McConnell Airmen complete historic exercise

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Abigail Klein
  • 22nd Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs
MCCONNELL AIR FORCE BASE, Kan. --  McConnell participated in a historic exercise that required more than 100 Airmen and four KC-135 Stratotankers to forward deploy to Grand Forks Air Force Base, N.D. Aug.15 to 19.

The three-day deployment, conducted as part of a nuclear operational readiness exercise, was the first to be performed throughout Air Mobility Command.

"The forward deployment is a relatively new concept for how we employ our nuclear forces," said Lt. Col. Scott Thatcher, 350th Air Refueling Squadron commander and on-scene commander at Grand Forks AFB. "Because of limited resources in the past, we just didn't take the time and resources to do it, and now that were refocusing and reinvigorating the nuclear enterprise, we think it's important to exercise it and be ready if we're tasked with a mission to demonstrate that we're ready."

McConnell Airmen from a broad spectrum of units and squadrons including security forces, aircrew, logistics, Personnel Support for Contingency Operations, maintenance, supply and petroleum, oil and lubricants deployed.

The deployment also required the movement of approximately 15 pallets worth of cargo, the majority loaded with personal bags Airmen use to live under any conditions.

This came in handy for the Airmen who slept in an unused dormitory at the base, sleeping on cots, said Colonel Thatcher. The living conditions reemphasized the main goal of the exercise.

"The main goal of this exercise is to demonstrate that [McConnell] can go out and do our mission, forward deploy the tankers and generate for our nuclear requirement and take off to meet bombers that we're supposed to refuel to execute nuclear mission."

As this was the first time a base under AMC had employed a forward deployment for an exercise, a lot of challenges were presented that members learned from.
"Since this was the first time, there's a lot of lessons learned including how we configure our airplanes to carry personnel and cargo and [support] different flying missions," said Colonel Thatcher. "We'll continue to learn lessons every time we do this."

The exercise was also beneficial to Airman 1st Class Casey Green, 22nd Security Forces Squadron member, one of more than 15 security forces Airmen deployed during the exercise, who just recently arrived at McConnell from technical training.

"This exercise has really provided me with an idea of what my first deployment is going to be like," he said. "It's even allowed me to put the training I've learned into practice."

The experience gained by the Airmen who participated was another goal of the deployment.

"This benefits Airmen because the lessons learned are invaluable and it is really motivational for the Airmen who can now understand the mission better," said Colonel Thatcher. "They are out there and actually get to see and participate and be a part of something they can see as part of our wartime readiness requirement."