Exercise looks at readiness posture

  • Published
  • By Air Force Staff Sgt. William Banton
  • JBER Public Affairs
JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska --  Air Force personnel assigned to Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson are participating in Exercise Polar Force 13-3, an operational readiness exercise designed to test JBERs short notice deployment capabilities, April 1 through 8.

The weeklong ORE validates and evaluates the wing's ability to integrate, mobilize, and prepare assigned personnel, aircraft and equipment for their wartime mission and to employ forces and weapons systems to perform missions at a the drop of a hat.

In phase one of the two phase exercise, base personnel were called upon to be prepared and ready to deploy within hours of being notified.

The process is designed to provide operational training in every aspect of a deployment situation. These scenarios include in-processing newly arrived oversea personnel from a Non-combative Evacuation Operation and also include briefing, coordinating and out-processing deploying Airmen through the Joint Mobility Center.

"It's important for the mission because it's a way of having us ready at all times, in case it happens in the real world," Staff Sgt. Eduardo Peguero, 673rd Force Support Squadron, Noncommissioned officer in charge of the Personnel Deployment Function line.

During the NEO phase, base personnel organize and assist with the arrival of displaced personnel who have been affected by the scenario presented during the exercise. It included the participation of volunteers portraying in-bound arrivals waiting to be escorted. Airmen in civilian attire are used in these situations to help increase accuracy and realism throughout the exercise.

The rest of phase one is dedicated to planning and preparing for an impending mock deployment when personnel are notified if they will be deploying and told when to report to the JMC where they will be processed through the Personnel Deployment Function line, a series of stations that process people deploying.

"The line is there to make sure that people meet the requirements to deploy," said Peguero. "For the most part a lot of the things can be taken care of in the line but members are given an Area of Responsibility check list that they must complete before they come here."

The PDF line is a final check to ensure that deployers have met all the training requirements to deploy.

Phase two of the ORE is designed to demonstrate Airmen's ability to survive and operate under simulated combat conditions. The training during this phase will to provide an experience similar to a deployed environment, without leaving the duty station.