New Joint Base MDL unit adds outreach, education to CRW mission

Published April 19, 2011
By Tech. Sgt. Parker Gyokeres
621st Contingency Response Wing Public Affairs

JOINT BASE MCGUIRE-DIX-LAKEHURST, N.J. -- A new air mobility unit was activated in a ceremony here April 19, marking the genesis of a new mission for the expeditionary air mobility specialists of the 621st Contingency Response Wing.

By order of the Secretary of the Air Force, the 818th Mobility Support Advisory Squadron will provide air mobility advisory and training assistance in support of the Air Force goals of building partner capacity. It is assigned to the wing's 818th Contingency Response Group. An identical unit will have its activation ceremony two weeks later in the 615th CRW at Travis Air Force Base, Calif.

It is one of only two such squadrons of air mobility-dedicated air advisors in the U.S. Air Force and was the first unit of this type created within Air Mobility Command.

"There is a demand for air mobility-trained air advisors," said Lt. Col. Thom Adkins, the new 818th MSAS commander. "But until this point, there hasn't been an entire squadron dedicated to air mobility-specific skills, trained and capable of deploying in cohesive teams."

The creation of the unit gives Air Force leaders the ability to employ teams of knowledgeable, expeditionary air mobility air advisors from a dedicated squadron. Once fully operational, the squadron will support combatant commanders and provide continuity with partner nations for years to come. The 818 MSAS is expected to focus the majority of their efforts in Africa.

"This isn't a sprint. It is a long term approach focused on building relationships. Our hope is to mutually benefit from our interactions," said Colonel Adkins. "Not only will we help our partner nations develop and improve their air mobility capabilities, but we will learn from what they have to offer as well.

"The MSAS' parent wing is designed around expeditionary air mobility operations and is a natural choice to host the new squadron," he continued.

The 621st CRW is a rapid response unit of air mobility, command and control, communication and security experts that are tasked with establishing emergency or contingency airfields in remote, damaged or dangerous locations worldwide on short notice.

Previous missions conducted by the 621st CRW include humanitarian relief operations to Pakistan, Haiti and Japan in response to earthquakes, floods and tsunami. In addition, the wing supported military mobility surge operations in Bahrain, Afghanistan and Diego Garcia. It has also performed special airlift support missions for the space program and the President of the United States.

"The specific skills required to accomplish the MSAS mission are already well-honed in the CRW, but the speed and purpose to which they are employed is fundamentally different," said Lt. Col. John Cairney, 818th CRG deputy commander. "The difference is an evolution from a reactive contingency response mindset to a very proactive and intentional outreach."

The new squadron is scheduled to achieve initial operational capability by December 2011 with the certification of one nine-member air mobility assessment team and one 11-Airman advisory team.

"The assessment teams will start by meeting with counterparts in a partner nation's Air Force to evaluate their air mobility-specific needs and capabilities," said Colonel Cairney. "This will focus the efforts of the follow-on advisory team and build the basis of a long-term relationship."

Advisory teams will take the next step in building the partnership, moving from handshakes to classrooms. These 11-man teams will be tailored to the specific requests of a partner nation and will mentor, advise and instruct the partner nation's Air Forces in air mobility-specific skill-sets such as airfield operations and security, aerial port cargo and passenger movement, communications and aircraft maintenance.

"It is important to remember we are teaching air mobility skills and methods, not necessarily providing hardware," said Colonel Cairney. "This isn't a program intended to equip partner nations; our stated mission is to make them more effective in the ways they need to operate according to their specific requests."

Colonel Adkins agrees. His new squadron will use outreach and education to help nations help themselves.

"The overall goal of the 818th MSAS is to enhance the Air Mobility operations of partner nations," said the incoming commander. "The more capable a partner nation is in regards to its own air mobility capacity, the less likely they will need a contingency response team to assist in the future."

While the skills and expeditionary mindset of the MSAS mission will be familiar to the CRW, many of its new Airmen will not be. A key aspect of participation in the squadron mission is knowledge not normally put into practice on a humanitarian deployment--the skills of an air advisor. Part diplomat, part technical instructor, part cultural interpreter, the title often brings years of experience with it.

The Air Force has a growing base of air advisors with knowledge and real-world experience in Iraq and Afghanistan. The goal is to capitalize on this base of talent and hopefully recruit them into the new MSAS team, said Colonel Cairney, who himself served as an air advisor in Iraq.

"We are scheduled to have around 42 fully-trained Airmen from 25 different career fields by the end of this year, but eventually the squadron will have approximately 73 air advisors." he said. "We have jobs coming up on the assignment management system constantly and will be actively recruiting from current active duty sources for quite some time."

Airmen must attend an Air Advisor training course before being qualified to deploy on an assessment or advisory team.

Preparation and training is a major aspect of the mission of the MSAS, explains Col. Dean Bridger, 818th CRG commander.

"Unlike contingency response forces that have only 12 hours notice to respond to crises, the MSAS is in the prevention business - they're charged with preventing a crisis," said the colonel. "This team may have months or even a year's notice before entering a country. This will give them ample time to study the history, culture and languages of that country so their educational efforts will have the greatest chance of success with the partner nation.

"When everything comes together, our partner nations will be able to provide dependable airlift to access even the remotest regions of their sovereign territory," he continued. "This means the ability to transport political leaders, police or military into regions that might otherwise be inaccessible or in conflict; stabilizing nations and possibly saving lives."