June 22, 2018
RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany
The 179th Airlift Wing, Mansfield, Ohio, brought approximately 80 Airmen to Ramstein Air Base, Germany, on June 17, 2018 for Annual Training. The unit brought medical, finance and communications personnel, and they are here working alongside their active duty counterparts.
The 179th MDG is here as part of a Medical Facility Annual Tour. This is a program the National Guard Bureau has put together that a select few units get to participate in each year. The unit picks what location they want to go to, so this year the 179th AW came to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, Germany, and the 86th Medical Group, Ramstein Air Base, Germany. This presented a great opportunity to complete all the skills training they needed in one location.
“The main focus for us is readiness skills training requirements that we have to be able to maintain,” said Lt. Col. Troy Cramer, the deputy medical group commander. “It’s just something that we cannot accomplish home station. To be able to work at one of the premier medical treatment facilities in the Department of Defense, like Landstuhl, really gives our folks a chance to get that skills training they need.”
The medical personnel have over 300 core skill tasks that they want to get signed off, so they are hoping to have more than 90% of their skills signed off, ready to go, before they leave, said Cramer.
The 179th MG is focusing on readiness skills training, full spectrum readiness, and total force, so being in the joint environment is invaluable.
This is Landstuhl’s busiest time of year with their PCS going on, so they can really use the help.
“To be able to work alongside our active duty counterparts and show them what our capabilities are and help them, and at the same time get great skills training, is so valuable for our personnel,” said Cramer.
The ability for a lot of the newer doctors to be able to work in Germany at one of the best treatment facilities in the Department of Defense is a tremendous opportunity, said Cramer.
“The Air National Guard is no longer a strategic reserve,” said Cramer. “We are much more of an operational force, so to be able to integrate into an environment like this knowing that we are going to be out there with them side by side.”
The rest of the Airmen are working at Ramstein AB with the 86th Communications Flight and the 86th Financial Management Flight.
“We just don’t have these opportunities afforded to us every day, so to be able to work over here in this environment is great,” said Cramer.
The 179th Communications Flight brought representation from every shop and are here to partner with the 86th Communications Flight and pitch in wherever they can, said Master Sgt. Brandon Boos, the NCOIC of RF transmissions systems in CF. The mission here is very diverse and their commander likes to say that they discover a new mission that they support every day.
“Active duty is a great partner,” said Boos. “They've been sharing with us, they've been learning things from us and we've been learning from them.”
The young Airmen are getting the experience of being away from home, setting up a shop, and executing a mission that they were not familiar with days before, said Boos. These are all things that Airmen will do when deployed, so this is going to benefit them as they progress through their careers.
“There are so many benefits to coming here,” said Boos. “Our Airmen are actually getting to engage directly with the mission, day in and day out, and there is a lot of comradery and team bonding going around. That’s going to make us a lot stronger as a unit going forward.”
Airmen from the 179th CF have been able to acquire training from the 86th. They are learning tasks that they did not quite know how to train on back home or equipment that they did not have access to.
179th FM has also been learning a lot from working alongside their active duty counterparts.
“It’s extremely important,” said Staff Sgt. Melissa Wirick, a financial management technician at the 179th AW. “I think it gives our members a good idea of what to expect when they are deployed and what to expect as far as the integration of guard and active duty.”
Overall, this trip is significant in many ways.
“This is a fantastic opportunity for us, for our Airmen, and for our unit as a whole,” said Boos. “The more we partner with other units, the more experience we get, the stronger we become as a unit and the more effective and lethal we are going forward.”
Some of the Airmen are new and have never had the chance to fly on a military aircraft, so to get the experience to come over here on a C-17, one of the largest tactical airlift platforms that we have, is great for the young Airmen. It’s an opportunity for them to work in a different location and experience what the Air Force is.
“To be able to have this experience in this kind of setting will just make us a better, more unified total force when we are down range and doing the mission,” said Cramer.