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Team Ramstein members recently completed operational readiness exercises here to test the 86th Airlift Wing and 435th Air Ground Operation Wing’s combat capabilities.
The Phase I and Phase II exercises, held Dec. 7 through 10 and Dec. 14 through 17 respectively, focused on two priorities.
“We had two major objectives in the December exercise,” said Maj. Michael Pontiff, Ramstein Inspections and Readiness deputy chief. “The first was to stress the installation deployment process by tasking up to 25 percent of our available personnel and cargo for immediate deployment. The second was to train and evaluate more than 1,000 people for Ability to Survive and Operate standardization. The combined wings successfully met both objectives.”
During the Phase II ATSO training, Airmen built upon their foundations and polished up on their Air Force Pamphlet 10-100 Airman’s Manual.
“We went over the basics of weapons firing, Self Aid and Buddy Care, mission oriented protective posture gear and unexploded ordnances,” said Airman 1st Class Jared Wallace, 1st Combat Communications Squadron airfield systems technician. “They simulated chemical attacks, injured Airmen and UXOs in proximity of our areas. It was a great refresher of what I learned in basic training, and I think I’m better prepared for deployment now.”
Although winter weather set in at the beginning of the Phase II exercise, Airmen kept up a positive outlook through the freezing conditions.
“There was an excellent level of motivation, good morale and positive attitudes,” Major Pontiff said. “That sometimes is the difference between a satisfactory and an excellent. If you’re trying your best, taking everything seriously and really charging into the fight, it will show.”
As members of the 86th AW and 435th AGOW move out of the exercise and into the new year, they are also moving into another set of exercises scheduled to ramp up at the end of January in preparation for the September 2010 operational readiness inspection.
To get ready for the ORE, Ramstein members should get together with those who participated in this past exercise and keep up to date with their Airman’s Manual.
“The best thing to do is talk to the people who were out there in Phase II and ask them what they learned,” Major Pontiff said. “Open up your Airman’s Manual and start thinking about where to go if you have to evacuate your building because of an exercise inject or real-world incident. That’s why we’re excited about the opportunity to exercise the base, because it has real-world applications. For those who haven’t reviewed evacuation plans, entry-control point procedures or shelter-in-place procedures for their buildings, it is a good time to review those actions. They will be the procedures we will evaluate in the next exercise. This upcoming exercise will allow the wings to apply information in the Airman’s Manual to work centers”
And as always, attitude is paramount.
“We’ve got a long nine months until the ORI is here, but if we maintain the positive attitude we saw in this last ORE and carry that through to the inspection, then we’ll be in a great position when the inspector general’s team evaluates us,” the major said.
The next exercise is scheduled for Jan. 25 through Feb. 5.
