18th Wing fine-tunes readiness skills

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Maeson L. Elleman
  • 18th Wing Public Affairs
KADENA AIR BASE, Japan --  Airmen were put to the test this week during Beverly High 12-5, a local operational readiness exercise on Kadena.

Beginning Aug. 20, the base was judged on its ability to mobilize, deploy, and generate personnel, cargo and aircraft for a contingency, as well as survive and operate in a combat environment.

"The importance of Kadena training for an exercise is to get us ready for any contingency operation that might happen," said Maj. Glen Whelan, 18th Wing chief of exercises.

With its multifaceted mission, Kadena plays one of the most important roles in Pacific Air Forces as a power projection platform for Air Force assets in the region.

Therefore, even though exercise comes as one of the last training opportunities before the impending operational readiness inspection slated for October, Whelan stressed that the quarterly LOREs like BH 12-5 should be used to train for potential real world scenarios.

"Yeah, we've got an inspection coming up, but that's not the main goal," the major said. "The main goal is to be ready to respond to any crisis in the region or anything that might happen. Since we're so centrally located in the area, it's important that we be ready to fight and respond to any threats in the theater."

Whelan, who's been assigned to Kadena for three years, said he's confident Kadena Airmen will perform exceptionally during any exercise or contingency.

"We do very well, because I think Kadena folks understand the importance of our mission," he continued. "They show that sense of urgency to get the job done, because they know we're not just training for the sake of training."

However, he said one of the most difficult aspects of every exercise is the generation and mobility of cargo and personnel at the beginning of the exercise. Despite its complexities, Whelan said he's seen significant improvements to this integral piece over the last year.

"The toughest things to do are to get all the cargo and personnel out on time and generate aircraft," he said. "Those processes are continuing to be refined, especially at the (18th) Logistic Readiness Squadron. Over the last year, they have just made leaps and bounds as far as getting their processes nailed down. I'm very confident in their abilities."