101st ARW Hosts A.C.E. Capstone for MacDill

Photo By Master Sgt. Andrew Sinclair | The 101st Air Refueling Wing welcomes tanker crews from MacDill AFB during an exercise. The 6th Operations Group conducted their capstone for their newly appointed Agile Combat Employment concept.  

BANGOR, ME, UNITED STATES

09.01.2022

Story by Master Sgt. Andrew Sinclair 

101st Air Refueling Wing

101st Air Refueling Wing, Me. (August. 31st, 2022) -- The MAINEiacs recently welcomed Airmen from MacDill Air Force Base, Florida, for a week-long stay in the great state of Maine.

Airmen from the 6th Operations Group traveled from the Sunshine state to Vacationland to conduct their Agile Combat Employment (A.C.E.) doctrine concept, which uses the Air Force’s ability to mitigate the risks of adversarial technological advances through maneuverability and speed to prevail in conflict.

“After a year of training and roughly 18 separate events, this is our capstone, where rubber meets the road,” said Colonel Jonathan Burdick, Commander of the 6th Operations Group at MacDill AFB. “We’re excited to be here and excited to show what we can do utilizing this new A.C.E. concept. Bangor has been more than accommodating to make sure we have what we need to succeed, and I’m very thankful for that.”

Unlike previous Air Force employment models, A.C.E. is executed in a way that utilizes smaller highly flexible force presentations from various locations, allowing theater commanders more options when the operation is needed.

The team of aviators, maintenance, and public affairs personnel conducted the exercise over a period of 5 days, allowing them to demonstrate their capability to operate in a forwarded location. All of this while using minimal resources and borrowed facilities to prove they can conduct the A.C.E. concept exceptionally well under unfamiliar circumstances.

The 101st was happy to host our southern friends as we too understand the importance of the A.C.E. concept. “It requires agility to execute the mission safely and quickly. It also provides us a way to be flexible to get the mission done and done well,” said Colonel Ian Gillis, the 101st Air Refueling Wing Commander. “Having MacDill here has been an honor and in typical MAINEiac fashion, we made sure they were taken care of. It really has been great, it gives us an opportunity to see how the active duty is doing it and be able to learn lessons from them and vice versa.”

The 101st has begun the initial phases into A.C.E. since its inception via various exercises and training scenarios, hot pit refueling and CASEVAC operations to be exact. Part of our mission statement is “deploy and employ air refueling, airlift, expeditionary aerospace and combat support forces around the world,” which is right in line with the backbone of A.C.E. and its core, so when the call came through from MacDill looking for support, the 101st was quick to answer. “There was no hesitation at all. We understand its importance and why A.C.E. is quickly being recognized as a new way to do business,” Colonel Gillis said.

The beauty of today’s total force is its ability to overcome change through innovation and new developments in how we conduct high proficiency air power and superiority. The ability to have an advantage over our adversaries is key, and working together with other units is paramount in that success. The 101st is proud and honored to have had its brothers and sisters from Florida here, and look forward to seeing them again.

• Date Taken: 09.01.2022
• Date Posted: 09.01.2022 12:31
• Story ID: 428495
• Location: BANGOR, ME, US