Weeklong exercise prepares Travis for major inspection

  • Published
  • 60th Air Mobility Wing Public Affairs
TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. --  Team Travis members participated in CRISIS LOOK 09-02, an Operational Readiness Inspection exercise March 2 through 8, to help prepare for the ORI in October. 

The official inspection will demonstrate the units' ability to deploy to, survive and operate in a combat and chemical or biological theater. 

Planning for this exercise began in January when the wing stood up the ORI planning committee and initiated unit and group level training. Checklists were reviewed and updated. Plans were updated and key leadership positions were filled. A review of the Air Mobility Command/Inspector General taskings were accomplished and validation began. 

During the exercise, Travis Airmen simulated deploying to form the 638th Air Expeditionary Wing to support U.S. and allied military operations in a forward deployed location. 

During the initial portion of the exercise, different base agencies were evaluated by exercise evaluation team members on processing the deploying Airmen and their cargo as quickly as possible. 

Once the exercise was underway, participants got a chance to practice exercise procedures as well as practice how the deployed unit control centers, installation control center and the emergency operation center respond to different incidents and communicate with each other. 

Another important part of the exercise was making sure Travis members were up to par on their Ability to Survive and Operate (also known as ATSO) training by donning their Mission Oriented Protective Posture gear during changes in exercise conditions. 

"Although this particular exercise is in preparation for the ORI in October, more importantly, these events also validate the training and preparedness to do it for real if the call is made to go forward," according to Mr. Dan Johnson, Chief of the Exercise Evaluation Team. "Unit training and commander involvement is the key to the success in these events and the ORI. Our people know how to do their functional jobs. The toughest part is doing their jobs in the environment of strict inspection guidelines, deployment timeliness, increased threat conditions and attacks. Most important is ATSO in a combat situation if chemical weapons are used. The successful use of chemical-warfare gear is vital to keeping the mission going and taking the fight to the enemy. Although heard often, it's worth repeating ... we only get one chance when it is for real." 

"Our partners in this exercise, the 349th Air Mobility Wing and the 89th Airlift Wing from Andrews Air Force Base, Md., played an important role in showing how we meld our capabilities together. Each brought specific qualities and functional expertise to the event. For the rest of our exercises and the ORI, we will also have members from the 319th Air Refueling Wing out of Grand Forks Air Force Base, N.D. Overall this CRISIS LOOK 09-02 exercise achieved exactly what we wanted, which was to expose any shortcomings in training, validate good processes versus bad ones, and emphasize communication up, down and across the deployed wing. Good effective communication is critical to mission success and this exercise clearly demonstrated its importance."