BIDDLE AIR NATIONAL GUARD BASE, Pa. -- Airmen of the 111th Attack Wing prepared for an upcoming readiness exercise during a regularly scheduled drill on Aug. 6 at Biddle Air National Guard Base.
The readiness exercise, which will be held in mid-September 2022, will have scenarios related to installation crisis response and deployment and will test and validate the combat readiness of the 111th ATKW.
“We are taking a crawl, walk, run approach,” said Col. Deane Thomey, commander of the 111th ATKW.
Prior to running through exercise simulations that required the command to respond to various scenarios, a tabletop exercise was held to prepare airmen and refresh their knowledge on key operational and crisis response procedure. Lessons learned during the exercise prep and tabletop, along with Airmen’s confidence in their abilities, will be essential to helping the Wing succeed in September’s exercise.
“We are going to test our readiness like we haven’t done in probably a decade or more at this Wing,” said Lt. Col.Steven Good, 111th ATKW inspector general. “This is going to be vigorous and robust, but will make us ready for any deployed mission.”
During the simulated exercise, Airmen demonstrated their ability to operate and fulfill the mission requirements of their career fields while in a deployed location. They were faced with scenarios such as enemy incursion, chemical attacks and medical emergencies.
A Wing Inspection Team, which was present during the simulation, will also be present during September’s exercise to note and evaluate best practices and deficiencies they observe.
“The point of the exercise is to identify training and knowledge gaps so we can refine,” said Thomey. “Go out there, have a sense of purpose and take care of business.”