An official website of the United States government
Here's how you know
A .mil website belongs to an official U.S. Department of Defense organization in the United States.
A lock (lock ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .mil website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Team Fairchild holds planning conference for AMC’s premiere exercise Mobility Guardian

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Ryan Lackey
  • 92nd Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs
Team Fairchild hosted the Mobility Guardian 2019 International Planning Conference Sept. 18-20, bringing together Air Mobility Command team members and coalition force representatives from eight partner nations.

Mobility Guardian is the premiere AMC exercise designed to put U.S. and partner forces through the most realistic scenarios possible to prepare them for working together in situations ranging from humanitarian assistance to operating in contested environments.

“We never fight alone, we always deploy as a coalition,” said Col. Justin Hendricks, 92nd Air Refueling Wing instructor pilot and Team Fairchild’s lead project officer for MG19. “This exercise is an unmissable chance to work with our allies, address their training requirements and find ways to better integrate with one-another.”

The conference served as a brainstorming session for contexts to increase teamwork between U.S. and partnered militaries during the exercise by joining forces to accomplish critical training goals so they can integrate seamlessly at a moment’s notice.

“We have our own training objectives, but we want to ensure our allied partners get as much out of this upcoming exercise as possible,” said Col. Joseph Monaco, AMC MG19 director. “It’s great to be able to work with our allies in the planning stages to hear their needs and wants going forward.”

Coalition forces don’t always use the same equipment or similar operating procedures, so familiarization via training with other forces helps everyone get to know capabilities and compatibilities across the partnered team.

“We want to increase the interoperability of our forces and the United States Air Force,” said Flight Lieutenant Shannon Tate, Royal New Zealand Air Force Mobility Guardian 2019 representative. “The more we train together like this, the easier it is to work seamlessly when our forces are deployed to the field. It’s a vital part of working as a coalition of forces.”

Attendees took time throughout the conference to get to know one another, discuss ways to work together and build connections that would serve them going forward building the upcoming exercise.

“The whole idea of this conference is to build upon the interoperability we initiated in [Mobility Guardian] 2017,” said Wing Commander Brady Cummins, Australian Representative on the Management Committee for the Five Eyes Air Force Interoperability Council. “Working together was the goal in 2017 and remains the goal now. We’re bringing a considerable amount of people and equipment to take part and get the most from working with everyone.”

Mobility Guardian is scheduled to take place late summer 2019 out of Fairchild Air Force Base. It will be the second iteration of the exercise to provide critical training for Mobility Air Forces to enhance multinational partnerships while ensuring regional security and our nation’s defense.