Thunderbolt 09/01/2022

Vol. 50, No. 35

Thursday, September 1, 2022

News/Features: page 3 Geen Beret warrior

News/Features: page 3 Airfield tractor idea winner

Week in photos: page 4 Images from the week

Suited up for ACE - page 6 Photo by Airman 1st Class Joshua Hastings

Community: page 11 Events, Chapel, more...

U.S. Air Force Capt. Andrew Bragado, 50th Air Refueling Squadron pilot, wears Chemical Biological Radiological Nuclear and Explosive gear on a flight during the 6th Air Refueling Wing’s Agile Combat Employment capstone exercise, Aug. 23. The ACE concept underpins the Air Force’s ability to mitigate the risks of adversarial technological advances through maneuverability and speed to prevail in conflict. The capstone exercise included 72-hours of continuous air refueling operations and a historic 58-hour KC-135 flight in a simulated contested environment focused on a notional theater of operations.

NEWS/FEATURES Eligible Airmen, Guardians have access to monkeypox vaccines Air Force Surgeon General Public Affairs FALLS CHURCH, Va. (AFNS)—The Department of Defense is increasing its supply of the approved monkeypox vaccine, JYNNEOS, which allows for more Airmen and Guardians at higher risk for transmission to access preventive measures to keep themselves safe.

Concurrently, on Aug. 9, the Food and Drug Administration, allowed for smaller doses to be given through intradermal administration, which is an injection between the layers of the skin.

“By injecting the vaccine just below the skin in the forearm, we can elicit the same antibody response using a smaller dose which increases vaccine availability,” said Lt. Col. David Sayers, Chief, Preventive Medicine, Air Force Medical Readiness Agency. “The goal, as we get access to more vaccines, is to make sure all Airmen and Guardians at risk can get vaccinated as soon as possible.”

The standard monkeypox vaccine is a two-dose vaccine administered 28 days apart and is typically injected subcutaneously, in the fatty tissue over the triceps.

Airmen and Guardians who have previously had the smallpox vaccine need only one dose of the monkeypox vaccine.

As with many other vaccines, there are some side effects.

“As your immune system responds to the vaccine, you may experience fever, fatigue or headache,” said Sayers. “If you receive the vaccine in the forearm, you may have itching, redness or some skin discoloration.”

While DoD has increased its supply and the FDA approved intradermal

Courtesy graphic

Monkeypox is a rare disease caused by infection with the monkeypox virus. Monkeypox virus is part of the same family of viruses as variola virus, the virus that causes smallpox. Monkeypox symptoms are similar to smallpox symptoms, but milder, and monkeypox is rarely fatal. Monkeypox is not related to chickenpox. administration, vaccine distribution continues prioritizing those who are at highest risk, including: * People who have been contacted by their local public health departSee VACCINE, Page 12

Be sure to visit the official 6th Air Refueling Wing website at www.macdill.af.mil COMMANDER’S ACTION LINE The Action Line provides two-way communication between the 6th Air Refueling Wing commander and the MacDill community. Personnel may submit questions, concerns or comments via email to macdillwingcommander@us.af.mil or Facebook @6thARWCommandTeam

MacDill Thunderbolt Publisher: Joe Deluca Editor: Nick Stubbs The MacDill Thunderbolt is published by the Times Publishing Company, a private firm in no way connected with the U.S. Air Force. This commercial enterprise newspaper is an authorized publication for distribution to members of the U.S. military services on MacDill. Contents of the MacDill Thunderbolt are not necessarily the official views of, or endorsed by the U.S. government, the Department of Defense,

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the Department of the Air Force or the 6th Air Refueling Wing.

The appearance of advertising in this publication, including inserts or supplements, does not constitute endorsement by the Department of Defense, the Department of the Air Force, 6th Air Refueling Wing or the Publishing Company of the products or service advertised.

For retail advertising, call (813) 226-3318.

Everything advertised in this publication shall be made available for purchase, use, or patronage without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, marital status, physical handicap, political affiliation or any other non-merit factor of the purchaser, user, or patron.

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MacDill on the web Website: www.macdill.af.mil Facebook: www.facebook.com/ MacDillAirForceBase Instagram: macdill_afb Twitter: @macdill_afb News items for the MacDill Thunderbolt can be submitted to the 6th Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs office, 8208 Hangar Loop Dr., suite 14, MacDill AFB, FL 33621. Call the Thunderbolt at 828-2215. Email: 6arw.pa.macdillthunderbolt@ us.af.mil.

Deadline for article submissions is noon, Wednesdays to appear in the next week’s publication. Articles received after deadline may be considered for future use. All submissions are considered for publication based on news value and timeliness.

Every article and photograph is edited for accuracy, clarity, brevity, conformance with the “Associated Press Stylebook and Libel Manual” and Air Force Instruction 35-101.

NEWS/FEATURES Green Beret competes in his 4th DoD Warrior Games

by Michael Bottoms USSOCOM Office of Communication

Green Beret Sgt. 1st Class Brant Ireland was on his sixth combat deployment in the mountains of eastern Afghanistan when he was travelling to a mission aboard a Chinook helicopter. It was two o’clock in the morning and the propellers from the helicopter were kicking up dust and causing brown out conditions. Loaded for a long mission, Ireland was carrying a heavy rucksack when he exited the aircraft. He walked out and then his life would change forever.

“We were doing a big night operation and we were not doing anything out of the ordinary flying in on Chinooks. It was dark, two o’clock in the morning, brown out conditions and I went 20 or 30 meters and fell into a drop off, with a 150-pound pack on my back and all that weight broke my left leg. I tried to get back up, but I could not walk. The leg dislocated backward. It folded underneath me,” Ireland said.

The fall forced his femur to shatter the tibia plateau into 3 dozen pieces.

One of the Chinooks came back and with the help of his teammates they put him back on the bird. They flew him back to the medical facility and

Photo by Michael Bottoms, U.S. Special Operations Command

U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class Brant Ireland competes in the cycling competition during the DoD Warrior Games, Aug. 22, and would go on to win the Gold Medal. The DoD Warrior Games are composed of more than 200 wounded, ill and injured service members and veteran athletes, competing in 12 adaptive sporting events Aug. 19-28, 2022, at ESPN Wide See GAMES, Page 10 World of Sports Complex at Disney in Lake Buena Vista, Florida.

Autonomous airfield tractors idea wins AFIMSC Innovation Rodeo AFIMSC Public Affairs

JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-LACKLAND, Texas—An idea forautonomous airfield operations won the 2022 Air Force Installation and Mission Support Center Innovation Rodeo Aug. 19 in San Antonio.

Craig Rednour of the 375th Civil Engineer Squadron at Scott AFB, Illinois, will receive a share of at least $1 million in funding and resources from AFIMSC to expand testing for six autonomous airfield tractors across two Air Force base locations.

“It is a great honor, a lot of great ideas and great people here,” Rednour said. “The fact that the panel selected me out of all the amazing idea and pitches is truly an honor.”

Rednour’s award will go to further testing and the expansion of airfield tractors that are both autonomous and modular, two features especially appealing to the judges for Airmen safety and efficiency. The unmanned and

multi-functional vehicles follow programmable dedicated GPS paths that can be controlled from multiple platforms through several levels of leadership.

“I really appreciated Craig’s idea for putting autonomous vehicles on the airfield,” said Col. Kelly Sams, AFIMSC vice commander. “I’m a career mission supporter and the airfields are the holy grail of safe zones. Craig being able to earn the trust of leaders and users for these vehicles on the airfield is really innovative.”

Back in person after going virtual during the pandemic, the 2022 AFIMSC Innovation Rodeo finalists were in San Antonio for a week to learn from leading innovators, team up with industry partners and network with peers, senior leaders and innovation teams. Finalists then rounded out the week by pitching their ideas to AFIMSC leaders during a final pitch event live streamed on several platforms. For those who missed it, the full event is available to stream online: PART 1 and PART 2.

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Courtesy graphic

Other 2022 Innovation Rodeo winners include: Second Place: Staff Sgt. Anthony Davis with the 6th Support Squadron, MacDill Air Force Base, Florida, with After-Hours Fitness Center Access at Every Installation.

Third Place: Staff Sgt. Dillan Whitehead with the 422nd Security Forces Squadron, RAF Croughton, England, with Defenderzon.

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WEEK IN PHOTOS

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Photo by Airman 1st Class Joshua Hastings

Photo by Staff Sgt. Ashley Tsoi

U.S. Air Force Maj. Curtis Dejaco, 50th Air Refueling Squadron pilot, braces himself from a bucket of ice water after completing his final flight with the squadron at MacDill Air Force Base Aug. 17. A “fini-flight” is a traditional celebratory flight among Air Force aviators which marks the last time a pilots flies with an assigned unit or aircraft.

U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Aisha Jennings, a pharmacy technician with the 6th Medical Group, (right) briefs U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Ronald Place, Defense Health Agency director, during a tour of the base pharmacy at MacDill Air Force Base Aug. 18. Place visited personnel assigned to various units within the 6th MDG to discuss daily workflow and efficient practices.

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NEWS/FEATURES Project Mercury: Accelerating meetings through innovation

by Master Sgt. Matthew Salmond 6th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron Most military members can recall the time retired four-star Marine Corps Gen. James Mattis coined the phrase, “PowerPoint makes us stupid.”

Yet, the Department of the Air Force writing guide, The Tongue and Quill, mandates the use of PowerPoint presentations for our meetings.

The Air Force Handbook 33-337, spells out exactly how an effective meeting should be structured as well as how presentations should be tailored. Chapter 10, Air Force Speaking on page 118, details exactly how to prepare the presentation slides for a meeting.

I’ll spare you the trouble of reading this for yourself, but the section includes rules such as avoiding red-green and blue-red color combinations to the type and size of the font, you are authorized to use. This process can be exhausting and extremely time-consuming.

My team at Project Mercury, an innovation partnership through Air University, Maxwell AFB, Ala., and the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business to drive innovative advancement has scoured the Internet to understand industry best practices and to find options already available to Air Force members.

Before I deliver the results, I would like to provide some context about this project and our team.

Project Mercury provides education and experimentation on how to employ innovative practices. It then takes what students learn and places it into the environment they work and live in. The program accomplishes this through a blend of rigorous academics and diverse team projects, ensuring students can deliver an array of creative and disruptive ideas.

Project Mercury’s idea is to build an innovative culture within the Air and Space Forces. My team is comprised of five leaders from different Air Force career fields and collectively we have 68-years of combined military

U.S. Air Force photo

U.S. Air Force Master Sgt. Matthew Salmond, 6th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron Red AMU APG section chief, discusses changing the process of how meetings are conducted in the Air Force with his Project Mercury teammates at MacDill Air Force Base, Florida, Aug. 23. Project Mercury is an innovation partnership through Air University, Maxwell AFB, Alabama, and the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business to drive innovative advancements in the Air Force. experience.

Project Mercury has given us the challenge of empowering Airmen based on the Chief of Staff of the Air Force Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr.’s Action Orders to Accelerate Change across the Air Force.

During our time in the Innovatrium, an innovation consulting firm tied to the Ross School of Business, we generated hundreds of ideas, conducted field interviews and defined what commanders need to feel to be empowered and collected tons of data.

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Photo by Airman 1st Class Joshua Hastings

A C-17 Globemaster III aircraft assigned to the 437th Airlift Wing receives fuel from a KC-135 Stratotanker aircraft assigned to the 6th Air Refueling Wing during the 6th ARW Agile Combat Employment capstone exercise, Aug. 23. The ACE concept addresses adversarial technological advances and capabilities by promoting the weaponization of pace, flexible maneuverability and of multi-capable Airmen. Capstone simulated air refueling operations in a contested theater over a 72-hour duration.

6th ARW accelerates change with ACE capstone exercise

by Airman 1st Class Joshua Hastings 6th Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs

JOINT BASE CHARLESTON, S.C.—In the landscape of today’s warfighting capabilities across the globe, the U.S. Air Force has addressed the advancement of pacing threats and has enacted the initiative to accelerate change.

In response, the 6th Operations Group from MacDill Air Force Base, Fla., conducted a capstone exercise from Joint Base Charleston, S.C. and Bangor, Maine, Aug. 23-26, incorporating Agile Combat Employment doctrine concepts. The capstone followed a year of culminated lessons learned from refueling exercises overseas and in the U.S. which incorporated ACE. The ACE concept underpins the Air Force’s ability to mitigate the risks of adversarial technological advances through maneuverability and speed to prevail in conflict.

“When we started planning a year ago, I would have never imagined that things could have gone as well as they have,” said Air Force Col. Jonathan Burdick, 6th OG commander. “Here we are a year later, and we’ve turned imagination into reality. This is not the result of any one Airman or any one leader, but of a winning team that has come together to prove it can deliver air power anytime, anywhere.”

Contrary to previous combat employment models, an aspect of ACE is shifting operations from centralized forward bases to a network of smaller, highly flexible force presentations from dispersed locations providing theater commanders more options while mitigating adversary targeting plans.

The capstone exercise included 72-hours of continuous air refueling operations

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Photo by Airman 1st Class Joshua Hastings

Photo by Airman 1st Class Joshua Hastings

U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Garrett Byers, 6th Maintenance Squadron hydraulics specialist, marshals a KC-135 Stratotanker aircraft assigned to the 6th Air Reand a historic 58-hour KC-135 flight in a simulated contested environment focused fueling Wing during the Agile Combat Employment capstone exercise at Joint on a notional theater of operations.

Base Charleston, South Carolina, Aug. 23.

During the exercise, three to six KC-135 Stratotanker aircraft assigned to the 91st and 50th Air Refueling Squadrons were airborne at any given time and more than 30 aircraft were refueled. Additionally, several dispersed airfields across the eastern half of the U.S. served as maintenance and hot pit refueling hub locations.

“The size and scope of this capstone were unprecedented,” said Burdick. “We proved we can deliver air power in mass on short notice, with a scaled back force footprint and in austere conditions. Not only did we demonstrate that we have a growing significant capability when it comes to ACE, but we also opened the door to learning about many areas we need to capitalize on to continue our trend of improvement.”

Maintenance Airmen assigned to the 6th Maintenance Group worked alongside aircrew members to provide rapid maintenance support as well as perform on-theground hot pit refueling operations to optimize the time in the air for the refueling tankers.

Both air refueling squadrons were tasked with organizing aircrew members in real-time to fulfill the requirements of the exercise’s air tasking order. Minimum personnel, resources and mission- type orders were provided to each unit to mimic the pressures of a combat environment.

“The exercise was designed to encompass all the training we have accomplished over the past year and to stress the force and aircraft in a manner to foster in-

U.S. Air Force Capt. Jaymes Trimble, 50th Air Refueling Squadron pilot, flies a KC-135 Stratotanker aircraft assigned to the 6th Air Refueling Wing during the 6th ARW Agile Combat Employment capstone exercise, Aug. 23.

See ACE, Page 12

U.S. Air Force KC-135 Stratotanker aircraft assigned to the 6th Air Refueling Wing, take off from MacDill Air Force Base Aug. 22. Airmen from various career fields traveled alongside aircrew with the 91st and 50th Air Refueling Squadrons to participate in the Agile Combat Employment program’s capstone event. In order to successfully qualify, Airmen must demonstrate skills acquired from a year’s worth of tasks and objectives within 3 days while conducting 24-hour operations.

Photo by Staff Sgt. Ashley Tsoi

MEETINGS From Page 5

To develop the right course of action, we evaluated research from academia and discovered a plethora of sources detailing how presentation slideshows create wasted time and take the ability to think freely away from those in attendance.

After these discoveries, we turned to the civilian industry, looking for best practices and technology options.

One company that caught our attention was Amazon, during the company’s founder Jeff Bezos’ tenure as its CEO, he banned presentation slideshows from his meetings.

Instead, Bezos would hand out a “pre-read” document with information pertinent to the meeting. Attendees would silently read this printout, discuss the topics then create solutions and action plans. This process resulted in time saved for his employees and made meetings more valuable by giving others the ability to think for themselves.

This is just one example of many where removing meeting slideshows proved valuable.

The industry has also taught us that through advancements in technology, we can extract large amounts of data from hundreds of sources and display that information in a single, easy-to-read and secure application.

These dashboards are what “Team 2 Cohort 7” at Project Mercury see as the Air Force’s meeting of the future!

The Air Force currently has contracts with industry partners, in fact,

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the Air Force already utilizes these live data platforms. Examples of these include, Advana, Vault, and Envision, which are currently used sporadically throughout the Air Force and Department of Defense.

Instead of spending countless man-hours sourcing data from multiple applications and plugging that information into an Excel spreadsheet or PowerPoint presentation, we offer the idea of letting these systems do the dirty work for us.

By changing the way we conduct meetings through avenues already contracted by the Air Force, we can save members unquantifiable hours spent sorting, filtering, verifying, copying and pasting data for their next meeting. We believe this is one way to empower Airmen now and into the future!

I would like to thank my Project Mercury team members: Lt. Col. John Boswell, Tech Sgt. Aaron Finney, Tech Sgt. Kimberly Mastrocola and Staff Sgt. Charley Smith, for their selflessness and relentless dedication to improving the Air Force and our meetings over the past 12 weeks. Lastly, I would like thank our coaching team, Lt. Col. John Kerrigan, Master Sgt. Nadia Fisher and Master Sgt. John Le, for their insights, wisdom and guidance throughout the entirety of this course.

The mission of Project Mercury is to instill innovation culture, competency and community within the Air and Space Forces in order to outpace all peer competitors. For more information about Project Mercury or to apply for future cohorts, visithttps://projectmercury.us/

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RODEO From Page 3

Now in its fourth year, the annual event has grown into a collaborative effort that brings together partners and innovation leaders from across the Department of Defense. During that time, AFIMSC Ventures – the center’s innovation office charged with helping the Air Force find innovative solutions to tough, urgent, real world, installation and mission support challenges – has also turned an initial $1 million budget into $85 million by leveraging Air Force and venture capital funding programs.

“We’re helping Airmen move the needle forward on projects that have the potential to improve processes and systems across the Air Force,” said Pitman Kennedy, an innovation project manager with AFIMSC Ventures.

In addition to funding, winners and finalists were matched with innovation teams from AFIMSC primary subordinate units – Air Force Civil Engineer Center, Air Force Security Forces Center, Air Force Services Center and Air Force Installation Contracting Center – for project development, testing and execution.

This year, support and guidance wasn’t just reserved for finalists and winners, said Dustin Dickens, innovation project manager with the AFIMSC Ventures.

“Even though we had eight finalists today, we considered 72 total ideas this year and our goal is to provide resources (for every idea),” he said. “We’re aligning submissions with the National Security Innovation Network and they’re aligning the ideas with local universities and colleges or other execution pathways to help them move forward.”

Through the Innovation Rodeo and other events, along with a network of functional innovation teams working to identify, nurture, develop and field ideas, AFIMSC is at the forefront of installation and mission support innovation, Dickens added.

“Innovation culture. Everybody says it, but we want to accomplish it. We want to change the mindset. We want to show that anybody can have an idea worth pursuing,” he said. “We’re providing funding, we’re providing resources, we’re providing execution pathways, and we’re aligning project management teams to support these ideas and concepts and move them forward. We’re showing that that no matter how small your idea is, (AFIMSC) will work to execute it.”

For more information, visit www.afimsc.af.mil/innovationrodeo.

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GAMES From Page 3

took an X-ray at that point, the doctors informed him that his leg was badly broken.

“I was in disbelief at first. I did not want to go home,” said Ireland.

Ireland was transported to Landstuhl, Germany where he received more extensive care and where he was met by a USSOCOM Warrior Care Program representative who began to guide him and his family through the rehabilitation process. He was told, with this kind of fracture, they could put it back together, but with the nerve damage his leg would not be normal again. Not giving up, he endured two years of multiple surgeries.

“I grew up an athlete and I had been a Green Beret for a while so I thought I would tough it out and get better. So, I endured several surgeries at the University of North Carolina,” Ireland said. “They set me up a full leg Ideo brace and I was able to deploy back to Afghanistan with the team as a support person. I was happy I got to deploy with my team one more time. Made it there and back with my team. That was something I needed for my mental well-being.”

Unfortunately, during that deployment his leg just started bowing badly so he went down to San Antonio to the Center of the Intrepid where he talked to the surgeon there and he decided to opt for amputation.

“It was almost two years to the day from injury to amputation,” Ireland said.

While recovering, Ireland was watching the Invictus Games, the international military adaptive sports program, on television and immediately became interested in competing.

“I saw the 2016 Invictus Games on TV and I thought that might be something I would want to be involved with.

So, the USSOCOM Warrior Care Program introduced me to the DoD Warrior Games and allowed me to try different sports,” Ireland said.

Always an athlete, the games reinvigorated Ireland and gave him a new purpose.

“While the SOCOM Warrior Care Program did an amazing job introducing me to Adaptive Sports, the Warrior Games provided that competitive goal to strive for every day at training. It is like a culmination exercise where you can highlight the blood, sweat, and tears you put in through the rehabilitation process,” Ireland said.

Ireland is also grateful for how the USSOCOM Warrior Care Program helped him, and his family navigate his recovery.

“The USSOCOM Warrior Care Program has been with me through every step of the way of my injury recovery,” he said. “It is hard to put into words how much they have supported me, my family, and my career. of adaptive sports and the benefits that come along with them.”

Ireland was competing in track, field, swimming, cycling, rowing, wheelchair rugby, wheelchair basketball, and seated volleyball.

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COMMUNITY

EVENTS

U.S. Air Force 75th birthday Sept. 12-18 MacDill Air Force Base is celebrating the 75th birthday of the U.S. Air Force with giveaways, food specials, cupcakes and more.

For more information or to see the festivities planned around the base, visit: macdillfss.com/af-birthday-celebration/.

FitStop grand opening Sept. 12 There’s nothing better than a cold, refreshing, vitamin-packed smoothie after a grueling workout in the hot Florida sun. FitStop will have just that and more with the convenience being located inside the Short Fitness Center! Stop in and jump in line on Sept. 12 to cool off after feeling the burn.

Looking for the perfect job?

The 6th Force Support Squadron is seeking qualified candidates 16 years and older. All positions start at $15 an hour or above. Ready to join our FSS family? Visit macdillfss. com/open-jobs/ to see current job openings and apply today.

Find more events at: macdillfss.com

Team Navy!

Photo by U.S. Marine Corps Gunnery Sgt. Eric L. Alabiso II

CENTCOM’s Senior Enlisted Leader, Fleet Master Chief Derrick “Wally” Walters, poses for a group photo with team Navy swimmers during the 2022 Department of Defense Warrior Games at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex in Orlando, Florida, Aug. 25. At the games, service members and veterans from across the DoD compete in adaptive sports alongside armed forces competitors from Canada and Ukraine.

CHAPEL SCHEDULE Normal Hours- Monday - Friday - 9 a.m. to

Jewish - Monthly Lunch and Learn: For sched-

Monday-Thursday Mass - 12:10 p.m.

served)

3 p.m. After hours chaplain, call the Command Post at 828-4362/4361.

ule & to join distro, please contact elimelach.estrin@us.af.mil

Islamic Service - Friday 1 p.m. (space re-

www.macdill.af.mil/chapel

Other Faith Groups - Please contact the Catholic (in-person) - Saturday - 5:30 p.m.

Chapel at (813) 828-3621 or via email at 6ARW. HCADMIN@us.af.mil

Protestant services - Sunday - 11 a.m.

MacDill’s Chapel website is: https://www.macdill. af.mil/chapel

(confession 4:30 p.m.) Sunday - 9:30 a.m. (confessions by appointment)

For more details and information, visit the Chapel Facebook page at http://www.facebook/6amwhc/ MACDILL THUNDERBOLT

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VACCINE From Page 2

ment as having come in contact with someone with monkeypox * People who have had close or sexual contact in the past 14 days with an individual with monkeypox * People who identify as gay, bisexual, transgender, or other men who have sex with men in the past 14 days in an area with monkeypox transmission Military Treatment Facilities can order small amounts of JYNNEOS vaccine to use for individuals who meet vaccination criteria. Larger orders can be approved with additional justification, such as larger installations having a larger population of those who meet the criteria.

At the time of publication, 36 Department of the Air Force clinics have

placed orders. MTFs that received shipments this week include those at Travis Air Force Base, Yokota Air Base, Misawa AB, Robins AFB, and Dyess AFB. There are currently more than 14,100 U.S. monkeypox cases. While anyone could potentially be at risk, the current outbreak is concentrated among men who have close, intimate contact with other men.

“This current monkeypox outbreak is evolving and we are learning new information about the spread and risks,” said Sayers. “It is important that Airmen and Guardians who feel they might be at high risk speak with their health care provider. Just know that Air Force clinics have the most recent information and guidance to keep our members safe and healthy.”

ACE

From Page 6

novation and the operational capabilities necessary to prevail in future fights,” said Air Force Lt. Col. John Williams, 50th ARS commander.

“One aspect we focused on was rethinking our force presentation to increase rapid deployment capabilities while ensuring we remained highly effective and survivable at the forward location.”

The combined effort of the wing and the joint force partners who provided aircraft for refueling and airfields for maintenance contributed toward the successful completion of the capstone exercise, which will now serve as a foundation for future ACE refueling operations.

To ensure that air refueling support is provided on a global footing, they have to be able to fly into more airfields, explained Burdick.

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“To accomplish that, we have to synchronize with our maintenance partners, our logistics partners, our intel brothers and sisters, and with all the operators that are tied into this fighting force,” said Burdick. “At MacDill, we’ve brought all the stakeholders into a combined effort to make sure we can be effective with the smallest package possible, go anywhere we need to go and deliver air refueling support on a ready basis.”

After proving that 72-hours of continuous air refueling operations can be accomplished in a simulated contested theater, the 6th ARW has accelerated change by using ACE as a means to ensure combat success in any future conflicts.

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