Photo By Tech. Sgt. Nicole Erb | U.S. Airman Dillon Rose, a finance specialist with the 127th Comptroller Flight,...... read more read more
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The 127th Wing of the Michigan Air National Guard successfully completed a combat readiness inspection at Selfridge Air National Guard Base, Sept.14, 2025. The CRI is an evaluation of a unit’s readiness, whereby inspectors come from higher headquarters to observe the wing’s ability to rapidly generate and sustain combat power in support of national defense requirements.
Over the course of four days, inspectors assessed mission execution, compliance, safety, and the wing’s ability to operate under realistic contested conditions, such as a 24-hour power and computer network outage, jammed radios and numerous drone attacks.
“This inspection validates our ability to fly, fight, and win,” said Brig. Gen. Matthew G. Brancato, 127th Wing commander. “We are showing the nation that when they need us, we are ready to deter, defend and dominate.”
During the inspection, 127th Wing Airmen were evaluated in critical mission areas including aircraft generation, maintenance, command and control, and force protection. The results affirmed the wing’s ability to deploy fighter, maintenance and support personnel in a demanding environment.
“This exercise is a test to see how quickly and efficiently we can deploy people and cargo in a highly contested environment in support of the future fight,” said Lt. Col. Brady Shagena, 127th Logistics Readiness Squadron commander. “In our past inspections we have been untouchable, but bringing the challenge to the home base is a great opportunity for us to test our agility while deterring our enemy and defending our home unit.”
Exercise planners assigned to the 127th Wing’s inspector general’s office emphasized the scope and complexity of the inspection.
“This is an important exercise with a posed threat to our home base,” said Senior Master Sgt. Catherine Finocchiaro, 127th Wing inspector general superintendent and exercise planning chief. “Our adversaries may try to keep us from deploying and generating aircraft. Exercising as if we are attacked on home base gives new perspective, allowing us to identify any gaps and improve our lethality and readiness.”
A team from the Asymmetric Threat Training Support Program, in conjunction with Michigan Army National Guard members of Camp Grayling Joint Maneuver Training Center, Grayling, Michigan, flew drones during the exercise to represent enemy threats. The drones dropped a non-toxic powder to simulate chemical attacks, activating alert response teams.
“This is my first exercise with the military,” said Airman Dillon Rose, 127th Wing Comptroller Flight finance specialist. “Seeing the drone drop fake chemicals and having to put on all this gear made the exercise a very surreal experience for me.”
Difficult working conditions such as power outages supporting an energy resilience and readiness exercise and chemical warfare activities and explosions, all pose serious threats to the mission and operations of the base. Airmen had to adjust operations with computer networks degraded, while wearing full chemical and biological protective gear, gaining readiness-on-demand experience.
“When you count on the internet for many of your operations to go safely and smoothly, pivoting and overcoming a power outage is monumental to the success of the medical group’s operations,” said Master Sgt. Sharmaine Hicks, 127th Medical Group aerospace medicine operations superintendent. “We understand the critical mission of deploying our Airmen and know our limitations and exceptions, but we had to make decisions and translate the new processes to our teams to overcome these challenges successfully.”
The CRI gave Airmen of the 127th Wing the opportunity to understand what types of potential threats advisories might use and an opportunity to succeed in spite of them.
“Every chance to exercise could be our last attempt to improve before we need to act on a threat,” said Shagena.
| Date Taken: | 09.14.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 09.16.2025 15:19 |
| Story ID: | 548089 |
| Location: | SELFRIDGE AIR NATIONAL GUARD BASE, MICHIGAN, US |
| Web Views: | 11 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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