Wing inspectors focus on realism, reactions, readiness

  • Published
  • By Karen Abeyasekere
  • 100th Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs
RAF MILDENHALL, England --  With ever-increasing threats around the world and situations such as active-shooter scenarios regularly in the news, it’s vital for Team Mildenhall members and their families to practice readiness and be aware of what to do to keep themselves and others safe.

The 100th Air Refueling Wing Inspector General office works hand-in-hand with subject matter experts – known collectively as the wing inspection team – around base to put together a variety of exercises on a regular basis, testing response procedures, overall readiness and initial reactions.

Previously, there have been different scenarios running at different times, either with just one situation for the entire duration of the exercise, or having a definite end to one scenario before moving on to the next.

Col. Christopher Amrhein, 100th ARW commander, is taking RAF Mildenhall’s exercises in a new direction, bringing the base together with host-nation partners and further building trust and working relationships.

“We’re becoming more realistic both in the way we present exercises and the way we expect participants to react and follow through with decisions,” said Master Sgt. Robert King, 100th ARW IG inspection and exercise planner. “For example, during the last exercise I noticed that in the simulated hostage-taking at the post office, those playing hostages initially had the mentality of ‘it’s just an exercise, so let’s just stand here and not get involved.’ They weren’t looking for opportunities to escape or do what they probably would if it was a real-world scenario.

“But with a little bit of prompting, when the hostage-takers turned their backs, several of those acting as hostages then began to make their way quickly to the exit,” King said. “They started working as a team to cover each other as they were making phone calls. That’s what we’re looking for; we want people to jump right in and treat it as close as possible to a real-world situation.”

King stressed the importance of civilians and spouses being involved and understanding that they should react as well, if faced with this type of situation.

“It’s important for us as military members to go home and speak to our spouses,” he said. “As IG, we can only reach so many people, but it helps greatly if our active duty members take time to explain to their spouses that when exercises kick off, their lives may be impacted. Spouses may not be able to make an appointment, or get on and off base when they need to. We understand we’re impacting people’s lives, but the overall impact we have is much greater. I tell my wife, if you find yourself in the center of the situation, treat it like you would actually react in a real situation.”

Working alongside host-nation partners is vital for exercise and real-world responses to run smoothly.

“Being able to evaluate and improve upon how we work together, especially the first responders, and discover what capabilities they bring to the table not only provides that realism, but also gives the bigger picture of what’s going to take place in the case of an actual event,” said Senior Master Sgt. Billy Landreneau, 100th ARW IG superintendent. “Knowing what we can expect from them and what they can expect from us is a huge benefit.”

The IG staff explained that although they realize it’s difficult for people to have natural reactions to exercise situations, they are trying to make improvements, which means the scenarios and experience will be as realistic as possible, including dressing casualties to create realistic-looking injuries.

“Creating a realistic scenario and back story is what drives the outcome of the learning objectives, although it’s not always easy making the scenario make sense to the outcome because of local conditions, threats and hazards,” said Tech. Sgt. Nicolas Bevilacqua, 100th ARW IG inspection and exercise planner, adding that people’s reactions can make or break an exercise.

To enable things to run as smoothly as possible, people should react to exercise scenarios as if they were responding to a real-world situation.

During a base exercise, it’s a common sight to see several Team Mildenhall members wearing red or white vests while carrying radios and taking notes. Those in red are WIT team members, while IG staff (also known as “white cell” for exercise purposes) wear white vests.

When seeing these officials, it’s easy to fall back into the exercise mentality and start asking them questions about what’s happening or what should be done to help, but they are in fact evaluating the exercise. Respond to the situation as though they aren’t there.

If witnessing an exercise scenario unfold, members are advised to think about what they would expect someone else to do if they were in harm’s way, and ask themselves what they would want coworkers to do to help them.

“Play out the scenario as though it were absolutely real world – go for it until told to stop. Don’t ask or tell the evaluators that this is how you would do it – just do it,” King said. It’s also important to keep safety in mind; if you see anything wrong, speak up immediately! We can always pause the exercise to make sure everyone is safe.”