139th News

Wing evaluates deployment procedures; attack response scenarios

U.S. Air Force Airmen depart the training area after an Ability to Survive and Operate (ATSO) exercise at Rosecrans Air National Guard Base, Mo., Apr. 4, 2014. The ATSO exercise gave Airmen the opportunity to practice how to correctly don their protective uniform, describe an attack scene to authorities, and move from a contaminated zone to a clean zone. (U.S. Air National Guard photo by Tech. Sgt. Theo Ramsey/Released)

Wing evaluates deployment procedures; attack response scenarios

U.S. Air Force Airmen walk through a simulated attack scene during an Ability to Survive and Operate (ATSO) exercise at Rosecrans Air National Guard Base, Mo., Apr. 4, 2014. The ATSO exercise gave Airmen the opportunity to practice how to correctly don their protective uniform, describe an attack scene to authorities, and move from a contaminated zone to a clean zone. (U.S. Air National Guard photo by Tech. Sgt. Theo Ramsey/Released)

Wing evaluates deployment procedures; attack response scenarios

Published April 6, 2014
By Theo Ramsey
139th Airlift Wing Public Affairs

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (Rosecrans Air National Guard Base) -- Airmen participated in an initial response exercise at Rosecrans Air National Guard Base during their annual training, Apr. 1, 2014 through Apr. 4, 2014. Current deployment procedures were evaluated in the areas of personnel and cargo preparation, as well as response scenarios during chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear attacks.

"It is basically seeing how our processes work and what we can improve on," said Maj. Eric Rawlings, 139th Airlift Wing Inspector General (IG), when describing the initial response exercise.

The IG office aims to focus the efforts of the inspection process toward gaining concrete real-world insights, reducing theoretical scenarios.

"We want to take the game out of it," said Rawlings, "We want to see what the real processes are."

According to Rawlings, inspections will be smaller and more frequent. This is to encourage a culture of constant improvement and readiness.

Procedural changes developed from lessons learned during this initial readiness inspection will be implemented and re-evaluated during a follow-up exercise in six months.

Rawlings said there were a lot of new Airmen being inspected during this exercise.

"It was a huge training event for them," said Rawlings.