SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill – Over 350 Airmen from the 375th Air Mobility Wing executed a large-scale rapid deployment during an operation coined “Ballistic Badger 22,” held Oct. 17-25 both here and at Volk Field Air National Guard Base, Wisconsin.
Thanks to airlift from two C-17s, the wing landed at Volk Field, which simulated an aeromedical staging facility at a location in the Pacific that had little in place prefabricated infrastructure. The mission: continue to build a presence, work and operate in a contested environment and provide critical aeromedical evacuation capability for the nation.
“Packing our bags and setting up a base somewhere else added realism for our Airmen,” said Col. Vincent Livie. He also serves as the 375th Operations Group commander. “At Scott, Airmen do their jobs amazingly, every single day, but doing it out here in a deployed environment is different. These concepts are going to be needed in the next fight. You can train to a certain extent at home, but coming out here and actually accomplishing a mission is really valuable.”
Airmen from all career fields provided realistic support for the war-time conditions. For example, the 375th Force Support Squadron teams built a Single Pallet Expeditionary Kitchen to feed the arriving Airmen; the 375th Logistics Readiness Squadron worked outside of their element to prepare over 250 M4 carbines and 50 M9 pistols, and in order to get communications ready, the Scott innovation team, Elevate, set up communication infrastructure satellites in remote locations.