TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- Airmen from multiple active-duty and reserve units traveled this week to participate in one of the first major readiness exercises of 2024 at Travis Air Force Base, California.
Exercise Golden Support, held April 4 through 7, provided practical training and execution in a simulated wartime environment. The exercise was designed to generate combat-ready mobility Airmen, develop leadership skills and maintain individual readiness.
“This exercise is a bare base simulation that we put together to simulate a deployed environment,” said Tech. Sgt. Karl Baculik, 349th Civil Engineer Squadron and Exercise Golden Support planner. “This is good practice to see how the squadrons work together and communicate to make a mission happen. It emphasizes a lot of importance on reaction to various threats and scenarios Airmen may encounter when deployed, such as security threats and drones.”
The various squadrons and units participating in the exercise were immediately thrust into the action, arriving and being processed as if for a real-world scenario.
“We worked on exercising and practicing in a short-notice deployed location,” said Maj. Christopher Snell, 349th Security Forces Squadron commander. “We had about 106 Airmen out here and this gave us the opportunity to practice together and run operations as realistically as possible.”
While the exercise worked to sharpen the skills of all the Airmen involved, another key component was also to provide a scenario to include various units to see how they would work together to accomplish the mission.
“It has been very beneficial,” said Master Sgt. Jesse Arreola, 349 SFS. “Even when working with limited resources, every drill that has happened during the exercise has seen great progression among the various squadrons and units involved. We have also learned the importance of working with what is available and relying on one another.”
Coordinating an exercise involving different agencies was no easy task but ultimately the commitment of everyone enabled the success of the exercise’s shared mission and vision. In addition, many members walked away from the exercise with new knowledge and understanding of the interagency cooperation necessary for mission success.
“The biggest part of this exercise we have benefited from is seeing all the other squadrons and how they operate,” said Snell. “You don’t often see and understand the functions of other units and squadrons, as well as how they all interact to accomplish the mission. Those opportunities are what exercises such as this give us.”
Date Taken: | 04.07.2024 |
Date Posted: | 04.07.2024 12:53 |
Story ID: | 467989 |
Location: | TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE, CALIFORNIA, US |
Web Views: | 455 |
Downloads: | 8 |
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