XP planning keeps Barksdale mission-ready

  • Published
  • By Staff Sergeant Isaac Garden
  • 2nd Bomb Wing Public Affairs
BARKSDALE AIR FORCE BASE, La. --  It's 3:17 p.m. on a Wednesday afternoon when Flight Operations receives an in-flight emergency call from an aircraft. The base fire department is alerted and prepares to depart to the scene. Security Forces personnel mount up and scramble to set up road blocks. Don't be too alarmed, this is only a drill.

Training scenarios such as Major Accident Response Exercises require all participants to train like they fight. Training is a large portion of any military member's career, so these MAREs are nothing new to the Exercise Planning office, of the 2nd Bomb Wing.

"MAREs challenge the base to prepare for the worst case scenario and practice skills they have," said Capt. Vanessa Wilcox, 2 BW Plans, Programs and Exercise chief. "We have a specific number of MAREs that we are required to perform each year; everything from mass accident to Chemical, Biological, Radioactive, Nuclear and Explosive threats, to weather scenarios. These can drive all kinds of responses all over the base.

MAREs are conducted with the intention of preparing for the worst possible outcome. With an event as large as an air show, nothing is left to chance. Several organizations and squadrons become involved in the process, in order to become familiar with the feeling of performing the duties that may possibly save someone's limb or eye sight, help prevent a mass casualty, or save a multi-million dollar aircraft.

"A lot of the actions that go into the air show, specifically the mass accident that we simulate, are the same ones that apply to the overall Air Force mission," said Wilcox. The 2nd Security Forces Squadron needs to practice all the required actions for crowd control and security in the real world environment as well. It gives everyone the opportunity to perfect that muscle memory to do their jobs."

These scenarios don't just happen on their own, it takes planning and several meetings to organize each component for each specific exercise. All base agencies involved attend three key player meetings to ensure they know exactly what they need to do. After the key player meetings, the planning office holds a gathering with the Exercise Evaluation Team, to come up with ways to challenge the key players involved.

"We try to vary the exercises as much as possible, however, a lot of them tend to look alike," said Wilcox.

"Specifically, the air show MARE tends to look very similar every year and that is due in part to the real world constraints and objectives that we are trying to achieve. We do try to throw different things into the scenarios so that people don't get complacent."

Since being assigned to the 2 BW XP, this upcoming air show exercise will be the third MARE Wilcox has contributed to, so it's safe to say that she comes equipped with a vast understanding of how these things work.

"It is important to realize that this is our job and practice makes perfect," she said. "We have to do these exercises on a regular basis to stay proficient at them. Ultimately, it makes things less painful in the long run if we practice regularly. The other part of that is it helps to identify weak areas that need work."

As military members, it's imperative that every working piece of the large puzzle fits soundly and operates perfectly. Training and preparation adds that extra assistance that an Airman may need to boost their confidence and complete their portion of the Air Force mission.