TYNDALL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. --
The 325th Contracting Squadron conducted a mock deployment April 29 to May 2 at the old Tyndall golf course's warehouse.
The purpose of the exercise was to give Airmen in the contracting squadron a chance to experience what it is like to be deployed to a bare base.
"It was an inaugural joint training exercise with the 325th CONS and the 772nd Enterprise Sourcing Squadron," said Mike Ventura, 325th CONS unit deployment and training manager. "The purpose of the exercise was for Airmen to simulate being deployed to a bare base. The term 'bare base' is just what sounds is like, Airmen were deployed to an environment where nothing was set up, and it was their job to get things operational."
A memorandum was issued March 4 by Maj. Gen. Wendy M. Masiello, United States Air Force deputy assistant secretary, calling for 52-hours of training and scenarios on an annually basis.
"In the letter it states that units are encouraged to supplement, but not replace the training," Ventura added. "We decided to take things a step further; after the 52-hour sessions were completed, we would take what was learned in the classroom and apply it out in the field. There were 40 participants broken down into four teams."
The exercise was meant to simulate the entirety of a deployment for members of the 325th CONS.
"We took some of the lessons from the 52-hour training sessions and crafted scenarios to implement what was taught," said Senior Master Sgt. Ian Batchelor, 325th CONS superintendent. "In contracting there are four stages of a deployment: initial, build up, sustainment and close out/termination. This exercise focused on all of these stages."
Over the course of the three-day exercise Airmen, NCOs and officers acted in various rolls to make the simulation have a real world feel.
"My role was to be a facilitator, contractor and a vendor. In my role as a vendor, we had a scenario that I sold the Airmen water," Batchelor said. "At that time, the Airmen didn't ask for certification to see if it was an approved water source. At this point the scenario showed the added strain having Airmen unable to assist in operations, due to illnesses that would be contracted from drinking non-potable water."
The proper procedure for this scenario is to send the medical group out to test the water to see if it is safe for consumption, Batchelor added.
"We want to make sure the lessons are learned here in a safe environment opposed to out in the field," Ventura said.