ROBINS AIR FORCE BASE, Ga. -- (Editor’s Note: As the Air Force Reserve celebrates 77 years of providing combat-ready forces to fly, fight and win, the Air Force Reserve Command Office of Historical Services is providing the readers of Citizen Airman magazine with a series of stories spotlighting key moments in the command’s history. The initial story in this series focuses on Operation Redoubt.)
Since 1948, maintaining readiness has been one of the primary motivations for the Air Force Reserve. In fact, the Air Force established the Air Force Reserve to ensure that the service would be able to perform its assigned missions in a timely and effective manner during the next major conflict.
In November 1976, Maj. Gen. Richard Bodycombe hit the ground running as the vice commander of the Air Force Reserve. One of his main goals was ensuring that the Air Force had no doubt that the Air Force Reserve was a vital part of the Total Force. To that end, he initiated planning for Operation Redoubt, a large-scale mobilization and deployment designed to demonstrate the Reserve’s accessibility and readiness.
By the middle of December 1976, Bodycombe approved the concept developed by the Headquarters Air Force Reserve staff. Over the course of 1977, the Air Force Reserve executed phase I of the concept which featured a command post exercise, a Reserve-wide recall exercise, and a mobilization and demobilization test.Between May 4 and May 7 of 1978, the Air Force Reserve conducted phase II of Operation Redoubt to increase mobilization processing, command and control, and crisis reaction capability throughout the headquarters and Reserve units. During execution of phase II, more than 18,000 Reservists at 31 locations were processed, 20,000 members from 245 units participated in exercises, and 1,000 members, as well as 500,000 pounds of equipment and materiel, deployed as part of the mobilization test.
At the beginning of phase III of Operation Redoubt, which began in June 1979, the Air Force Reserve successfully contacted 36,067 of the 40,046 available Reservists within 24 hours. During the subsequent mobilization portion of the exercise, Air Force Reserve units flew 124 aircraft that completed 1,047 sorties, airlifted 1,925 passengers and transported more than 635 tons of cargo. In addition, more than 1,731 Reservists deployed to the forward operating bases, while 265 aerial port Airmen took part in deployment and redeployment actions.
The chief of staff of the Air Force and other Defense Department officials praised the Reserve’s efforts in Operation Redoubt. When assessing the success, Bodycombe asserted that it was “another successful undertaking that attracted a lot of attention and credit to the Air Force Reserve. Moreover, it was done so realistically that internally it gave the Reservists a feeling of doing something worthwhile which was good practice and in turn raised their confidence.” The legacy of Operation Redoubt lives on today as the Reserve continues to hone its edge and demonstrate readiness in events such as Desert Hammer 25 and Nexus Forge.