MSG Airmen sharpen readiness skills

by Staff Sgt. Emerson Nuñez
48th Fighter Wing Public Affairs

9/23/2014 - STANFORD TRAINING AREA, England  -- In order to ensure Airmen stay Forward, Ready, Now, more than 130 48th Mission Support Group Airmen participated in a three-day field training exercise Sept. 17-19.

"One of the things we were doing out here was building team morale and cohesiveness between the different units, bringing everybody together to ensure that we are all aware of each other's responsibilities and roles in an environment such as this," said Master Sgt. Albert Verastegui, 48th Security Forces Squadron training superintendent.

The training consisted of convoying out to the site and bedding down in a mock Afghan village, complete with a deployable field kitchen which served breakfast and dinner and provided Meals Ready to Eat for lunch.

At the same time, 48th SFS members seized the opportunity to accomplish required annual training by defending a mock forward operating base.

During the training, Airmen participated in different scenarios they could face in a deployed location. To aid them through the scenarios, they had small unit tactics training and familiarized themselves with the M16 and M4 rifles and the M9 pistol.

"We come out here and do the type of training that is oftentimes reserved for Combat Skills Training, or other preparatory training that is reserved for going downrange," said Col. Marc Vandeveer, 48th Mission Support Group commander. "Our goal here is to heighten hands-on experience."

This training is an essential learning tool for Airmen to gain potentially lifesaving experience and to boost morale and teamwork within the 48th MSG.

"It definitely builds on the skills of a lot of new Airmen that participate and this training shows them new techniques for deployed locations," said Airman 1st Class Dylan Burkey, 48th SFS member. "Even I have been in two and half years now, and I learned a whole lot from this experience."

"You get to see how everybody else operates and you actually see what they're going to do whenever you actually do get deployed. It really helps out and gives you a little bit of experience and gives you different perspectives from the other units," Burkey added.