Photo By Capt. Stephanie Squires | Staff Sgt. Blaine Cruz, 521st Contingency Response Squadron Ramp Operations, and Staff...... read more read more
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More than 75 Airmen from the 621st Contingency Response Wing participated in Exercise Bamboo Eagle 24-3 and tested the use of Contingency Support Element teams to support Air Combat Command’s scheme of maneuvers and Mission Generated Force Element movements.
Historically, the CRW has utilized Contingency Response Elements which contain around 100 people and Contingency Response Teams which contain around 25 people. For this exercise iteration, CSEs were sent to multiple airfield locations to simulate remote airfields on islands in the Pacific region.
A CSE consists of 4-10 personnel and equipment providing specific contingency support capabilities other than core command and control such as joint air cargo inspection, aircraft maintenance, force protection, or communications support.
“Our goal in this exercise is to provide the Air Expeditionary Wing commander the force packages necessary to achieve hub/spoke operations,” said Maj. Jacob Draszkiewicz, 621st CRW Executive Officer and 521st CRE commander for Exercise Bamboo Eagle 24-3. “The 521 CRE can quickly generate CSE Teams to be dynamically tasked from the hub and sent forward to multiple spokes. The CSE Teams have been tailored to be as agile as possible for Bamboo Eagle, providing the most flexibility so they can be tasked across the spokes quickly.”
This is not the first time that the CSEs have been utilized In May, the 321st CRS executed daily missions using CSEs in Haiti, supporting the cargo logistics to aid the multinational security support mission. This exercise is the first time that CSEs have been rapidly deployed to multiple spokes from a hub location.
“We have gained some real-world experience with this CSE ’small team’ concept during the 321 CRS’s Haiti operations, but we hope to continually refine what the best combat representative structure looks like,” said Maj. Chris Gingerelli, 621st Contingency Response Support Squadron director of operations. “We hope to achieve lessons learned with our CSE’s out supporting our spokes to include ‘what did we need, what could we do without to reduce our footprint, what worked well and what didn’t.’”
Exercise Bamboo Eagle 24-3 also allowed the 621st CRW to test Beyond Line of Sight communication capabilities between the CSEs and the CRE main body, specifically how the CSE teams communicate with the CRE while airborne and at spoke locations.
“The BLOS capabilities exist and are inherent to the communication packages the CRE and CSEs deploy with, however, testing these capabilities during the exercise in a contested environment will improve our techniques, tactics and procedures,” said Draszkiewicz. “Furthermore, CSE teams are built to be flexible and lean with a typical team comprising of no more than 10 members. This requires members to be multi-capable airmen with the know-how to troubleshoot communication issues while also performing their primary duties.”
For this exercise, the CRW deployed with the least amount of personnel and equipment to support four geographically separated locations at once. With the objective of preparing our warfighters for a high-end fight under the tyranny of distance, the CRW is using the light, lean and lethal concept to meet its mission.
| Date Taken: | 08.09.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 08.09.2024 12:42 |
| Story ID: | 478218 |
| Location: | CALIFORNIA, US |
| Web Views: | 131 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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Operations and Exercises
