News Search

Grand Forks Airmen go to war.....right here on base

  • Published
  • By Capt. Michael Meridith
  • Public Affairs
For several days this past December, hundreds of Warriors of the North went to war, operating from a “deployed” location right here on base. 

The “war,” an Ability to Survive and Operate exercise, tested the expeditionary readiness of Warriors of the North and capped two weeks of individual and aircraft exercises affecting nearly everyone in the wing. 

The ATSO scenario put Airmen to the test, forcing them to react to everything from mock chemical, ground and indirect fire attacks to medical emergencies, all while carrying out the 139th Air Expeditionary Wing’s (as the “deployed” unit was called) critical air refueling mission. 

“It was amazing - all the things they threw at us,” said Airman Doris Ochoa-Parra, 319th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron. “We had mortar attacks, chemical attacks and all kinds of scenarios, but our team was able to come together and still carry out the mission.” 

According to wing leaders, although the primary goal of the exercise was to hone skills for next summer’s Operational Readiness Inspection, the secondary intent was to practice skills important to all Airmen in today’s expeditionary Air Force. 

“It’s a requirement that we maintain our ability to do the mission we’ve been given under any conditions. For example, a chemical environment is one that would bring us to a halt if we didn’t practice the ability to protect ourselves and continue to operate,” said Col. Bill Bender, 319th Air Refueling Wing Commander. 

For exercise planners, realism was a primary concern. Since a large number of Airmen had previous deployment experience, scenarios had to capture likely events and offer opportunities to practice critical, life-saving skills necessary in real-world deployed
locations. 

“We talked to other bases that had been through previous ORIs to ensure our scenarios matched theirs, but more importantly we also baselined the real-word experiences of many different people,” said Maj. Colin Sindel, the wing inspector general’s chief of exercises. 

According to exercise planners, the last two weeks were just the start for the Warriors of the North. Several other exercises - both here and at other bases - are planned to take place on a regular basis before the upcoming ORI. The objective: to ensure Airman are prepared for whatever challenges, both real-world and simulated, are thrown their way. 

“It was pretty realistic,” said Tech. Sgt. Chris Hargett, boom operator with the 912th Air Refueling Squadron. “We got a lot of experience on how all the parts of the mission come together under combat conditions.” 

“We’ve run the complete gamut of our additional missions,” said Colonel Bender. “Day to day we refuel, but there are additional missions we have responsibility for, including supporting U.S. Strategic Command, operating in a chemical environment and
relocating our entire force and operating out of an austere location. We’ve done all three of those in the last few weeks and improved our knowledge of how to do it and built the confidence that we could do it in real life.”