CANNON AIR FORCE BASE, N.M. -- Airmen from the 27th Special Operations Wing took part in an operational readiness exercise at Cannon last week.
The exercise’s purpose was to train and validate operational readiness for mission execution in a chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear environment, as well as assess the base’s current status of training and processes.
“We had a massive exercise today,” said Senior Airman Tristen Wright, 27th Special Operations Logistics Readiness Squadron material management specialist. “We had roughly 200 people participate in the exercise total.”
The exercise brought Airmen from several units to learn aspects of their respective jobs, including the 27th Special Operations Maintenance Group, 27th Special Operations Security Forces Squadron, multiple flying units and Wright’s unit, the 27th SOLRS.
“As a member of Air Force Special Operations Command, we tend to deploy more often,” Wright said. “We have to train more to make certain we can be mission-ready to ensure mission success.”
ORE participants conducted fuels operations, force protection movements and practiced identifying and mitigating chemical contamination in a simulated chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and explosive environment. Whether they were wearing mission-oriented protective posture gear and actively decontaminating the aircraft or serving on the white cell team, those involved got to test first-hand mission readiness in a dangerous environment.
“For the purpose of this iteration, I would call [the ORE] a success,” said Capt. Joshua Jones, 9th Special Operations Squadron MC-130J Commando II evaluator combat systems officer. “We were able to exercise several desired learning objectives and it was executed in a safe manner. Exercises are successful anytime learning occurred.”