Purpose, it’s the driving factor that places meaning into our daily lives, our goals and our mission as Airmen. Too often we forget that collectively, as Reserve Citizen Airmen, our month-to-month individual and team efforts play into a bigger role than we may see from our perspective.
Exercise Global Thunder is a reminder that we are an integral part of a much larger team in defending this nation.
U.S. Strategic Command leads Global Thunder, an annual, command exercise that provides training opportunities in order to assess all USSTRATCOM mission areas and joint and field-training operational readiness, with a specific focus on nuclear readiness.
Global Thunder allows forces to exercise and train as they would fight, in a global environment with other combatant commands, services and appropriate U.S. government agencies.
March Air Reserve Base’s role in this operation is to provide air mobility excellence through the deployment of troops and assets as well as aerial refueling. Team March members have the ability to provide global reach with multiple airframes at a moment’s notice. Even as COVID-19 cases increase in the local communities surrounding March ARB, Airmen here are taking special precautions to adapt and carry out important training exercises while they also continue mission capabilities in the new pandemic environment.
“COVID-19 has highlighted the importance of taking care of each other by making sure everyone is healthy, feeling well and encouraging those who are not feeling well to speak up,” said Capt. Kevin Elardo, 336th Air Refueling Squadron, KC-135 lead instructor and pilot. “We’ve proved to be flexible and adapt to Global Thunder’s ever-changing circumstances allowing for its continued success during these challenging times.”
During each Unit Training Assembly Airmen participate in skills training as they prepare for real-world operations. From finance to force support, every Air Force Specialty Code is a valuable asset to the success of each mission. Global Thunder exercises everyone’s readiness and capabilities and keeps them ready to answer the call.
“[Air Mobility] is the most important mission we have at March,” said Elardo. “So much so that we train and test quarterly to maintain proficiency. Global Thunder gives us a chance to put our training into practice.”
| Date Taken: | 11.08.2020 |
| Date Posted: | 11.08.2020 12:55 |
| Story ID: | 382608 |
| Location: | MARCH AIR RESERVE BASE, CA, US |
| Web Views: | 109 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
This work, Global Thunder Over the Empire, by SSgt Kekoa Santiago, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
LEAVE A COMMENT