MCCONNELL AIR FORCE BASE, Kan. -- How should Airmen respond when their wingman is wounded and bleeding? What's the process for decontaminating equipment exposed to chemical weaponry? How does an Airman report unexploded bombs or munitions? These are questions every Airman should know to prevent loss of life in a contingency.
Over the past two months active duty and Reserve Airmen from the 931st Air Refueling Group and the 22nd Air Refueling Wing have participated in operational readiness exercises to prepare for the upcoming operational readiness inspection.
"The ORE provides the capability and the opportunity for the reserve personnel to train and prepare right alongside their active duty counterparts for the ORI," said Col. William Mason, 931st Air Refueling Group Commander.
Almost 300 Airmen representing each of the group's career fields participated in the exercise and will participate in the inspection.
According to Air Force Instruction 90-201, the regulation that deals with ORIs, the inspections "evaluate and measure the ability of a unit to perform in wartime, during a contingency or a force sustainment mission."
To prepare for those evaluations, 931st members have been putting themselves through the paces by participating in multiple exercises.
The goal is to prepare the Airmen for anything when it is time for the actual operational inspection said Maj. Douglas Crow, 931st Air Refueling Group process manager and member of the exercise evaluation team.
"During the ORE, the exercise evaluation team is hitting the players two times harder than the Inspector General team will during the ORI," said Crow. "We are simulating as many scenarios and engaging the players as much as we can so that we are prepared for the worst case scenario."
According to Tech. Sgt. Megan Legacy, superintendent, 931st Readiness and Emergency Management, working through the constant scenarios and countless repetitions of the exercise, effectively demonstrates the mantra, "practice makes perfect."
"This is our opportunity to practice, practice, and practice. We need to create muscle memory, and unless you physically do what is expected of you, your brain does not remember," said Legacy. "When you're stressed, hot, hungry, tired, and when the pressure is on, things may get missed. However, your body will know what it should feel like when you wear your gear correctly."
The ORE training provides benefits that reach far beyond those of inspection preparation.
"Repetition will make it easier to prepare for the ORI and give us the confidence that we'll do exceptionally well," said Chief Master Sgt. Kurt Smith, 931st Civil Engineer Squadron Chief of Operations and Maintenance.
By gaining exposure and training together, the units hope to achieve ORI success which translates into success in a real-world environment.
"The ORE gives members the experience to respond to real-world situations. The quicker players react to the scenarios, the sooner we can return to normal operations and get our planes in the air. We want to do so as quickly and as accurately as possible. The reality is that these are real-world scenarios and the better prepared we are for an attack, the more likely you will succeed," said Legacy.