ACH
By Capt. Andi Hahn, Kentucky National Guard Public Affairs Office
[caption id="attachment_2212" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Chaplain James Ehrman from the Kentucky Air National Guard's 123rd Contingency Response Group takes a quick break while assembling a tent after arriving at Joint Base McGuire-Dix in New Jersey July 27 to participate in a joint exercise simulating humanitarian relief efforts in a poor country. (U.S. Army photo by Capt. Andi Hahn, KYNG Public Affairs Office)"]
JOINT BASE MCGUIRE-DIX-LAKEHURST, N.J. (July 29, 2010)—
The Kentucky Air National Guard’s Contingency Response Group mobilized to McGuire Air Force Base July 26 as part a joint exercise called Eagle Flag which simulates a deployment assisting in humanitarian relief efforts.
This year’s Eagle Flag exercise consists of members from the Army and Air Force, both active and reserve components who come together to form the Joint Task Force-Port Opening. There are 147 total service members participating in the exercise to include 82 Kentucky Guardsmen from the 123
rd CRG; 50 Soldiers from the Army’s 689
th Rapid Port Opening Element; 10 Airmen from the 621
st Contingency Response Wing; three members from the New Jersey Air National Guard’s 108
th CRG; and two civilians from the Air Force Office of Special Investigations.
[caption id="attachment_2213" align="alignright" width="200" caption="Soldiers from the 689th Rapid Port Opening Element, based out of Fort Eustis, Va., load a pallet of food and water to be distributed to local village needing assistance during an exercise at Joint Base McGuire-Dix, N.J. July 27. (U.S. Air Force photo by MSgt Phil Speck, 123rd Airlift Wing Public Affairs)"]
The JTF-PO is thrown into a mock scenario of being deployed to a struggling part of a poor country called “Nessor” and are evaluated on being able to work together to rapidly establish a Port Opening to support humanitarian relief operations within the country.
The JTF-PO Air Force assets provide the air mobility expertise and the Army assets provide the ground surface movement expertise to operate as one team to expedite movement of cargo from Lakehurst Airfield to a pre-determined forward node for further distribution. Basically getting the right stuff to the right place at the right time.
This is only the second joint exercise of Eagle Flag and the first year a National Guard unit was invited to participate.
“This provides a good challenge for us working with the Army,” said Air Force Maj. Kevin Thornberry, JTF-PO logistical officer in charge. “We are getting more and more engaged with the Army with these kinds of joint activities and helps us understand their capabilities and they understand ours,” said Thornberry.
Army Capt. Matt Zayd, 689
th RPOE operations officer in charge said that everybody had to realize on both sides, both Army and Air, active and reserve components, that there were challenges to overcome initially, but then established a good flow of operations.
“Once you overcome the difference in lingo and terminology, the basics are the same,” said Zayd. “Understanding each other and working together continually allows for the mission to be successful,” said Zayd.
[caption id="attachment_2214" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Soldiers and Airmen from the Eagle Flag exercise offload pallets of food, water and shelter to be distributed to local villages in a country needing humaniatiran assistance as part of a training exercise at Joint Base McGuire-Dix, N.J. July 27. (U.S. Air Force photo by MSgt Phil Speck, 123rd Airlift Wing Public Affairs)"]
This is the first Joint Task Force-Port Opening with both active and reserve components from the Army and Air Force, however, the Kentucky Air National Guard has a distinguished history of supporting disaster relief missions overseas, their most recent airlift mission-request followed a deadly earthquake in Haiti earlier this year.
Click here to see other photos from this exercise.