Photo By Senior Airman Leonid Soubbotine | U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Zachary Ayriss, 23d Combat Air Base Squadron, and Chief...... read more read more
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TYNDALL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. – The full capabilities of the 23d Combat Air Base Squadron’s integrated base defense came under fire during a mock night attack for exercise Mosaic Tiger 26-1 at Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida, Nov. 19, 2025.
Opposing forces, composed of security experts from the 822d Base Defense Squadron, descended on the A-Staff leadership and command and control node at the Combat Support Training Range in a complex, multipronged attack.
“From the outside looking in, it might look chaotic, but it’s finely choreographed orchestra of speed and violence,” said Chief Master Sgt. Patrick Meade, 23d CABS senior enlisted leader. “What happened here proves that our CABS concept is working. It doesn’t matter the job of the Airmen, when it comes to installation defense, these CABS Airmen are going to win.”
The A-Staff arrived at Tyndall on Nov. 15, and since then, the opposing forces have been probing and testing perimeter defenses by using both drones and physical surveillance. After the main operating base had reacted a few times, the enemy forces thought they had a good idea of reaction times and security posture. Their plan: Wait for nightfall and attack just before dinnertime.
“Our enemies are making a mistake if they downplay the capabilities of the force support squadron Airman serving at the DFAC, the firefighter putting out a fire, or the civil engineer repairing the airfield,” said Master Sgt. Keal Grable, superintendent of A-34, Wing Protection. “They are deadly mistaken, because those people are ready, motivated and willing to defend the base when called upon. Force protection is everyone’s job, and we don’t need a security forces member at every single point. We don’t need that, because of the strength of our CABS teammates.”
Before the firefight began, early drone detection warnings alerted two ground transportation Airmen working security for the entry control point, who looked up to see the drone approaching the base. The enemy drone operator piloted the device in a pattern over the command tent, intending to distract Airmen from the real threat sneaking through the woods armed with automatic weapons and explosives.
After a few moments, bullets rained.
“I thought when I enlisted in the Air Force, I was going to be ground transportation and that was it,” said Senior Airman Ryan Mullen, the 23d CABS member at the ECP when the attack began. “I didn’t really expect myself to be in that situation, real-world or exercise. That was definitely an experience, and it gives you a different perspective on things.”
The enemies attacked from multiple angles, hidden inside foliage or behind cover. Night obscured enemy movement from the naked eye, so the 23d CABS Airmen donned their night-vision attachments to home in on the threat. As the initial defenders pushed out of the base to engage the enemy, a stray bullet struck Lt. Col. Justin May, 23d CABS commander, taking him out of the fight and leaving his team to finish the engagement without directions from their leader – something they’ve been training to do ever since the creation of the CABS just two months ago.
“I was right next to him, about two feet away,” Mullen said how quickly he jumped into action. “I just did what we learned at our CABS training the week before and dragged him away from the central zone where everyone was leaving the base, and provided some recovery room, regardless of if he was alive or not.”
After that initial contact, the firefight raged on for another 30 minutes. The small footprint of security forces members at the base was supported from the dozens of CABS Airmen recently trained on base-defense tasks. As the enemy moved to target different parts of the base, they encountered manned defense fortifications at every turn.
“We actually had electricians flank the enemy using a technique you generally don’t see outside of security forces,” Meade said. “It was amazing to see that the training from Silver Flag brought everything to a culmination point, and we were able to execute and provide installation security using the mission-ready Airmen concept and mission command from the top to the bottom. Airmen 1st classes holding sectors was just phenomenal to watch.”
At some point, the attack seemed to take a breath – the shots stopped, and a quiet unease settled in across the camp as a gun-smoke canopy wafted over the tents. Then, a large detonation resounded, coming from the communications satellite array. And just like that, the fight began anew.
“Honestly, our CABS Airmen were unbelievably capable,” Grable said about how the team got right back into the fight without missing a beat. “They were able to execute some of the missions that had to be done, even when there weren’t any security forces members around to help lead the charge. Seeing that was unbelievable, and it helps give the defense force commander the options he needs to defend the assets we have.”
Although the communications area was in simulated ruins, the newly trained base defenders continued safeguarding the camp and other satellite redundancies – keeping the command team alive and still in contact with pilots across three other austere locations in the exercise.
After another 10 or so minutes, the tired, yet simultaneously adrenaline-fueled, CABS Airmen eliminated the last threat. The enemy lay either defeated or detained.
“We had to step up and get in that mindset of ‘We’re not ground transportation anymore, we’re security forces. We need to be multi-capable and be able to do what must be done in that moment,’” Mullen said about the second it all snapped into frame. “We’ve still got our normal job responsibilities, but we’re CABS now.
“This is better than the old way of deploying as one person or two-people teams,” he continued. “Now that everyone is together, it helps out by making us more a team so that when the attack happened, we were more cohesive and got the job done.”
And while the attack was all simulation and role-play – and there were many a good-natured rib toward May getting “killed off” within minutes of the attack – the reality of the training was not lost on the team. The fight tested the mettle of the CABS members and the confidence of the A-Staff in trusting a team of 65 career fields to provide integrated base defense.
“This deployment construct is getting everybody ready for the next fight and making them as prepared as possible,” Grable said. “I think we’re prepared and ready to go now, so all the training we do next is just sharpening the knife. It’s a godsend having an entire squadron of non-security-forces members able to get after so many defense mission sets when that bugle call happens.”
| Date Taken: | 11.21.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 11.24.2025 15:28 |
| Story ID: | 552261 |
| Location: | TYNDALL AIR FORCE BASE, FLORIDA, US |
| Web Views: | 10 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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