CHARLESTON AIR FORCE BASE, S.C. –
Almost 500 Airmen from the 437th and 315th Airlift Wings participated in a week-long mobility exercise that began July 20 to test Team Charleston's ability to provide global airlift in support of U.S. and allied military operations around the world.
Exercise "Operation Crisis Look 08-07," simulated Charleston Airmen deploying from Charleston AFB to form the 805th Air Expeditionary Wing on a base in the U.S. Pacific Command area of responsibility. Their mission was to support U.S. and allied military operations on the Korean peninsula and to provide humanitarian aid to people in the region.
The objectives of the July exercise were to refine the processes used to deploy Charleston AFB Airmen, build confidence amongst all the exercise participants, ensure all cargo needed to operate in a deployed location is taken and finally to stay synchronized with the exercise schedule of events.
Evaluators from the 437 AW Inspector General's office said Team Charleston performed extraordinarily well during the exercise and it was the best effort seen to date.
"Our deploying Charleston Airmen and base agencies did really well during the exercise," said David Hunt, 437 AW Inspector General readiness and inspection chief. "All of our objectives were met and we are so very close to being where we need to be."
Mr. Hunt went on to say he was very impressed with the motivation and hustle he saw during the exercise.
"The urgency the exercise participants displayed was truly amazing," said Mr. Hunt. "Don't lose it; keep it going for that is exactly the type of attitude we need to have come August."
During the exercise, base agencies were also evaluated on getting deploying Airmen through the deployment processing line and their cargo loaded and transported as quickly as possible.
By using the "super chalk" concept, the base was able to increase the chalk sizes from 50 to 65 Airmen to more than 124 at one time thereby getting Airmen processed quicker than before.
"Since we started using the super chalk, I have been extremely impressed with its outcome and how quickly we were able to get folks processed," said Capt. Arnold Mosley, 437th Force Support Squadron. "During this exercise, we closely monitored the mobility processing lines to make sure things ran as smooth as possible and as an opportunity to identify any potential shortfalls now, before the ORI in August."
Throughout the week, Airmen received additional training to sharpen their warrior skills to include: survive and operate training, tabletop drills for the installation control center and emergency operations centers, facility managers training, post-attack reconnaissance training and a "war day" in which individual units will conduct specific training with their deploying Airmen.
Col. Joseph Mancy, 437th Operations Group commander and the 805 AEW deployed commander said he was extremely happy with the results of the exercise and more importantly with the attitude and level of performance displayed by each deploying member.
"At Charleston, we have so much to be proud of," said Colonel Mancy. "We launch more planes than anyone else, we rated number one of 288 wings in the Air Force and we won the Verne Orr Award for teamwork."
The AMC inspector team is coming and they are going to ask us to prove to them that we can perform our mission in a hostile or chemical environment, said Colonel Mancy. And, this inspection will test our ability to do what we signed up to do, he added.
"This gives us yet again one more opportunity to prove that Charleston AFB is indeed number one."
The Air Force conducts ORIs to evaluate and measure the ability of installations to operate and survive in a chemical environment by creating a realistic environment for evaluation with the use of scenarios.