Photo By Staff Sgt. Kelsey Owen | U.S. Air Force Tech. Sgt. Troy Martin, 20th Logistics Readiness Squadron fuels service...... read more read more
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NORTH, S.C. – U.S. Air Force Airmen assigned to Shaw Air Force Base participated in Exercise Iron Hand 23-08 at North Auxiliary Airfield, S.C., Aug. 21- 25.
Exercises like Iron Hand are designed to test the ability of the 20th Fighter Wing to operate under the Air Force’s new Agile Combat Employment operating concept, which shifts the generation of airpower from large, centralized bases to networks of smaller, dispersed locations.
According to Air Force Doctrine Note 1-21, developed by the Air University’s Curtis E. LeMay Center and signed by Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. CQ Brown, Jr.: ACE is an operational concept that supports joint all-domain operations. Joint force operations are increasingly interconnected, interdependent, and challenged. Anti-access and area denial threats, reduced freedom of maneuver, and rapid proliferation of advanced technologies challenge the Air Force’s ability to operate. The successful employment of ACE positions the force to observe, orient, decide, and act in concert across all domains.
“ACE is the Air Force’s response to get after more dynamic force employment by moving aircraft around, moving facilities around to make it harder for the adversary to hit us,” said Maj. Benjamin McComb, 20th Operational Medical Readiness Squadron Bioenvironmental Engineering flight commander. “ACE is light, fast, and lethal. We have to keep moving, keep the adversary on their toes - complicate their targeting in order to stay alive.”
For Exercise Iron Hand 23-08, a team of 90 Airmen took to the (air)field to practice ACE concepts over the span of a week: setting up, maintaining and defending the small ‘tent city’ that acted as their living quarters, dining facility, and command and control headquarters, while also generating combat airpower.
Prior to the exercise, Airmen went through training to become Multi-Capable Airmen, an initiative set in place to reduce the number of Airmen who must be put in harm’s way to carry out the mission.
“The MCA training prior to coming to Iron Hand helped me a lot,” said Airman 1st Class Luis Bohorquez, 79th Fighter Generation Squadron weapons load crew member. “If no one went through that training, they wouldn’t know what to do during an attack. Since most of us went through the MCA training, we all just got up, put our gear on, and tried to fight back.”
MCAs are able to provide advanced readiness skills outside of the Airman’s primary duty, in areas such as mission generation, command and control, and base operations support. Teams of these Airmen are more agile and responsive than traditional large, highly specialized teams.
There are two tiers of MCA training: Tier 1, which covers basic skills for force protection and trauma care, and Tier 2, which is where Airmen begin to step outside of their functional communities.
From a medical standpoint, preventative medicine and clinical specialists learn how to perform aspects of each other’s jobs to ensure Airmen are taken care of despite having a shortage or lack of one or the other, said McComb.
“On the maintenance side, you’re cross-pollinating ammo troops, loadmasters and crew chiefs so that we can still arm aircraft and get them up off the ground with fewer people.”
Exercise Iron Hand is a reflection of what we expect to see in future warfighting environments as we transition out of the Middle East and turn our focus towards the Pacific and European theaters.
“Exercises like Iron Hand 23-08 shape how the 20th Fighter Wing is operationalizing ACE and define how 20th Fighter Wing Airmen will operate in a modern, contested environment,” said Col. Matthew Tuzel, 20th Operations Group commander.
“It’s exciting and reassuring to know that our Airmen--including fighter pilots, maintainers, and the associated support personnel--here at Shaw have exercised the transition to a wartime footing and the ability to deliver combat power to the point of need at the speed of relevance in an austere environment.”
| Date Taken: | 08.23.2023 |
| Date Posted: | 09.07.2023 10:43 |
| Story ID: | 452891 |
| Location: | SC, US |
| Web Views: | 181 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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