Photo By Senior Airman Jacob Dastas | Firefighters assigned tot he 379th Expeditionary Civil Engineer Squadron help a...... read more read more
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AL UDEID AIR BASE, Qatar – In a world where uncertainties are multiplying, remaining postured to prevail through any challenge is essential. This is especially true for the men and women at Al Udeid Air Base.
For four days, Feb. 14-17, and with the participation of coalition partners from the Royal Air Force and Qatar Emiri Air Force, personnel assigned to the 379th Air Expeditionary Wing transformed the modern-day saying “stay ready so you don’t have to get ready,” from a concept to reality during Grand Shield 22-3.
Grand Shield is the installation’s ongoing training series that enables the wing to observe, evaluate, and maintain its active readiness posture.
“In an operational environment that’s rapidly evolving, we cannot become complacent,” said Brig. Gen. Gerald Donohue, 379th AEW commander. “Every day our adversaries are looking for ways to challenge our military footprint, and while they are planning their next move, we are doing everything possible to solidify our resilience as warfighters.”
Hands-on and intense training is not foreign to the 379th AEW. As an installation fueled by priorities that continuously foster a warfighter culture and drive to prepare for the next fight, ensuring members are equipped to respond to unforeseen situations is essential when operating in a deployed environment.
During this particular base-wide drill, trilateral forces were joined together to enhance emergency response efforts for an aircraft mishap, external attacks, fires, and active shooter incidents.
“While our primary focus as a wing is to support [U.S. Air Forces Central’s] air tasking order, by no stretch of the imagination are we exempt from preparing ourselves from crises that impact our ground forces,” said Donohue.
Taking into account threats that could potentially impact wing operations, the 379th AEW Inspector General’s office made no hesitation in ramping up the caliber of events that transpired. What started as a benign in-flight emergency rapidly escalated into mass causalities and later missile attacks – all of which are potential situations given the wing’s geographic location and mission set.
“Anything is possible in this environment,” said Lt. Col. Ronald Clough, 379th AEW inspector general. “When faced with hardships people fall back on their training. Being capable to effectively respond to the unknown, at a moment’s notice, requires one to actively build the muscle memory, mental fortitude, and reactionary reflexes before the circumstance arises.”
Clough later explained that the planning and execution that is associated with building these scenarios target all areas a warfighter needs to improve his or her place on the battlefield, if and when the time comes.
Even though the four-day training concluded, adopting the mindset and practice of disciplined preparation has not. The 379th AEW continues to actively support U.S. Central Command’s area of responsibility by fulfilling AFCENT’s mission of delivering dominant coalition air power.
“Maintaining our competitive edge doesn’t come without repetition, diligence, and focus,” Donohue said. “We’ll continue to enhance our training efforts, not because it’s required, but because it’s the essence of our warfighter mentality and it builds effective teams.”
| Date Taken: | 02.19.2022 |
| Date Posted: | 02.20.2022 05:25 |
| Story ID: | 414978 |
| Location: | AL UDEID AIR BASE, QA |
| Web Views: | 161 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, “Repetition, diligence, focus,” Al Udeid improves readiness posture, by Maj. Mahalia Frost, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
Training
Operational readiness exercise
