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Focus on putting the “O” in ATSO

  • Published
  • By Col. Gary Goldstone
  • 375th Air Mobility Wing commander
SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill. --  It's another huge week for the warriors of the 375th Air Mobility Wing as we rally for one last practice of deploying our forces to the fight, even amidst a Health Services Inspection. With so many moving pieces in the mobility machine, it's great to see everyone working together to get the most out of this exercise so we can better execute our war fighting mission.

I know we can do the daily mission--we perform it every day. Why are we so successful? Because we train and practice our duties every day. But can you do the same duties in a hostile, chemical environment in MOPP Level 4? When you are in the fight is not the time to train to this level. That's why we must practice putting the "O" in ATSO.

ATSO--Ability to Survive and Operate, this must be practiced repeatedly to attain and maintain proficiency in protective measures so that our actions become second nature. Practice makes perfect; we can't afford, in a contaminated environment, to pause and reference the Airman's Manual on how to don a chemical suit or conduct a PAR sweep.
We rely heavily on our disaster preparedness experts to lead the way in training all of us on how to survive in a hazardous environment. But it's each of our jobs to ensure we understand the procedures, know what we're supposed to do, and then go about getting the mission accomplished.

Special emphasis is being placed on operating in nuclear, biological and chemical environments this week. Being able to operate is a process and not just one individual or isolated action. The process starts with individual protective actions to ensure we are ready to deploy. Then we have the mobility machine to get us out of town and downrange. Once at "base X" we must be able to do our daily duties despite what the enemy throws at us. ATSO isn't just dressing down in MOPP Level 4 in 2 minutes.

We must be able to relay vital reports, launch counter attacks and sift through post-attack conditions to complete the mission. Can we provide the commander with critical information, account for personnel or send up reports while we wait for an "all clear" signal? Can we check our weapons, perform self-aid and buddy care, launch aircraft, protect the base and perform our mission--all in MOPP Level 4?

It's critical that we execute our mission without fail to ensure our nation has the forces and resources available to fight our battles, in any environment. So I ask each of us to take the scenarios seriously this week and respond as if they are real. We must move with purpose to complete our tasks. We must all be self starters and be on our "A" game.
This week provides us excellent training opportunities to go over our warrior skill sets, and I encourage all of us to keep preparing in our own work centers. Everyone must be ready to execute the "O" in ATSO; if we do, we will be Combat Ready!