Spangdahlem Airmen ready to save lives, defend the base

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Tammie Moore
  • 52nd Fighter Wing Public Affairs
SPANGDAHLEM AIR BASE, Germany (AFPN) --  The day began with a bang, or, to be more precise, a mortar attack, kicking off Operation Saber Crown 08-06 at Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany, April 22. The exercise tests Airmen's ability to carry out operations and accomplish missions while in a war environment .

"We are trying to refresh the minds of active-duty personnel on warfighting skills that we don't necessarily use when we deploy for our current AEF taskings," said Maj. Mark Lambertsen, 52nd Fighter Wing Inspections, Plans and Programs Office chief of wing inspections. "We need to train for the worst case scenario so that reality is easier than our training."

The training done during operational readiness inspections is designed to provide each Air Force specialty the chance to discover where their strengths and weaknesses lie.

"ORI's are the one time we really put evaluators out there to test ourselves against a standard and give feedback to commanders on where we need to improve," Major Lambertsen said.

While it can be easy to be bogged down by the extra work required during an exercise, Major Lambertsen is happy to have heard Airmen making positive comments about Operation Saber Crown.

"I've heard some good comments already from some Airmen saying this small piece of training was the best training they've had in the last three years," Major Lambertsen said. "We hope that everyone takes this opportunity to learn something or pass their knowledge on. Our base populace is constantly changing and it's easy to let the corporate knowledge slide. But if we let it, it's much harder to get it back than to keep our readiness high."

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