Train like we fight is the focus of the inaugural iteration of the largest scale exercise in Air Mobility Command history. 

Mobility Guardian will feature more than 3,000 personnel, including 25 international countries, from July 31 to Aug. 11, 2017, at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington.   

“Our ability to move national power to any location is key to the security of the United States,” said Gen. Carlton D. Everhart II, the AMC commander. “Mobility Airmen are often the first to arrive and the last to depart a forward operating location. They provide continuous support to the joint warfighter. Simply put, success requires our Total Force team of mobility Airmen to work together with joint and international partners. Exercising our capabilities together is critical so when we are called upon, we can deliver quickly and precisely.”    

The exercise is designed to enhance the capabilities of AMC Airmen by preparing them to succeed in the dynamic threat environments of today and tomorrow.  

“We’re creating an exercise that will encompass everything AMC does,” said Lt. Col. Jeremy Wagner, the Mobility Guardian director. “We basically took every skillset from AMC and said, ‘What would the ideal exercise for each of our different mission sets look like?’ Then we combined them all into one.”  

The exercise is about strengthening partnerships, discovery, learning and improving together as an integrated team, according to AMC officials.  Guardian will provide Airmen an opportunity to work with joint services, international partners and industry.  

This exercise is being conducted with mobility aircraft heavily involved in the war against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria and employed worldwide to deliver hope to those in need. The Combat Air Forces are supporting the exercise with an array of fighter and bomber capabilities to include F-35s, F-16s, A-10s, F-15Es, F-15Cs, B-52s and the B-2.     

“We’re trying to challenge mobility Airmen to improve skillsets that they either may have not worked on recently or have not experienced at all,” said 1st Lt. Michael McCarthy, a Mobility Guardian planner. “Any Combat Air Forces involvement is to simulate what we would see in a real-world situation, but really push these members to the limits within the safe parameters of what they’re capable of.”  

Unlike the AMC Rodeo, a competition, Mobility Guardian is less about showcasing skills but rather creating a comprehensive, realistic and complex training environment.

This exercise is about developing new skills and spreading knowledge among Airmen as they work alongside our international partners, said McCarthy.