Congratulations: Mission ready focus has paid off

  • Published
  • By Col. Greg Tims
  • 90th Missile Wing commander
F.E. WARREN AIR FORCE BASE, Wyo. --  It is said, "Opportunity typically favors those who have paid the price of years of preparation." Congratulations 90th Missile Wing, you did it! You have worked extremely hard for a very long time in sustaining a mission ready focus, and it has paid off. You passed the first-ever Air Force Global Strike Command Nuclear Surety, Operational Readiness and Nuclear Operational Readiness Inspections. They tested our ability to fight. They tested our ability to be prepared to engage in the conflict overseas. They tested our ability to maintain, sustain, operate, support and secure the nuclear mission. What you did was show them you provide preeminent combat capability across the spectrum of conflict.

I personally have been preparing for this day since Jan. 23, 2008. While that is another story in itself, this week's article is going to focus on a few war stories from the past two weeks. While there is not enough space in this article to cover all the stories, I want to share a few with you.

The 90th Medical Group Readiness Team: Capt. William Lunsford, Tech. Sgt. Christine Ramler, Staff Sgt. Adrianne Mercadante, Steve West, and Kevin Hale played a critical role in the inspection. They prepared our deploying Airmen's equipment, supplies, weapons, and administrative requirements for a successful phase-one exercise. Additionally, they served as the cornerstone of the medical control center, ensuring appropriate command and control, coordination, and response to all exercise scenarios. Days on end were spent responding to NSI exercise inputs, while simultaneously preparing for ORI deployment. On a side note, they were so focused on mission accomplishment that Capt. Lunsford's wife, Krissy Lunsford, held off her contractions before she gave birth to their son, William C. Lunsford, III, Jan. 15!

Eleven days of NSI/ORI, four hazards response exercise scenarios, and flawless integration with top-notch fire and emergency management teams doesn't happen overnight. Hours of training paid big performance dividends for the bioenvironmental engineering team led by Maj. Clint Abell. No doubt their training has paid off and they stand ready for any emergency.

The military personnel section started the day of the deployment line at 3 a.m. The team looked at approximately 100 deployment folders. The personnel deployment function was comprised of multiple 90th MW agencies, including the MPS, sexual assault response coordinator, comptroller squadron, chaplain, legal, Airmen & Family Readiness Center, medical group, and the logistics readiness squadron's transportation management office. Fighting off multiple inspector general injects, they conquered their objective at 6 p.m.

Not only were we deploying, we were also fighting in the cyber domain. Our 90th Communications Squadron quickly identified IG injects against our communication systems. Because of the swift response by our comm folks, adversarial attacks were deemed ineffective in causing havoc to our systems.

Talk about toughness, over 72 hours of little to no sleep, our six-person explosive ordnance disposal shop played a key role in the nuclear exercise demonstrating their skills in "render safe" procedures and packaging explosives -- both done with absolute perfection.

From the moment the first IG inject was received, until the end of the exercise, our security forces were engaged. One of the security forces highlights occurred during a suspicious package scenario right in front of their own building. The law enforcement desk personnel of 1st Lt. William Gripp, Master Sgt. Jason Merryman, Tech. Sgts. Jason Sandusky and Robert Powell, Staff Sgts. Amanda Chernogorec, LaRue Jackson, and Brian Nadler, and Airman 1st Class Shannon Marshall demonstrated exceptional command and control and were lauded for their response and rapid relocation. Additionally, Tech. Sgts. Eugene Renner, and Curtis Webb, Staff Sgts. Lawrence Vaden, and Wesley Wooden, and the rest of the staff responded to the alternate armory and immediately began to arm 350 additional security forces Airmen during the scenario. Basically combatting a very complex and well integrated scenario made easy by our security forces professionals.

Once again, our maintainers demonstrated their ability and rightful place to be called the best maintainers in the world. Hearty congratulations to Tech. Sgt. Tad Marshall, 90th Missile Maintenance Squadron; Tad was named a professional performer for his role during the NSI. If you recall, Tad was also recognized as a professional performer last month by 20th Air Force during our Combat Capability Evaluation. I'd also like to thank Staff Sgt. Tre Allen and his missile maintenance team of Staff Sgt. Alan Bolduc, Senior Airmen John Wissler and Geoff Kirchner and Airman 1st Class Arthur Wartella, for their work Saturday in front of the IG. They encountered a ton of obstacles during their can change at N-11, but they persevered and got it done.

Talking about getting it done, the 90th Operations Group exhibited total domination on the battlefield. These warriors proved once again they are a force to be reckoned with. Thirty-two missile combat crews (most in 15 years) went to war in the missile procedural trainer and every one of them came out victorious. Code controllers, trainers, evaluators, and emergency war orders trainers displayed their skills at every turn -- no significant findings in any of their critical programs! This doesn't just happen by chance. This is dedicated professionals understanding the job gets done correctly each and every day, no matter who is watching. Chefs and facility managers were in constant contact with IG evaluators and literally knocked their socks off with their professionalism and job knowledge. I'd call that a team smack down by all!

I personally observed the IG place a mannequin simulating a "downed man" at Independence Hall during the early morning hours Jan. 13. Tech. Sgt. Lakeisha El Hallaoui, 90th Force Support Squadron, pointed to another individual, Sheril Benton, to call 911 and ran to the scene to begin Self Aid Buddy Care. She quickly assessed the situation and realized CPR was necessary. Next, Tech. Sgt. Rich Sainterose, 90th Medical Operations Squadron, jumped in and began assisting her. When Lt. Col. Joanne Ruggeri, 90th MDOS Commander, saw what was happening her nursing and leadership skills immediately took control of the situation. If I ever drop while running on the track, I hope these four are nearby!

The crisis action team MVP goes to Capt. Joey Mannino, 90th Operations Support Squadron. Joey is the coordinator when the CAT stands up. Back in the Oct. 30 edition of the Sentinel, I wrote that Joey has that unique ability to turn chaos into order. A super skill to have at such an early point in his career -- again, well done in this fight Joey!

In closing, I could share a war story about each of the following leaders: our Vice Wing Commander Col. Scott Fox; our group commanders: Col. Bryant Anderson, 90th Operations Group, Col. Eric Batway, 90th Maintenance Group, Col. Sean Boyle, 90th Mission Support Group, Col. Steve Miller, 90th Security Forces Group, and Col. Fran Vasta-Faldorf, 90th MDG; our director of staff Barry Kistler, and to our interim Command Chief; Chief Master Sgt. Mike Zirkle. Instead, I'll close just saying thank you to all of you -- I could not be more blessed to be surrounded by such superior leaders. These leaders give everything they have to this mission and to their people every day. Simply put, they leave everything on the field. They lead their units with passion, focus, and drive -- I see it daily and it showed as they dissected every IG input with the skill of a surgeon's knife and with the fierceness of a warrior swinging a battle ax.

Go Forth and Conquer!