621st CRW finalizes reorg during capstone ceremony

by 1st Lt. Jake Bailey, 621st Contingency Response Wing Public Affairs
621st Contingency Response Wing Public Affairs

6/29/2015 - JOINT BASE MCGUIRE-DIX-LAKEHURST, N.J.  -- Airmen from the 621st Contingency Response Wing hosted a capstone ceremony here June 26, finalizing the recent reorganization of groups within the wing.
The ceremony began with the inactivation of the 621st Contingency Operations Support Group, signifying the completion of the wing's restructuring initiative to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of its global air mobility operations.

Maj. Gen. Rick Martin, U.S. Air Force Expeditionary Center commander, passed on high praise from Gen. Darren McDew, Air Mobility Command commander, and Lt. Gen. Carlton Everhart, 18th Air Force commander, for completing the reorganization. Martin added that they are mindful of the significance of the reorganization and what it does to improve efficiency and fur-ther capitalize on NCO leadership.

Martin commended an audience of Airmen from the 621 CRW by stating, "You've been reor-ganizing, all the while, getting the mission done. I equate that to modifying an aircraft while it's flying. You are doing that and you're not missing a beat. That's an incredible testimony to your leadership, to the planning and to the execution here."

Martin said the reorganization is the culmination of the years of lessons learned the 621 CRW has captured and implemented through global contingency response operations. The newly structured CRW will maintain the same mission to support air mobility operations worldwide, he added.

"I don't know if there's been a more significant time in our nation's history where we've called upon the CRW and have asked so much in changing--as well as executing--the mission," Martin said. "I couldn't be more proud of what you are doing; all of you deliver air mobility at the point of need, whether permissive, uncertain or hostile environment."

The bicoastal wing--with units stationed here and at Travis Air Force Base, California--previously had a total of six groups consisting of four contingency response groups and two contingency operation support groups. With these six groups now inactivated, three new groups now consolidate the capacity and capability to respond to world-wide contingencies at a moment's notice: the 821st Contingency Response Group located at Travis AFB, and the 621st Contingency Response Group and 621st Air Mobility Advisory Group located at JB MDL.

"The CRW reorganization combined units in order to be more effective in our mission," said Col. James Copher, 621 CRW commander. "We streamlined the top levels of command in order to give each squadron commander the resources, personnel, training and span of control they needed to execute our specialized missions."

The month-long reorganization process spelled the inactivation of 17 units and formation of 12 newly activated units. The new unit realignments streamline the command's unity of effort to help maximize efficiency of the contingency response units as the demand for its rapid mobility mission continues across the globe.

"What hasn't changed is the mission, the teamwork, and most importantly, the Airmen of the CRW," Copher said. "Because the amazing people of the CRW remain the same, we'll retain the most important part of the Devil Raiders: versatile airmen, coming together from different backgrounds, different functional specialties and different personal experiences to form one team and solve complex problems in extreme conditions to execute one mission."

The wing is tasked with rapidly deploying its approximately 1,500 Airmen to quickly open and operate airfields, establish, expand, sustain and coordinate air mobility operations and liaise with partner nations to foster the development of their air mobility systems through education and outreach.

"We now step into the future as one wing, one team, with one distinct mission executed through four distinct and integrated lines of operation--air advisors, theater command and control, air mobility advisors and contingency response forces," Copher said. "Aligning togeth-er, we create a network that builds, strengthens and executes expeditionary air mobility opera-tions."