Push-Pull to test real-world Air Force capabilities

  • Published
  • By Richard Salomon
  • Air Force Personnel Center Public Affairs
RANDOLPH AIR FORCE BASE, Texas (AFNS) --  Push-Pull 2009 may sound like a new type of fitness regimen to some, but to about 150 regular Air Force retirees it will be a mobilization exercise of a different kind April 6 through 10 at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas.

The Push-Pull 2009 exercise is designed to exercise and evaluate mobilization processes and crisis-action procedures.

In January, Air Reserve Personnel Center officials in Denver sent letters to a preselected group of pretrained individual manpower, or PIM, Airmen asking if they would like to take part in the exercise. Retired regular Airmen selected from those initial volunteers received their orders earlier this month and will be "pushed" to Lackland AFB for reorientation and other processing activities.

"Although this is the first time we've used retired regular Air Force Airmen for the exercise, it doesn't mean we are trending toward wide scale activation or mobilization of this segment," said Lt. Col. Steven Cramner, the Reserve adviser at the Air Force Personnel Readiness Division at the Pentagon. "Testing this population brings new people to the planning process and gives us an opportunity to explore issues not encountered with other sections of the PIM." 

Air Force officials have not involuntarily activated retired regular Air Force Airmen since Operation Desert Storm; however, the secretary of Defense is required by law to exercise mobilization processes and systems to maintain a basic level of preparedness. The Air Force Personnel Readiness Division staff executes that tasking on behalf of the Air Force.

"Since 9/11, this population has voluntarily contributed their services to the war on terrorism and have challenged the old paradigm of retirement equals 'contribution complete,'" Colonel Cramner said.

For this particular exercise, selected retired active-duty majors and master sergeants, who have been retired for more than 90 days and less than three years, will be asked to reorient themselves back "into the blue."

Once these participants arrive at Lackland AFB, they will begin inprocessing and be evaluated for medical qualifications. They will also go through simulated uniform issue, actual records review and perform other processing requirements to re-enter active duty.

JoLinda Hunter, a human resources specialist with the Air Force Personnel Center's Personnel Services Directorate, is assisting with the Push effort by helping to revert the Airmen back to their retired status at the conclusion of the exercise.

"I make sure they get credit for their five days of active duty by adjusting their pay dates and other important information in the Military Personnel Data System," Ms. Hunter said. "Working together with ARPC, I'll also make sure the participants have their separation orders in hand when they go through the exercise outprocessing function at Lackland."

Normally, at the conclusion of the Push portion, a selected number of Airmen are "pulled" into the second stage of the exercise. During that time, Airmen are evaluated on their Air Force specialty code skill levels, assigned to various functional units and put to work at various bases for the remainder of the Push-Pull exercise.

Air Force officials dropped the Pull activities (for this exercise only) to save time, expense and anticipated disruption to the participants.

Airmen participating in biennial Push-Pull exercises receive active-duty pay and allowances commensurate with their rank and years of service. 

"These Airmen provide depth in skills and capabilities if we need to quickly and efficiently surge to meet a national crisis or contingency," Colonel Cramner said.

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