AEF capstone was an intense but rewarding training event. As the AEF Flight Commander, it was my responsibility to plan the inner workings and details of the operation down to every last scenario, objective, mission, etc. I’ll have to say that seeing it unfold from my perspective was quite entertaining. The mission for the day was to operate “Camp Tiger”, a Forward Operating Base set up outside the home to the “Taji” people. My goal was to have created a situation where Freshman and Sophomore cadets had to both defend Camp Tiger’s perimeter from attack, and conduct other peace-keeping missions outside of its perimeter. The exercise started off in a somewhat chaotic fashion with the Force Support Squadron attempting to get its wing locked and loaded with paintball guns and ammunition. Slowly but surely, I began to see the cadets gel, work together, and set up a chain of command and communication, a key to any successful operation.
The Sophomore-led Force Support Squadron organize, distribute, and keep track of all of the paintball gear. Being acountable for property is very important, especially when it's being borrowed from the Army ROTC.
Soon after getting the cadets equipped for the day, Security Forces had successfully manned their stations around the perimeter. Fortunately, they had the Entry Control Point covered just before some Taji villagers came to the gate for a protest. While security saw some action at the front gate, the Medical Squadron caught wind of a group of Taji civilians in need of immediate medical care. This was an interesting mission requiring them to team up with a Quick Reaction Fire team for security, and navigate their way to the sickly civilians and provide treatment. Little to their knowledge an ambush had been set up for them along the way, making this peace keeping mission a little more difficult than originally anticipated. Other squadrons alike had their fair share of mission. The intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance squadron patrolled the path outside our base in search for IED’s and quickly encountered hostile enemies along the route.
A patrol leaves the base to complete a mission. Enemy forces could ambush from any direction.
Overall, the day was quite successful in teaching Det 440 the complications and intricacies involved in the operations of a wing. I think it thoroughly challenged our FTP cadets specifically in working together as one unit and using their chain of command. At the end of the day the cadets were also successful in perhaps the most important thing; defending Camp Tiger from a massive scale ambush!
The cadets take cover and wait for the final ambush, where all of the opposing force attack the base at once. I just hope they don't have a paint grenade!
Cadet Captain Richard Gannon
