Airmen continue training for quick response

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Dwight Hawkins
  • Air Force News Agency
TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. (AFNEWS) --  When a tsunami devastated parts of Southeast Asia in 2005, Airmen from a special Air Force unit were ready to help. 

It's the job of the Airmen of the 615th Contingency Response Wing at Travis AFB to respond to crisis situations around the world at a moment's notice. They establish an aerial port, maintenance functions and command and control operations anywhere they are needed.

To stay ready they are always training, said Lt. Col. Charles Myrick, the chief of expeditionary operations for the 573rd Global Support Squadron.

"If we have a contingency worldwide we're able to move assets -- whether they are Army, Air Force or Marine assets," he said. "We can move those around the world."

It takes about seven C-17 Globemaster III transport aircraft to carry the more than 100 people and tons of equipment that make up a contingency response group. The group must be ready to deploy in less than 12 hours after receiving a tasking.

"So they're able -- in a moment's notice - to assess a base, first of all, then set up operations to kind of bridge the gap between contingency and sustainment operations," Colonel Myrick said.

Contingency response groups need several other functions to operate, including security forces, finance and contracting. But it was not always that way. In the past, groups had to rely on other bases for many of the people they needed. Now those areas are part of each of the three groups around the world that make up the Travis AFB wing.

Colonel Myrick said Travis AFB Airmen were there to help in the aftermath of the natural disaster that hit the Gulf Coast in 2005.

"They responded for hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Our CRG's went to different locations to help out," the colonel said. 

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