Photo By Master Sgt. Nicholas Perez | A U.S. Air National Guard tactical vehicle travels along a wooded route during convoy...... read more read more
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Before Air National Guard civil engineers can build, repair, or sustain infrastructure in a contested environment, they may first have to move themselves, their equipment, and their teams safely through unfamiliar terrain. At Patriot Forge II, the Mounted Operations module prepared them to do just that.
Mounted operations was one of four scenario-based training modules that were part of Patriot Forge II, a Prime Base Engineer Emergency Force Region 1 field training exercise held Aug. 10-15 at Fort Devens. The exercise brought together approximately 200 Air National Guard personnel from across New England, including members of the 101st, 102nd, 103rd and 157th Civil Engineer Squadrons and supporting Mission Support Group personnel. The mounted operations module placed Airmen inside tactical vehicles and behind the wheel to build skills that extend well beyond driving a Humvee.
Airmen began with the fundamentals of vehicle operation and maintenance before progressing into tactical convoy operations. Throughout the training, students rotated through different positions inside the vehicle, giving each Airman experience with the different responsibilities required for a vehicle crew to function as a team.
“Mounted vehicle ops gives us the opportunity as cadre to teach the students how to operate a Humvee, all the way from checking the oil to how to operate the Humvee under austere conditions,” said Tech. Sgt. Sean Raposo, lead instructor cadre for Mounted Operations and a firefighter and crew chief with the 157th Civil Engineer Squadron. “The students each get a chance to be behind the wheel, speak on the radio, be in the turret, be a back seater and also learn how to operate in a tactical environment in a convoy.”
For civil engineering Airmen, those skills can become critical when their mission takes them beyond the security and infrastructure of an established installation.
Prime BEEF teams are designed to provide expeditionary engineering capabilities wherever airpower is needed. That can require Airmen to move personnel and equipment between operating locations, navigate difficult terrain, and continue performing their engineering mission while responding to changing conditions around them.
The training also reinforced skills that overlap with other portions of Patriot Forge II. Tactical communications, individual movement, casualty response and force protection can all become factors during a convoy scenario. Rather than treating each skill as an isolated task, the module required Airmen to combine them while operating as part of a vehicle crew.
Patriot Forge II used a rotational training model, allowing participating Airmen to move through multiple training areas during the exercise rather than remain focused on a single mission set. Mounted Operations was one piece of that larger effort to expose civil engineers to skills they may need outside their normal Air Force specialty. The goal was not to replace an Airman’s technical expertise. It is to give them additional capabilities they can draw on when the mission or operating environment demands more from them.
The exercise placed Airmen from different units together and they were expected to quickly develop working relationships. Their experience levels and familiarity with the equipment varied, so teams were required to communicate, adjust, and learn from one another as the training week-long training progressed.
“I think it’s great to see the different levels of knowledge between students, and we foster camaraderie as the events progress,” Raposo said. “In the beginning, everyone is nervous, and they’re not really working like a well-oiled machine, but after a few events everyone gets to know each other. It replicates what we’re going to see in a deployed environment because you’re not always going to go with your home unit.”
That interoperability was a central objective of Patriot Forge II. Bringing Prime BEEF Region 1 civil engineering squadrons together allowed Airmen to build common experience before they are asked to operate together during a real-world mission.
For Prime BEEF Airmen, those lessons support a larger objective: ensuring civil engineers can get where they are needed, protect and sustain their teams, and continue enabling airpower when the mission extends beyond the confines of a traditional installation.
At Patriot Forge II, Mounted Operations is helping make that capability part of the engineer’s toolbox.
| Date Taken: | 08.13.2026 |
| Date Posted: | 08.14.2026 16:07 |
| Story ID: | 572463 |
| Location: | US |
| Web Views: | 17 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Mounted Operations drives combat readiness at Patriot Forge II, by MSgt Nicholas Perez, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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