621 CRW beats Mother Nature, successfully completes exercise

by Tech. Sgt. Lesley Waters
621st Contingency Response Wing Public Affairs

7/31/2012 - CAMP GUERNSEY, Wyo. -- As hard as Mother Nature tried to wash out the training efforts, more than 65 Airmen from the 621st Contingency Response Wing, Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, N.J., weathered the unprecedented number of thunderstorms during Exercise Mile High Response July 23-26, at Camp Guernsey Joint Training Center, in Guernsey, Wyo.

The 621st CRW's objective was landing zone safety officer training which included opening and operating a semi-prepared landing zone at an unfamiliar and austere location by utilizing the airfield operations team concept in order to facilitate the delivery of cargo and personnel.

To do this, the 817th Contingency Response Group led the exercise and teamed up with air mobility liaison officers from the 615th Contingency Operations Support Group, Travis Air Force Base, Calif., 570th Global Mobility Squadron, Travis AFB and the 818th Contingency Rresponse Group, JB MDL. Airmen from the wing's east and west coast units came together and exercised for the first time since the inactivation of the 615th CRW and merging of the two wings during a ceremony May 29. The 817th CRG also partnered with Camp Guernsey and the 302nd Operations Group, Peterson AFB, Colo.

"This exercise was about building teamwork within our unit, as well as establishing mutually beneficial relationships outside our unit," said Col. David Kuenzli, 817th CRG commander.

To establish and run an austere landing zone, the Airmen lived up to the wing's mission statement, "deploy versatile mobility Airmen, disciplined to solve problems in complex environments." Col. Kuenzli explained the environment of Exercise Mile High Response was more complex than most. The key challenges of this exercise were deploying to an unfamiliar location, operating a new mission set and the unpredictable weather.

"The best way to train and solve problems is to get away from home station," Col. Kuenzli said. "You need to put yourself into an environment that is untested and austere. We chose Camp Guernsey Joint Training Center because it offered our airlift users an unfamiliar, remote landing zone and the post gave us great support in establishing our operations."

Besides operating out of a new location, the CRG practiced a new mission: opening and operating a landing zone. This mission set expands the 621st CRW's airbase opening capability by allowing contingency response forces to work closer to remotely deployed ground forces, such as Army or Marine units at forward operating bases in Afghanistan.

To complement the landing zone training, the 817th CRG set up and trained with the mobile microwave landing system. The MMLS is a landing instrument used in austere locations where aircraft would otherwise have to land via visual flight rules. MMLS augments existing Air Force air traffic control and landing systems allowing its aircraft to operate at airfields with limited or no navigational aids in adverse weather.

The MMLS was designed to give Air Mobility Command's C-17 Globemaster III and C-130 Hercules aircraft the ability to rapidly project combat-ready forces and cargo to any location around the world. Using MMLS, aircraft approaches can frequently commence at an austere airfield in less than 24 hours.

"As it says in the name, we are mobile," said Tech. Sgt. Jason Sharp, 817th Global Mobility Readiness Squadron deployable air traffic control and landing systems NCOIC. "The MMLS can be set up by three people in less than two hours.

During the exercise the aircraft used the MMLS on three different occasions. Each time the aircrew provided feedback, the MMLS team fine tuned the system, so by the final approach, the course and glide scope was precise.

"There aren't a lot of scenarios that let us deploy and establish our MMLS, and then allows the aircrews to fly it," Kuenzli said. "So this was a very important training event for our technicians."

The final element of complexity of the exercise was the unprecedented weather. Each day, strong thunderstorms built up over the mountains and these presented lightning and potent wind hazards to both the aircrews and contingency response forces. The storms were so intense that at one point, the team was nearly flooded out of their tent shelters. With the consistently inconsistent change in weather at the landing zone and the surrounding area, the weather NCO was constantly providing updated weather reports.

"She (Staff Sgt. Kimberly Cribbs) doesn't often get the opportunity to go out and practice her trade and then have the rest of the mission rely so much on her ability to accurately forecast the weather," Kuenzli said. "She was absolutely critical to our mission success."

"I'm proud of the way our Airmen overcame these problems," Kuenzli said. "They used ingenuity and swift decision-making to get the job done. Also, the aircrews from the 302nd OG needed this training before they deploy to Afghanistan. Both organizations look forward to doing this again."