DECEMBER 3, 2024 – Sixteen Airmen from Mountain Home Air Force Base were forward deployed to the Idaho Falls Regional Airport to test the limits of agile combat employment (ACE) during a recent exercise. The goal was simple: use the smallest team possible to accomplish the mission.
ACE is an operational concept meant to moderate how the Air Force projects airpower. Instead of large, centralized bases, ACE relies on networks of smaller, dispersed locations, or cluster bases, to increase survivability and gain an advantage.
The Idaho Falls team successfully established communications and conducted integrated combat turnaround (ICT) operations on F-15E Strike Eagles, while reacting to simulated alarm conditions for the exercise. An ICT is the process of unloading and reloading weapons and performing “hot pit” refueling — refueling while the engines are running — in order to get the jets back in the air as fast as possible.
“If jets were to come down and need an ICT, then realistically all you would need is a crew chief, his backup, the three weapons troops, and one fuel troop, and they would be able to get it done,” said Master Sgt. Gene-Gregory Spok, the Idaho Falls team leader, assigned to the 391st Fighter Generation Squadron.
The Idaho Falls team also worked alongside civilian partners to unload equipment from a C-130J Super Hercules assigned to the 41st Airlift Squadron from Little Rock Air Force Base.
“This exercise is very unique because there are a lot of logistics involved to make sure that each location has what they need to execute the mission set they were sent to do,” said Chief Master Sgt. Yamil Davila, an exercise observer from Air Combat Command directorate of logistics, engineering and force protection.
The Mission Ready Airmen (MRA) concept was another big part of the exercise. Airmen were challenged to find innovative ways to solve problems with manning and equipment restraints. At one point, three F-15Es were on the ground, and with only two crew chiefs on the team, an Airman had to step up outside of his normal duties and marshall one of the jets.
“That’s how you win a war; that’s how you win a conflict — just one Airman working hard, finding a solution and getting the job done,” said Maj. Tyler Jennings, director of staff of the 366th Operations Group.
MRA represents a shift away from traditional, large teams of Airmen with specific skill sets, in favor of smaller teams of more flexible Airmen that are able to provide combat support and solve problems with the resources at hand.
The Idaho Falls team demonstrated that a small team of Airmen with the right equipment and supplies can be more agile and responsive than large, traditionally structured teams when dispersing from one operating location to another. This framework also reduces the number of Airmen put into harm’s way while generating airpower.
The 16 Airmen came from Twin Falls, Idaho, and Wendover, Utah, to Idaho Falls, Idaho, as part of the operational readiness and ACE exercise RAGING GUNFIGHTER 25-1 from Oct. 22 – 26, 2024. The annual operational readiness exercise tested the wing’s ability to generate combat airpower while continuing to move, maneuver and sustain the wing and subordinate force elements in a dynamic and contested environment.
Story by Airman Keagan Lee
366th Fighter Wing