BEALE AIR FORCE BASE, California -- Civil Engineer Airmen from the 940th Air Refueling Wing and 9th Reconnaissance Wing at Beale Air Force Base, California teamed up to participate in Exercise Nexus Dawn here April 23 – 28.
The exercise tested certain Fourth Air Force units to make sure they are trained, equipped and combat-ready to employ and sustain operations in degraded and contested environment.
As part of the exercise, Beale AFB’s Reserve and active-duty the emergency management teams responded to simulated attacks, and tested their ability to accomplish their responsibilities while wearing Mission Oriented Protective Posture (MOPP) gear for Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear and Explosives (CBRNE) training.
“We are testing the 940 ARW and 9 RW Civil Engineer Squadron abilities to bed down, sustain, and recover a base in a de-graded environment,” said 940 CES commander. Maj. Maria Thompson.
She said this is very similar to Operational Readiness Exercises (ORE) and Ability to Survive and Operate (ATSO) training.
“We usually go off station for that training, but for this exercise we are playing at home station with all the other units on the west coast.”
Airmen from Travis, Beale, March, McChord, and McConnell Air Force Bases participated in the exercise, as well as Air National Guardsmen from Fresno, California.
After each simulated attack, CE Airmen were tested on their ability to quickly get into MOPP gear. Then, the CBRNE Reconnaissance (RECON) and Airfield Damage Assessment Team (ADAT) teams did an initial release to check the scene/
Next, the Damage Assessment Response Team (DART), and Post Attack Reconnaissance (PAR) teams swept the area around each facility. The teams reported back to the ADAT team, and all findings were reported to the commander to decide what the next move would be.
“We are responsible for finding out what type of attack happened and what course of action to take in response,” said Senior Airman John Edward-Caguin, 940 CES emergency management specialist. “Our main objective is to train like we fight; to get the mission to continue as quickly as possible after an attack without any degradation to personnel or equipment.”
Team Beale’s CE Airmen only played a small part in the exercise, as there were several other units and activities going on, but it was a memorable learning experience for the Airmen involved.
Airman 1st Class Luke Whittington, 9 CES emergency management specialist, enjoyed meeting and working with his reserve counterparts.
“They have some different equipment and knowledge than us. We learned from them things we didn’t know, and they were able to gain from our hands-on experience we get to do every day,” he said.
“There’s a wealth of knowledge to go around and we are all learning from each other here. We play on each other’s strengths and help out where there are weaknesses. It’s been fun to work as a Total Force team.”