DOVER AIR FORCE BASE, Del. -- There's one squadron who may be speaking the truth when they boldly say, "Without us, it does not happen.'

The 436th Logistics Readiness Squadron provides fuel, transportation, weapons, mobility gear and government vehicles for the base, as well as handling supplies and equipment for the C-5 and C-17 airlifters.

During the upcoming operational readiness inspection, the Loggies will be responsible for their normal day-to-day job, and more.

"We are a preeminent player as an initial response for the ORI, and this exercise would not happen without us," said Maj. Richard Perron, 436th LRS operations officer and exercise LRS commander.

To ensure Airmen across the base can participate in the exercise, LRS issues all equipment required for a deployment.

"I'm in charge of about 1,400 weapons and more," said Staff Sgt. Harold Mitchell, 436th LRS NCO in-charge of weapons. "On top of the weapons, we issue mobility bags, including helmets, flak vests and body armor."

LRS also provides mission-oriented protective posture gear, required safety equipment for deploying Airmen across the base.

Loggies also fuel vehicles and aircraft to get the players to their deployment destination.

"Our Airmen have been given a tremendous amount of work and training to prepare others, as well as ourselves, for this ORI," said Major Perron. "Dover Air Force Base is going to be graded on the ORI mission essential tasks and following these orders is not hard."

What makes LRS such a success is knowledgeable Airmen from different sections who help one another work through conflicts.

"We play an important role not only for the base, but within our own sections," said Senior Airman Shalin Amin, 436th LRS assistant unit deployment manager. "Our squadron knows that if there's a problem, we can take care of one another to solve it."

Several challenges Airmen participating in the exercise face are upcoming deployments and returning from deployments and having to switch to ORI mode.

"Deployed Airmen coming back may have had less training compared to those who have been preparing for months," said Major Perron. "Airmen who are soon real-world deploying have to multi-task their time to train for the ORI in addition to deployment training and balancing time to spend with their families.

"This creates a stressful environment for Airmen, but Dover's mission never stops because real-world events take priority," he said.

Through the sacrifice of long hours for training and exercises, deploying eight months out of the year and many times working to find a way to make time for friends and family, the Loggies continue to find a way to work hand-in-hand with one another as a team to accomplish their tasks.

"We're ready for this. We've pushed our squadron to be a constant training environment even before this exercise," said Sergeant Mitchell. "Not only are we trained in our career field, we learn through personal experience through this ORI by reviewing the exact rules and regulations we're to follow.

"We're always learning something new so that we're able to pass on more current information and training to teach other Airmen," he said.