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TYNDALL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. — U.S. Air Force Airmen from the 355th Wing strengthened their ability to operate in a contested environment during Coyote Storm 26.1, a training exercise focused on improving teamwork, flexibility and readiness through the Air Expeditionary Wing 2.0 concept at Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida, July 20-23, 2026.
The exercise brought together Airmen from multiple career fields to test their ability to rapidly establish operations, communicate across specialties and accomplish the mission in a deployed environment.
“One of the biggest challenges was working with a team that isn’t from my Air Force Specialty Code,” said U.S. Air Force Airman 1st Class Lais Maia, 355th Civil Engineer Squadron engineering apprentice. “I had to really work on my leadership skills and explain a portion of what I do for my job, which I train for months to accomplish, to people who had to learn it within a few minutes.”
During the exercise, Maia worked with augmentees from across the 355th Wing to complete contingency engineering tasks. Her team supported airfield operations by assessing damage and helping develop plans to restore aircraft operations as quickly as possible.
“On the contingency side, we work more with the airfield and the minimum operating strip,” said Maia. “We go out there and plot the initial damage on the airfield, then come up with a plan to get planes to land as quickly as possible.”
The experience reinforced the importance of the Mission Ready Airman mindset, where Airmen are prepared to contribute outside their traditional specialties when needed.
“You have to get in the mindset that this could be happening in real life,” Maia said. “We were preparing for the worst [contingency] going out there.”
U.S. Air Force Master Sgt. Jeffrey Nix, 355th Civil Engineer Squadron engineering flight superintendent, said the Air Expeditionary Wing 2.0 concept helps prepare Airmen by allowing units to deploy with established relationships and experience working together before reaching a contingency location.
“What AEW as a lead wing does is we take one installation, such as Davis-Monthan, then we take the 355th Wing and we deploy that whole wing together,” said Nix. “That allows us to have that chemistry right off the bat because all your teams know each other.”
Nix highlighted how exercises like Coyote Storm 26.1 help Airmen build trust and develop the ability to operate as one team.
“Once we get in theater, we hit the ground running,” said Nix. “There is no storming, no forming. We are straight into that performing phase where we’re going to go out and dominate whatever gets thrown at us.”
Through Coyote Storm 26.1, Airmen from across the 355th Wing remain ready by training the skills needed to operate in dynamic environments while reinforcing the importance of teamwork, adaptability and mission readiness.
| Date Taken: | 07.28.2026 |
| Date Posted: | 07.28.2026 16:52 |
| Story ID: | 570937 |
| Location: | TYNDALL AIR FORCE BASE, FLORIDA, US |
| Web Views: | 20 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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