ArticleCS

Joint effort leads to ‘outstanding’ performance

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Matthew Hubby
  • 436th Airlift Wing Public Affairs
DOVER AIR FORCE BASE, Del. --  Team Dover will be joining with elements of the 433rd Airlift Wing from Lackland Air Force Base, Texas, to participate in an Operational Readiness Inspection Dec. 7-14 at Gulfport, Miss. The ORI's purpose is to establish how well the units are able to conduction operations in a deployed environment.

There will be 728 personnel from across the three wings participating in the ORI. Four hundred and thirty-four are from the 436th AW, 232 are from the 512th AW, and the remaining 62 are from the 433rd AW.

Team Dover has been busy preparing for the ORI. Not only have they completed a Operational Readiness Exercise in September at Gulfport, Miss., the 436th and 512th teams have completed two joint deployment exercises in March and July, as well. These were supplemented by two other exercises for the 436th in May and November. The exercises included block training, pallet building exercises, table top exercises and theater briefings. Team Dover averaged about one exercise per month leading up to the ORI.

"All of this training and preparation couldn't have been done without the help of some really stellar people," said Maj. Jonathan Diaz, Exercise Evaluation Team lead with 436th Airlift Wing Plans and Programs. "Without these people, we wouldn't have the outstanding performance capabilities we do now."

There are four simulated environments Team Dover and their 433rd counterparts could have been deployed to: Volk Field, Wis.; Alpena, Mich.; Savannah, Ga.; and Gulfport, Miss. These environments, along with the merger of multiple wings, help simulate the 'fog of war' in a deployed location.

"The ORI is one way the Air Force can determine if we can accomplish our mission," said Diaz. "It's important for us to prove we can accomplish our mission in a safe and efficient manner. Our November deployment exercise went extremely well, and has prepared us for success for the ORI."