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Top enlisted Airman visits JB MDL mobilizers

  • Published
  • By Spc. Mark VanGerpen
  • 129th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment
JOINT BASE MCGUIRE-DIX-LAKEHURST, N.J. --  Chief Master Sgt. of the Air Force James A. Cody leaned into the training simulator, inspecting its features. It looked like a Humvee without wheels, bolted into a giant tumbler.

"We don't tumble them around like they're in a washing machine," said Sgt. 1st Class Keith Hands, 1 Battalion 314th Infantry Regiment Humvee egress assistance trainer instructor. The service members who strap into the trainer are rolled more realistically, he added.

Behind them, a class of Sailors leaned in their folding chairs and dove across each other's laps as their instructor shouted rollover commands.

The HEAT is used for simulating real-life crash situations and is part of mobilization training service members receive here. Cody received a quick lesson March 12, 2013, on the simulator and how it operates.

Cody recently returned from a battlefield circulation of Afghanistan, where he visited service members in the field. His first stop after the circulation was here to witness a few of the steps troops take toward mobilization.

"This is a great opportunity to meet somebody of a higher position than we are," said Tech Sgt. Tiffanee Schultz, 802nd Force Support Squadron NCO in-charge of evaluations, currently mobilizing here. "Being down at base level, we don't get to see too many higher-ups come down and meet with the lower ranks and want to hear our questions."

Cody spent a few minutes answer service members' questions after viewing a counter-improvised-explosive-device training session. Concerns about budget cuts were mentioned immediately but Cody assured the class they will have all the resources they need to accomplish their missions in theater and come home safe.

Cody urged service members to stay focused on their deployments, especially since most U.S. combat forces are expected to withdraw from Afghanistan by the end of 2014.

"You're going over there at a time when we have to keep our eye on the target," said Cody, addressing the counter-IED class. "Think about how we're starting to retrograde out of Afghanistan. That environment doesn't make it safe."

American forces will probably remain in country in some capacity for the foreseeable future even as the military begins to shift its focus away from Afghanistan, remarked Cody.

"Retrograding means we are no longer over there with a big footprint, fighting the war," said Cody. "But that doesn't mean we are any less committed to the Afghans in helping them establish their country in a way that they can govern and have some sense of security in that area. That is going to be a great challenge."

America's fiscal situation is a serious hurdle to reaching that end, impacting the military's capability to meet the nation's requirements. A growing difference between the type of military the nation wants and the one it can afford is developing, and that is going to affect the future state of the armed forces, said Cody.

"That is on the mind of every one of our service chiefs, every one of our service secretaries," said Cody. "We can't be everything to everybody if we can't be something to ourselves, and we're contending with that."

Whatever consequences the cuts have at home, the military's priority is to keep deployed service members supplied with all the resources they need to accomplish their missions and come home safe, added Cody.

"We're committed to where you're going," said Cody. "All the services are committed to making sure that those who are in harm's way, those who are fighting the fight, have the resources to do whatever we're asking them to do."

He advised the class before departing to stay focused on the mission and stay in contact with their families and those who loved them.

"Know that you will be in our thoughts and prayers the whole time," said Cody. "We want to make sure you're as safe as you possibly can be in an environment that just isn't safe. Keep your eye focused on the ball while you're in theater, because getting yourself wrapped around, worrying about what might else be going on in our Air Force is not going to be conducive to being successful there or your ultimate safety."