SPANGDAHLEM AIR BASE, Germany -- Airmen from the 52nd Fighter Wing conducted an Agile Combat Employment exercise here, March 23 -26, 2020, to ensure readiness while enforcing the recent physical distancing and hygiene safety measures, due to the spread of COVID-19, also known as Coronavirus.
“We are in a real-world COVID-19 environment, and in the future, it may be some other contagion or something like that, that we’re dealing with,” said U.S. Air Force Col. David Epperson, 52nd FW commander. “Our adversaries are watching how we’re going to react to something like COVID-19. It’s important for us to continue to exercise and to demonstrate that we have that mission readiness today.”
ACE ensures U.S. Air Forces in Europe and our partners are ready for potential contingencies with little notice by allowing forces to operate from locations with varying levels of capacity and support, preparing Airmen and aircrews are postured to respond across the spectrum of military operations.
“We use an organic capability to support ourselves as much as we can, but we’re still figuring out the logistics of each ACE location and if we need to reach out to our mission partners,” said U.S. Air Force Maj. William Tompkins, 52nd FW senior intelligence officer. “We simulate where required, but try to act out the real thing as best we can."
The exercise challenged personnel to support operations in a simulated adverse environment with minimal personnel, resources, and time. The original exercise was supposed to take place at Ramstein Air Base.
“We had planned everything out to host it there, and then the new guidance around Coronavirus changed everything, forcing us to relocate our operations back to Spang,” said Tompkins. “Instead of splitting our teams for 24/7 ops, we now have A and B teams for 10 hour shifts, to reduce to risk of cross-contamination with equipment and personnel.
To reduce the risk of the spread of COVID-19, 52nd FW Airmen moved everything back to home station and operated from there as if in a forward operating location. Even at home station, limitations like working a wireless internet connection and forgetting light bulbs for operating workstations inside a tent presented unique challenges.
“We were in a dark tent for the first four hours of the day,” said U.S. Air Force Capt. Tim Miller, 480th Fighter Squadron F-16 Fighting Falcon pilot. “We’re building the checklist as we go.”
The rise of cases worldwide of COVID-19 and the communicability of the virus has forced the wing to make adjustments to still accomplish the mission. Maintaining physical distancing, regularly sanitizing work stations more so than normally recommended, and operating in smaller groups where possible are all efforts implemented to reduce the risk to Airmen, civilians and their families.
Spangdahlem continues to stress test the capabilities of its personnel, resources and response efforts to the variety of situations that may arise.
“The important thing to point out is that we’re here and ready for duty,” said Tompkins.