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Every man a mission, every person a purpose.

Members of the international aid community work alongside a large joint U.S. military presence during Operation Unified Response at the Toussaint L’Ouverture International Airport in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Airmen from the 621st Contingency Response Wing from Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, N.J., responded in the aftermath of a 7.0 magnitude earthquake that crumbled most of the surrounding area killing hundreds of thousands and displacing millions from their homes. (U.S. Air Force photo/Capt. Dustin Doyle)

Hauling help by-hand

Airmen assigned to the 621st Contingency Response Wing from Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, N.J., assist with the hand-unloading of a civilian relief flight during Operation Unified Response at the Toussaint L’Ouverture International Airport, Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Jan. 21. The wing responded in the aftermath of a 7.0 magnitude earthquake that crumbled most of the surrounding area killing hundreds of thousands and displacing millions from their homes. (U.S. Air Force photo/Tech. Sgt. Matthew Loy)

Grand Central Station

CHAKLALA AIR FORCE BASE, Pakistan – Overall shot of a hangar on Chaklala Air Base, Pakistan, the hub for all supplies coming into Pakistan in support of flood relief efforts on Aug. 28. The Contingency Reaction Element from the 818th Contingency Response Group, Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, N.J., arrived to take over responsibilities for loading and off loading U.S. aircraft with supplies all over Pakistan in support of flood relief efforts. (U.S. photo by Staff Sgt. Andy M. Kin) (released)

Be it ever so heavy, there is no place like home

CAMP MARMAL, MAZAR-I-SHARIF, Afghanistan – Airmen from the 621st Contingency Response Wing based at Joint-Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, NJ, push a prefabricated shelter facility from a C-5B Galaxy onto a waiting 60k cargo loader at Camp Marmal, Afghanistan July 1. Thousands of tons of supplies have been processed in the past few weeks by teams of CRW Airmen as forces called up by the presidentially-directed surge of manpower and equipment have been arriving into Afghanistan. (U.S. Air Force photo/Tech. Sgt. Parker Gyokeres/released)

NJ-based CRG assumes alert rotation for global mobility mission

Published Sept. 30, 2010
By Tech. Sgt. Parker Gyokeres
621st Contingency Response Wing Public Affairs

JOINT BASE MCGUIRE-DIX-LAKEHURST, N.J. -- Airmen from the 621st Contingency Response Wing here will assume responsibility for a four-month rotation of Joint Task Force, Port-Opening alert beginning Oct. 1.

Approximately120 Mobility Airmen assigned to the CRW's 817th Contingency Response Group will join 55 Soldiers from an Army Rapid Port Opening Element based at Fort Eustis, Va., to provide initial airbase opening and cargo distribution capability to remote, disaster-stricken or hostile locations worldwide. The four-month stint is part of a constant JTF-PO rotation with its sister unit on the West Coast, the 615th CRW based at Travis AFB, Calif.

"This team is about 85 percent of my entire Contingency Response Group," said Col. Patrick Hollrah, 817th CRG commander. "We began a thorough equipment inspection and team training process about two-months out so readiness would peak and plateau on the day we assumed alert status."

Every assigned Airman is required to achieve and maintain worldwide deployment availability for the entire four-month alert window, said the colonel.

"Our deployment managers and training office combed through the deployment battle roster and filled every slot with a fully-trained and deployable Mobility Airman," said Colonel Hollrah. "In addition to individual readiness, those same Airmen have also been busy inspecting and preparing every piece of equipment they use to accomplish their mission."

Once inspected, the tools, tents, vehicles and support systems tailored to sustain an air mobility force are sealed by air transportation specialists. They sit ready, already weighed with paperwork completed, for immediate departure to an unknown destination. Near-daily inspections will ensure equipment is deployable until the wing hands back alert responsibilities to the 615th.

Previous no-notice deployments of 621st CRW JTF-PO alert teams include the international humanitarian assistance mission to Haiti in 2010, and contingency airlift support operations to Diego Garcia and Bahrain. But Colonel Hollrah cautions his Airmen to not use the wing's history to shape future expectations.

"One thing I've talked about a lot with my folks is that we can't get ourselves locked into the mindset that everything is going to be just like Haiti," he said. "We have to be experts at our jobs so we can react to the dynamics of the next situation.

"The bottom line is we don't know where the next call is coming from," he continued. "It could be a hurricane, a flood or a wartime tasking; we have to be prepared to do it all. On the first of October when we assume alert duties, we are certainly ready for the phone to ring."