Travis' 621st CRW keeps budget lean with humanitarian relief simulation

Published Nov. 15, 2013
By Senior Airman Charles V. Rivezzo
60th Air Mobility Wing Public Affairs

TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- The 621st Contingency Response Wing is known as Air Mobility Command's 911 force and can be tasked to provide a broad array of mission sets ranging from contingency response to humanitarian relief operations. They stand on call 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

In an effort to remain proficient at their craft, Airmen assigned to the wing regularly conduct training exercises in which their skills are put to the test for real-world operations. Normally executed at training ranges throughout the country, travel expenses can quickly add up, which is why the wing recently completed an exercise at home station Nov. 4-8.

Known as the Golden Bear exercise, the week-long operation simulated a humanitarian relief mission with a marginal threat of opposition forces.

"In a fiscally constrained environment, these training opportunities are invaluable for us to hone our skills and refine the basics," said Capt. Ryan Herman, 571st Global Mobility Readiness Squadron element commander. "While there is no substitute for going off-station and leading a team of personnel from an in garrison status to a deployed location, these local training events save an enormous amount of money by capitalizing on pre-existing training."

The over-arching concept behind the exercise was to capitalize on training already on-going with 60th Air Mobility Wing units and simply integrate the 621st CRW to meet training objectives.

"These locally generated training events can save us upwards of $100,000, as compared to a similar event that would take us off-station," Herman said. "The biggest take away from this exercise is that it's a win-win for everyone involved."

Herman also emphasized because the CRW is comprised of multiple units - to include command and control, maintenance, aerial port, intelligence, communications, aerospace ground equipment and security forces - integration training is essential to meet the needs of the commander's intent.

"We've worked our way up from the very basics, where it was just maintenance and command and control logging folks in and out of the C2 system to the point where we now can simulate very robust mission profiles," he said.

For example, this particular Golden Bear exercise allowed 621st CRW officials to not only simulate humanitarian relief operations, but also simulate a marginal threat existing in the area of responsibility. In turn, this allowed their security forces Airmen to train on defending the core unit inside the wire as well as at a mock forward operating base to develop their skills outside the wire.

"Our basic objective for the whole week was to conduct combat readiness training and practice our 'open the air base skills' when we head out as a unit," said Staff Sgt. Nicholas Hernandez, 573rd Global Support Squadron security forces instructor. "What we really wanted to accomplish during this exercise was real-world training in an exercise environment."

To increase the realism throughout the week, CRW instructors placed ground-burst simulators to simulate indirect fire, flash bangs to simulate grenades and blank firing ammunition to simulate small arms fire with opposing forces.

"The big thing for us during this training was to see a lot of motivation coming from the younger Airmen," Hernandez said. "As instructors we want to see them step up to the challenge so that when they become senior airmen and staff sergeants they can transfer the knowledge they've gained to the younger Airmen. We are looking for them to progress and sharpen their skills-sets."

Furthermore, according to 621st CRW officials, the Golden Bear exercise serves as a marquee stepping stone toward larger and more heavily integrated exercises at a fraction of the cost.

"In a time of sequestration and limited budgets we have been able to pull an exercise together with our base partners that allows us to train at home station for minimum charge," said Lt. Col. John Coy, 571st Global Mobility Squadron. "The bottom line is that our Airmen are able to walk away from this exercise with as realistic of training as if we went to a (temporary duty) environment."