Photo By 94th Airlift Wing | Total Force airfield operations officers pose for a photo during Austere Challenge...... read more read more
Subscribe
Being one of the smallest officer career fields in the U.S. Air Force, airfield operations officers often have an outsized impact on flightlines and operations groups across the globe. This impact was especially felt in May during U.S. European Command’s (USEUCOM) exercise Austere Challenge 2023 (AC23).
Six active duty and Air National Guard airfield operations officers integrated into the 603rd Air Operations Center (AOC), Ramstein Air Base, Germany.
“Airfield ops officers support this exercise in a couple areas, airspace planning and execution and in the U.S. Air Forces Europe – Air Forces Africa (USAFE-AFAFRICA) staff’s A3 directorate,” said Capt. Megan Serrano, 217th Air Operations Group (AOG), Battle Creek Air National Guard Base (BCANGB), Michigan Air National Guard (MIANG). “Additionally, this year, both the AC23 AOC director and deputy director are airfield operations officers.”
Another unique aspect of the 603rd AOC’s makeup is that all of the airfield operations officers were all female.
“AC23 was a unique opportunity in that there were six Airfield Operations Officers all working in the 603rd AOC,” said Col. Amanda Ward, 217th Air Component Operations Squadron (ACOS) commander. “The 13M career field is very small and extremely specialized, which made this experience particularly meaningful. The fact we were all female was even more rare, and a great networking and mentoring opportunity outside of the exercise itself.”
The exercise brought together military and civilian personnel from USEUCOM forces and its components to contribute virtually from across Europe in the two-week long exercise. It tested command leaders, strategists, planners, and operators to practice coordinating a response to a fictional major crisis.
Ward, who served as the AC23 603rd AOC director during execution, continued, “Exercises like Austere Challenge prepare the 217th AOG and USAFE staff to respond to crises in a timely and well-coordinated manner, which supports regional stability and security.”
The 217th AOG and its subordinate unit the 217th ACOS have a long-standing relationship with the 603rd AOC, often augmenting the unit during exercises.
“The 603d AOC provides planning, command and control of integrated air, space, land, maritime, and cyber power in support of USAFE-AFAFRICA operational objectives,” said Serrano. “Guardsmen bring a depth of knowledge and continuity to combatant command exercises and that participation highlights the competitive advantage that our total force brings to the table.”
In addition to getting to work with her partners at the AOC, Serrano was able to coordinate and was exposed to partners from U.S. Army Europe-Africa, U.S. Marine Corps Forces Europe, U.S. Naval Forces Europe and 11 NATO nations.
“My favorite part of this exercise is having the opportunity to integrate with our joint partners,” said Serrano. “Operational level training value increases exponentially when our joint partners are in the room.”
| Date Taken: | 06.28.2023 |
| Date Posted: | 06.28.2023 10:07 |
| Story ID: | 448179 |
| Location: | LANSING, MICHIGAN, US |
| Web Views: | 555 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, MIANG airfield operations officers contribute to Austere Challenge 2023, by TSgt Tristan Viglianco, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
No keywords found.
