Joint-service units across Joint Base Lewis-McChord are geared up for one of the biggest Air Force exercises to hit its airfields to date: Mobility Guardian. If the name doesn't ring a bell, don't worry, because Mobility Guardian is the first of its kind at JBLM as a capability-based, joint-service and multinational readiness exercise designed to test and improve the U.S. Air Force's ability to plan, command and control, communicate and execute real-world missions.

"The exercise is about learning and improving together as an integrated team," said Air Force Maj. Korry Leverett, the Headquarters Air Mobility Command (AMC) Public Affairs Officer out of Scott Air Force Base, Illinois. "Answering our nation's call is an expectation. To do this, it takes putting in a lot of work and evolving - whether that is fielding better prepared airmen or looking at emerging and existing technologies."

The Mobility Guardian exercise will take place at JBLM between July 31 and Aug. 12. While the 62nd Airlift Wing - which is based out of McChord Airfield Base (AFB) - will host the exercise, Mobility Guardian will be led by AMC, which is one of only 10 major Air Force commands and the oldest major command in the Air Force. AMC's mission is to provide air mobility support, meaning it ensures units can adequately respond to military needs anywhere in the world within a matter of hours. Brig. Gen. Brian S. Robinson, the director of operations at Headquarters AMC, will head the Mobility Guardian exercise.

"This is AMC's premiere mobility exercise," said Maj. Leverett. "It will encompass some of the most realistic, real-world, scenario-driven events the command has ever undertaken. It was designed to allow the forces to ‘train like they fight,' by developing and improving techniques and procedures that enhance air mobility operations and improve interoperability."

Gen. Carlton D. Everhart II (top left), Air Mobility Command commander, flies a C-17 Globemaster III aircraft with pilots from the 62nd Airlift Wing, Jan. 30, during his visit to Joint Base Lewis-McChord. In addition to flying the C-17, visiting Boeing, and talking with airmen and soldiers here, Everhart attended a civic leader dinner where he met with community partners. Photo credit: Senior Airman Divine Cox
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Forty U.S. aircraft, over 3,000 U.S. servicemembers and aircraft and military personnel from more than 30 international partners will participate in Mobility Guardian. Exercise scenarios will include joint forcible entry and airfield seizure, joint missions between Air Force airdrop crews and Army Airborne units and contingency response and humanitarian relief operations. "Exercises like these offer an opportunity to learn and evolve as a force," explained Maj. Leverett. With mission readiness as the ultimate training objective, the exercise is being designed to sharpen airmen's skills in support of combatant commander requirements."

Starting this summer, AMC plans to hold Mobility Guardian exercises every two years. The exercise will replace "Air Mobility Rodeo," an AMC competitive training event last conducted in 2011. "Mobility Guardian grew out of a need to focus on readiness, tactics, techniques and procedures," said Maj. Leverett. "Mobility airmen must be prepared to meet emerging threats of the future." Mobility Guardian will surpass Air Mobility Rodeo in both size and scope, with four-times the number of missions as previous exercises and approximately 100 scheduled sorties a day.

In addition to units and resources out of JBLM, airfields across Washington state will support Mobility Guardian, including the Seattle Air Route Traffic Control Center. "The state of Washington is what we like to think of as a ‘power projection platform,'" explained Maj. Leverett. "There's Fairchild AFB, Joint Base Lewis-McChord ... Yakima Training Center and McCallister Field, where different types of exercises and events take place."

Aircraft and personnel from foreign partners are expected to begin arriving at least one week prior to the exercise. "They'll have orientations and debriefings to make sure everyone is focused on safety," concluded Maj. Leverett.