Seymour Johnson prepares for upcoming Phase I exercise

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Lesley Waters
  • 4th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
SEYMOUR JOHNSON AIR FORCE BASE, N.C. --  Airmen of the 4th Fighter Wing are gearing up for next week's Phase I Operational Readiness Exercise Feb. 22-23.

Operational readiness exercises are broken into two parts, Phase I and II. Phase I OREs evaluate the unit's preparation and mobilization from peacetime readiness into a wartime posture on short notice, while Phase II OREs evaluate the unit's ability to meet wartime taskings.

"In a nutshell, a Phase I evaluates deployment while a Phase II evaluates employment," said Stephen Spencer, 4th Fighter Wing plans and evaluations director. "A Phase I evaluates activities required to get people, equipment and aircraft to the fight. A Phase II evaluates the conduct of that fight and the unit's ability to survive and operate while prosecuting the fight."

For the upcoming Phase I, Airmen and units will prepare items for deployment such as mobility bags, hazardous materials, classified items, weapons and ammunition based on deployment taskings which are not always part of a standard air expeditionary force deployment.

Additionally, Airmen will have to do all this while under an increased external threat which will require an adjustment in the local Force Protection Condition.

During the ORE, exercise evaluation team members will examine command and control operations; deployment processing of personnel and cargo; aircraft generation, deployment and regeneration; information operations and various areas within force protection. Employment involves C2, operations, maintenance, intelligence, weather, airfield operations, aircrew life support and information operations.

According to the plans and evaluations director, evaluators will discover how prepared the Airmen really are during the exercise.

"Since almost all Airmen are assigned to an AEF cycle, they should ensure at all times they are ready to deploy," Spencer said. "This includes having a current recall roster, completing required training, ensuring medical readiness, having required/recommended personnel items available and in general being prepared to deploy on very limited notice."

It has been awhile since the wing conducted a Phase I ORE with aircraft generation, deployment and regeneration according to Spencer. Evaluators will emphasize basics, but will recommend areas of improvement before the base Phase I operational readiness inspection scheduled in October.

"We will get additional opportunities to practice these skills in the coming months, but this will give us a baseline for our preparation efforts and identify where we may need to put additional emphasis as we continue to refine our skills," he said.

Although the wing conducts regular AEF deployments of personnel and cargo, as well as the generation and deployment of F-15Es, a compressed timeline for activities during a Phase I emphasizes additional attention to detail.