Team McGuire completes Operational Readiness Inspection Published July 1, 2009 By Master Sgt. Chuck Kramer 514th Air Mobility Wing JOINT BASE MCGUIRE-DIX-LAKEHURST, N.J. -- With a huge sigh of relief, two years of intense preparations paid off as the 87th Air Base Wing, 305th Air Mobility Wing and 514th Air Mobility Wing completed their combined Operation Readiness Inspection in June. The Air Mobility Command's Office of the Inspector General utilizes ORIs to confirm a unit's deployment, war fighting and redeployment capabilities. During the inspection, the three wings combined forces to create the 904th Air Expeditionary Wing and deployed Airmen, equipment and aircraft to the Combat Readiness Training Center just outside of Alpena, Mich. The scenario was a forward deployment to Japan, to provide airlift and air refueling support for a crisis on the Korean Peninsula. Airmen had to process a mobility line, ready cargo for transport, fly to the forward deployed location and ready the base to support sustained flying operations. The CRTC had little in the way of infrastructure, which required communications and all other base functions to be set up from scratch. Everything the 904th AEW needed to operate was brought with them. An advanced team of Airmen left early on a Monday morning to set up the basics. On day 3 of the exercise the war started. The simulated crisis on the peninsula escalated as the enemy began launching missiles at the base. Multiple missile, mortar and ground attacks followed, requiring the Airmen of the 904th to utilize their chemical protection suits and gas masks many times. As part of the inspection, operations had to continue in spite of the attacks. Planes continued to be launched and recovered during the simulated attacks, which were made all the more realistic by the IG team's use of ground burst simulators, smoke grenades and air cannons. Inspectors dressed up as enemy special forces units and attempted to infiltrate the base on several occasions testing the capabilities of the wing's air base ground defense skills. To help prepare for the inspection, a mobility exercise was held last September at home station and an operational readiness exercise was held at a training center in Mississippi. Each of the three Wings achieved an overall satisfactory rating in the inspection. As with all inspections there were areas that needed improvements, but there were also many areas that earned and excellent or outstanding rating. In the ORI out brief June 26, outstanding individual and team accomplishments were presented along with citations and IG coins. "The inspection wasn't the most comfortable of experiences," said Staff Sgt. James Whipkey of the 514th Communications Squadron, who was recognized at the outbrief, "but I'm happy to have done it." At one point of the inspection, Sergeant Whipkey wowed the inspectors by being able to perform some of the required procedures on his M-16 rifle with his eyes closed.