TOP STORY >>Team Little Rock completes ROCKEX 07-05

By Staff Sgt. Juan A. Torres
314th Airlift Wing Public Affairs

The 314th and 189th Airlift Wings and the 463rd Airlift Group participated in ROCKEX last week in preparation for their upcoming operational readiness inspections.

“The main goal of the exercise was to test our capability to fulfill a short-notice AMC deployment order,” said Maj. Daniel Halsted, the 314th AW exercise chief.

Unit taskings for the exercise were based on how units would actually be tasked in real-world scenarios. The 463rd AG was tasked with supplying personnel, aircraft and support equipment while the 314th AW was tasked with mainly personnel and equipment due to their aircraft being tied to the training mission here.

The exercise also tested the cooperation between base agencies during the deployment process. The 314th AW, 189th AW and 463rd AG all support each other during the deployment process for both exercise and real world scenarios, according to base officials.

Other goals of the exercise included exercising and evaluating base readiness and capability to respond to various security incursions, base response to a major accident off-base with casualties and various force protection exercises. The base’s awareness and readiness to respond to security incursions was tested through the use of threats and changing force protection conditions.

“Some of the scenarios that were used to test base readiness included simulated gate runners, unauthorized personnel in flightline restricted areas, and suspicious packages and personnel in and around the flightline areas,” said Major Halsted.
In addition, a major accident response exercise was conducted through the use of a simulated aircraft crash at Camp Robinson.

“The objective of the major accident response exercise is to exercise the capability of base agencies to cooperate with each other and off-base agencies in response to a major off-base accident,” he said.

Evaluators also had many considerations during planning to ensure the exercise had minimal effect on the day-to-day mission of the base.

“During the planning stages we look at possible problem areas, effects on mission and safety concerns,” he said. “We also ensure that evaluators are at their proper locations so as to not confuse people or whether scenarios are real-world or exercise related.”

Base evaluators will use information and reports gathered during this exercise in conjunction with reports from other bases to develop future scenarios and evaluate which areas may need improvements.

“The huge success with this exercise has been our ability to identify where our success lies and what areas might require some work,” said Major Halstead. “With the proper preparation and training we will steadily improve and be ready when the time for our operational readiness inspection comes.”