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Joint Assessment Team cites Eagle Flag as great prep to survey 7 OEF, OIF bases in less than 30 days

  • Published
  • By 1st Lt. Nicole Langley
  • 615th Contingency Response Wing Public Affairs
TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. --  Airmen assigned to the 615th Contingency Response Wing here recently completed a nearly 30-day assessment mission in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The 10 Airmen were part of a 13-member joint Air Force-Army team, which received their mission tasking from U.S. Transportation Command.

The group, known as a Joint Task Force-Port Opening, Joint Assessment Team, traveled to Afghanistan and Iraq to provide the U.S. Central Command, International Security Assistance Force and Multi-National Corps-Southeast coalition leadership and planners information about seven bases.

"We identified baseline capabilities of mobility, airfield suitability, base operating support and force protection, as well as recommendations for improvements in all areas," explained Col. Steven Jordan, 570th Contingency Response Group commander and team lead for this trip.

The joint Air Force and Army team consisted of Airmen from the 615th CRW and Soldiers from the 688th Transportation Detachment (Rapid Port Opening) at Fort Eustis, Va.

While the team's initial tasking included assessments of just two airfields in Afghanistan to support Operation Enduring Freedom, after they arrived in the USCENTCOM area of responsibility, they received additional assignments.

"Once we arrived, our JAT was further tasked to conduct four additional OEF assessments and another one in Iraq." Colonel Jordan said.

Although typically the JAT mission is to open aerial ports in support of contingency or humanitarian operations, during this recent mission, the JAT focused on assessing the airbases' capabilities.

"We provided unique capabilities to the theater that only a CRG is capable of providing in a timely manner," explained Lt. Col. Craig Theisen, 570th Global Mobility Readiness Squadron commander and JAT member responsible for assisting the team lead and providing daily reports to higher headquarters.

Not only did this JAT conduct operations outside of its normal scope, it also marked a first for the 615th CRW.

"This was the first operational full-scale airfield assessment team that the wing has deployed," Colonel Jordan added.

The team credits their success in completing seven airfield assessments in less than 30 days to the fact that they were well prepared and were an established team before they ever departed home station.

"There were no surprises when we were out in the field," said Colonel Jordan. "We dealt with some unique situations, but the training we've been through laid the groundwork to accomplish this mission."

Specifically, the team agreed that the 10 days of grueling training they received at Air Force Exercise Eagle Flag -- a Chief of Staff-directed epeditionary combat support exercise conducted at the U.S. Air Force Expeditionary Center at Fort Dix, N.J., helped prepare them for the situations they encountered while in Afghanistan and Iraq.

"The goal of Eagle Flag is to provide Airmen with an environment to exercise the knowledge and skills required to open and establish an air base and achieve initial operating capability, for any type of forward operation, in any environment, regardless of mission or aircraft type," the Air Force fact sheet for the exercise shows. "Eagle Flag is considered a final rehearsal of the expeditionary combat support skills necessary to open and establish a base and provide command and control before Airmen deploy in support of real-world contingencies."

"It was challenging, but I had good people on the team," Colonel Jordan said. "The Airmen in the CRW are all well prepared and ready to deploy at a moment's notice when unique missions like this arise."

Another unique aspect of the team's mission was they conducted assessments at airbases operated by several different coalition partners, including the United Kingdom, Belgium, Germany and Italy, as well as the U.S.

This meant that the team not only performed their technical assessments of each base, but also served as ambassadors for the U.S., as they lived and worked at each location for approximately three days.

As a nomadic evaluation team, the group primarily slept in tents, often using those same tents as their workspace to compile all of their assessments.

There may have been some challenging aspects of the trip, but the team concurred that it was a good opportunity to put their training into action.

"It was a great experience to be a part of our first team to go out and accomplish the mission that we have all been training for," said 1st Lt. Mike Fiedler, 570th GMS Civil Engineer Flight commander and JAT member.

With the regular training these specialized teams receive, it's obvious that they're postured for immediate response anywhere, anytime.

(Note: Air Force Exercise Eagle Flag is the Air Force's only Chief of Staff-directed, flag-level exercise testing and training Airmen in expeditionary combat support skills. In September 2002, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. John Jumper designated Air Mobility Command as the lead command to execute a flag-level program to prepare all Air Force expeditionary combat support Airmen. The first EAGLE FLAG exercise began Oct. 13, 2003, with Airmen tasked from across the Air Force. The exercise comprises more than 400 Airmen from 183 unit type codes across 30 Air Force functional areas. For more on the U.S. Air Force Expeditionary Center, visit: http://www.expeditionarycenter.af.mil.)