. Sgt. Richard Ton, 721st Aircraft Maintenance Squadron crew chief,...... read more read more
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The 721st Air Mobility Operations Group conducted a multi-capable Airmen lift-and-shift training the week of Sept. 28, 2020 in preparation for exercise Nodal Lightning 20.
Nodal Lightning’s objective is to test the 521st Air Mobility Operation Wing’s ability to execute a major theater operation plan in a contested, degraded and operationally limited environment.
“The goal of the multi-capable Airmen lift-and-shift training is to provide a quick relocation for airlift in the event our primary runways are unusable,” said U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Bryan Guidry, 721st AMOG director of operations.
This type of training allows the 721st AMOG to move vital assets in case of an emergency.
“The idea, more broadly, is to complicate the enemy’s targeting systems by increasing our number of operating locations; we don’t want to put all our eggs in one basket,” said U.S. Air Force Capt. John Burdick, 721st Aerial Port Squadron air freight flight commander.
The 721st AMOG’s ability to move assets at a moment’s notice strengthens the U.S. Air Force rapid global mobility and agile combat support capabilities.
“During Nodal Lightning 20, the 721st AMOG will be testing our ability to catch and launch aircraft and download and upload cargo at Stuttgart Army Airfield,” Burdick said. “In order to make this a reality, we need to create lean agile teams that are ready to deploy at a moment’s notice and whose absence does not necessarily break the home station mission. This is where the concept of multi-capable Airmen comes into play.”
Exercises such as Nodal Lightning 20 allow the 721st AMOG to clearly define assets and manpower that can be transported quickly and efficiently for contingency missions.
“By practicing lift-and-shift, we will develop a checklist of items we can transport on short notice to a local civilian airfield and continue operations using ground transportation for the final leg back home,” Guidry said.
During a lift-and-shift mission, the 721st AMOG can use a small specialized team of approximately 25 Airmen who can perform multiple tasks needed to move assets quickly.
“We’re bringing our newest multi-capable Airmen with us in three primary skill sets: aerial port, aircraft maintenance, and command and control,” Guidry said. “Each Airman will learn basic tasks from each other during upcoming training, with the intent to bring a smaller team that can execute the mission during the lift-and-shift process. Consider a maintainer helping to offload cargo, an aerial porter blocking in the aircraft, or a controller helping to build a pallet.”
Maximizing mission success, Airmen from over ten different U.S. Air Force career fields are scheduled to learn each other's jobs during the training to enhance mission capabilities. The multi-capable lift-and-shift training will be the beginning of several training events that will prepare Airmen to conduct tasks outside their normal realm of expertise during exercise Nodal Lightning 20.
“During the exercise, we will be practicing a number of tasks with oversight from each career field’s experts to test their training,” Guidry said. For example, we have a variety of cargo of all shapes and sizes we will truck to our lift-and-shift location. Our aerial port team will oversee maintainers and controllers as they build pallets, our command and control team will oversee maintainers and porters as they handle the mission planning and command issues. Aircraft Maintenance will make sure our controllers and porters can block the aircraft out of chocks until takeoff.”
This type of training teaches Airmen to be resilient by taking them out of their comfort zone and enhancing their limitations, which helps to build skills that are vital in contingency operations.
“Hopefully we never have to move our assets like this in a non-exercise situation, but as the expression goes, ‘plan for the worst, hope for the best,’” Guidry said. “If we plan for this type of contingency scenario and can keep cargo moving, we’ll be better prepared if the situation ever calls for it.”
These 721st AMOG training and exercises aim to build a more lethal force, an objective of the National Defense Strategy, by prioritizing assets that can deploy, survive, operate, maneuver, and regenerate in all domains.
| Date Taken: | 10.02.2020 |
| Date Posted: | 10.02.2020 06:12 |
| Story ID: | 380055 |
| Location: | RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, RHEINLAND-PFALZ, DE |
| Web Views: | 57 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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