Mobility Airmen Provide Inter-Intra Theater Airlift in Swift Response 16 Published June 17, 2016 By 1st Lt. Erik Anthony 618th Air Operations Center Public Affairs June 17, 2016 -- U.S. Air Force C-17s and C-130Js participated in a mass drop of approximately 1,400 paratroopers from the US Army’s 1st Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, British 16 Air Assault Brigade and the Polish 6th Airborne Brigade near Tolun, Poland, June 7, 2016. The large air drop marked the beginning of Swift Response 16, an annual large scale multi-national exercise designed to enhance the U.S. and Allied airborne forces’ ability to operate together as a high-readiness team. According to Maj Daniel Pallister, exercise Liaison Officer for the 618th Air Operations Center and deputy division chief for Theater Direct Delivery, communication across services and with the 10 NATO nations involved was a crucial part in ensuring everything and everyone got to the right place at the right time. “The communication in Swift Response was joint, multinational, and the most in-depth we’ve seen in an exercise” said Pallister. C-17 aircraft departed Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, New Jersey, and flew directly to the drop zone near Tolun, Poland. Five KC-10s and four KC-135s refueled the C-17s during their non-stop trip. At the same time, six USAF C-130Js departed from Germany and joined the C-17s and 18 NATO aircraft for the multi-national airdrop near Tolun. “Coordination with multiple entities to include the Charleston Mission Planning Cell, 82nd Abn, 173rd Airborne Brigade, 603rd AOC, 18th Air Force and the internal 618th AOC directorates such as the diplomatic clearance branch, flight planners, and tanker planning branch for air refueling, was needed to ensure mission success,” said Maj. Kirk Schlueter, Special Assignment Airlift Planning Branch deputy chief and 618 AOC LNO for Swift Response 16. “The airdrop is the piece that gets the most attention,” said Pallister “But, there’s a lot that happened before, during and after the fact that people may not have seen.” The C-130s remained in theater after the initial airdrop. A small Contingency Response Team made up of mobility Airmen from the 821st Contingency Response Group and 512th Airlift Control Flight, helped provide command and control for the exercise, and worked tirelessly to keep operations moving by loading and unloading aircraft during the exercise. "What we do to make this size team work is a majority of members of the team pull double duty," said Master Sgt. Brian Beaty, the CRT chief of the 921st CRS. “Most of the Airmen in the CRW, with the mindset being the way it is, you don’t even have to ask. Airmen all up and down the team just step up and get it done." "This exercise mirrors very well what a real-world operation will look like,” Beaty said. “We have multiple end users that we are working with and helping to move, not all U.S." Exercise Swift Response 16 is one of several military exercises currently being held in Europe, including Polish Anakonda 16, a Polish national exercise involving 24 NATO and partner nations and more than 31,000 personnel.