Photo By Capt. Faith Hirschmann | Airmen from the 823d Base Defense Squadron practice tactical combat casualty care as...... read more read more
CAMP GUERNSEY, Wyo.—The 823d Base Defense Squadron (BDS) conducted a Mission Readiness Exercise (MRX) at Camp Guernsey, Wyoming to train adaptive basing skills March 19 to March 31, 2019.
The two-week exercise was the first of its kind for the 820th Base Defense Group to be centered around the concept of adaptive basing which calls for the Air Force to disperse its assets over several locations that are easy to pack up and move, instead of putting everything in one easily targeted base.
“In a lot of ways, the BDG has to reinvent the way that it deploys,” said Major Dan Minnocci, 823d Base Defense Squadron commander. “Some of that has included tailoring equipment loads and personnel configurations we would deploy to get back up to a level where we would be more prepared, more ready, more lethal to counter an advanced adversary versus the traditional non-state terrorist actors.”
For the last three years, the 820th BDG has only deployed to Nigerien Air Base 201, Niger in Africa on a regular rotation. This strategic shift toward advanced adversary warfare marks the end of that rotation, giving them time to prepare for new adversaries. The MRX gave the 820th BDG an opportunity to put theory into action.
“In coming here for this exercise, we’ve been able to take a lot of those theories and concepts that we’ve developed at home and full-dress, full-scale rehearse them here,” said Minnocci.
Not only did the MRX test the 823d BDS’s ability to adapt and move from place to place, it also tested their skills as defenders. The Airmen learned to operate independently when forward deployed as small groups and defend their forward operating locations with fewer Airmen.
“We definitely set up camp pretty fast, and then found ourselves waiting for something to happen,” said Airman 1st Class Allen Unaitis, 823d BDS radio transmitter operator. “Then we had two protests at our camp. It was different.”
The MRX scenario gave the Airmen the chance to practice riot control, tactical combat casualty care, and defend against mortar attacks.
Minnocci is proud of what his squadron has been able to accomplish, and says that adaptive basing will take practice and innovation.
“We are getting amazing ideas from the field. This is very much going ‘back to the future’ where there are older tactics, techniques and procedures that we are bringing forward into the new fight.”
| Date Taken: | 04.02.2019 |
| Date Posted: | 04.02.2019 16:44 |
| Story ID: | 316694 |
| Location: | GUERNSEY, WY, US |
| Web Views: | 89 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, 823d BDS takes adaptive basing exercise to WY, by Capt. Faith Hirschmann, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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