MOBEX helps wing prepare for inspection

  • Published
  • By Tyler Hemstreet
  • Staff writer
MCCHORD AIR FORCE BASE, Wash. --  With the Operational Readiness Inspection a year away, this week base officials conducted the first of four weeklong mobility exercises designed to prepare for the ORI.

Starting Oct. 18, nearly 300 Airmen from various units across the wing gathered to practice and prepare for the four graded phases of the inspection, which include initial response, employment, mission support and the ability to survive and operate, said 62nd AW exercise and evaluations officer Maj. Doug Rottier.

The initial response phase tests the wing's ability to get people and equipment ready to deploy, the employment phase tests actually getting from home station to the deployed location, and the mission support phase tests the process of getting on the ground and setting up in a deployed environment. The final phase tests the ability to survive and operate for a specific amount of time.

For the upcoming ORI, the 62nd and 446th AWs will join forces with the 89th Airlift Wing at Andrews Air Force Base, Md., and an Office of Special Investigations unit to deploy to a location which has not yet been released, Major Rottier said.

"The training the MOBEX offers is extremely valuable and essential for every combat airlifter," said Maj. Jason Morrison, 62nd AW chief of exercise and evaluations. "By scrutinizing all of our major processes and mandates, we will ensure we are compliant and knowledgeable when the time comes to be inspected during the ORI."

Three more exercises before the ORI are scheduled in February, May and September.

"Air mobility brings a unique tool to our nation -- it underwrites our ability to project power and reach," said Col. Michael Hornitschek, 62nd AW vice commander. "These exercises provide us the opportunity to practice our wartime capabilities and sharpen our combat edge while preparing for our upcoming inspection."

The wing's last ORI -- which cumulated with a grade of "excellent" from the Air Mobility Inspector General team -- was conducted in June of 2006 as more than 700 Airmen from the 62nd and 446th Airlift Wings deployed to Alpena, Mich., and two other forward operating locations, to join forces with Airmen from the 319th Air Refueling Wing at Grand Forks Air Base, N.D., and the 944th Aeromedical Staging Squadron at Luke Air Force Base, Ariz.