Skip to main content (Press Enter).
 News
    
        Photos

    Week in Photos

    Air Force TV

    Commentaries

    Features

    Art

    About Us
    
        Air Force Senior Leaders
    
        SECAF

    CSAF

    CMSAF

    Biographies

    Fact Sheets

    SECAF Reading List

    CSAF Leadership Library
    
        CSAF Leadership Library 2022

    CSAF Leadership Library 2021

    CSAF Reading List Pre-2020 Archive
    
        2018 CSAF Reading List

    2017 CSAF Reading List

    2016 CSAF Reading List

    CSAF Leadership Library 2023

    CMSAF Leadership Library

    50 Years of the CMSAF

    Adjunct Professors

    Air Force Strategic Documents

    Arctic Strategy

    Empowered Airmen

    State Licensure Portability

    Careers

    AF Federal Advisory Committees

    AF 75th Anniversary

    Policy Updates

    AF Content Management

    Contact Us

    AF Sites
    
        Site RegistrationU.S. Air Force LogoAir Force

        Policy UpdatesNewsroomReoptimizationBIOGRAPHIESAF Senior Leaders      A C-130J Super Hercules from Dyess Air Force Base, Texas, taxies after landing at Bydgoszcz Airport, Poland, during exercise Swift Response 16 on June 8, 2016. The exercise is one of the premier military crisis response training events for multinational airborne forces in the world. This year, it had more than 5,000 participants from 10 NATO nations. (U.S. Air Force photo/Master Sgt. Joseph Swafford)Small team, big impact during Swift Response ‘16
                        
                        
                        A C-130J Super Hercules from Dyess Air Force Base, Texas, taxies after landing at Bydgoszcz Airport, Poland, during exercise Swift Response 16 on June 8, 2016. The exercise is one of the premier military crisis response training events for multinational airborne forces in the world. This year, it had more than 5,000 participants from 10 NATO nations. (U.S. Air Force photo/Master Sgt. Joseph Swafford)
                
                Photo Details /
                        Download Hi-Res

Small contingency response team makes big impact in Swift Response 16Published June 14, 2016
                    
                    By Master Sgt. Joseph Swafford
                    
                    
                    621st Contingency Response Wing
            **BYDGOSZCZ AIRPORT, Poland (AFNS) --**The buzzing of C-130 Hercules and CH-47 Chinook helicopter propellers could be heard throughout the Bydgoszcz Airport as a contingency response team loaded and unloaded cargo from the aircraft during exercise Swift Response 16.The small team of Airmen came from the 821st Contingency Response Group at Travis Air Force Base, California, and the Air Force Reserve Command’s 512th Airlift Control Flight at Dover AFB, Delaware. Working out of an old fighter aircraft hangar, they kept the exercise flowing by assuring airborne forces and their cargo smoothly transitioned through the airport.One of the premier military crisis response training events for multinational airborne forces in the world, the exercise had more than 5,000 participants from 10 NATO nations and took place at multiple locations in Poland and Germany."We are the command and control; we receive aircraft and make sure they can deliver the cargo and passengers to wherever it is needed," said Tech. Sgt. Mitchell Thompson, a 921st Contingency Response Squadron ramp coordinator instructor."We will be extracting the jumpers from the drop zone as they roll into our station as well as the other CRT location in Poland," said Master Sgt. Brian Beaty, the 921st Contingency Response Squadron CRT chief. "The goal is to get them out of Poland and back in Germany so that they are ready for the next phase of (Swift Response) 16."CRTs are one of the smaller command and control elements within the 621st Contingency Response Wing, so it takes every Airman pulling their weight to ensure the mission is a success."What we do to make this size team work is a majority of members of the team pull double duty," said Master Sgt. Brian Beaty, the CRT chief of the 921st CRS. "The mindset that we have throughout the CRW is let’s get the mission done. With that in mind it might not be my job per se but I am going to go out and put my hands on that equipment that needs to be moved and move it, set it up, whatever needs to be done so that at the end of the day we are ready to operate. “Most of the Airmen in the CRW, with the mindset being the way it is, you don’t even have to ask. Airmen all up and down the team just step up and get it done." The exercise benefited Airmen from both organizations by providing the opportunity for Air Force Reserve and active-duty contingency response forces to work as a team."Integrating the reservist into the team has been seamless; they are a ready pool of personnel and material that we can tap into Air Force wide and plug and play," Beaty said. "The specific (job) that they come from and the airlift control flight that they represent complements and works well with the team."During the exercise, the CRT worked with a variety of C-130 units to include aircraft from Dyess AFB, Texas; the West Virginia Air National Guard; Little Rock AFB, Arkansas; Ramstein Air Base, Germany; and the Royal Air Force. They also worked closely with Soldiers from the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, as well as British soldiers."It’s very good training and provides the opportunity for the U.S. Army and Air Force to work together with foreign militaries," Thompson said. "It also helps strengthen the relationship between NATO partners and the Air Force."Beaty agreed, and said that the training exposed Airmen to actual missions they may see in the future. "This exercise mirrors very well what a real-world operation will look like,” he said. “We have multiple end users that we are working with and helping to move, not all U.S."For some, working outside the U.S. with different branches of the military and NATO partners would be a challenging task. But for CRW Airmen, it’s business as usual."The Airmen on this CRT have handled this exercise very well," Beaty said. "It has worked in true CRW fashion. We pulled from the flights and sections and the disciplines we needed to build the team very fast and we just synced. This team is very cohesive, they have worked together professionally to get the job done. “They are ready at a moment’s notice for anything and they have reacted very well for all those potentialities."contingency response team 



621st CRW 



Poland 



Germany 



Swift Response Featured News
        Senior Leader Priorities
                SecAF, CSAF, CMSAF begin Indo-Pacific trip focused on ACE
                    
                    DAF leaders talk budget, reoptimizing the force
                    
                    DAF leaders speak at National Character and Leadership Symposium
                    
                    DAF members recognized during BEYA STEM awards
                    
                    DAF senior enlisted advisors discuss Airmen, Guardians in the fightInnovation
                F-16s arrive to be modified for autonomous testing
                    
                    AFWERX director discusses role of tech startups, quick innovation in Great Power Competition
                    
                    DAF delivers lethality at the speed of data during Project Convergence Capstone 4
                    
                    DAF welcomes industry partners to HQ development program
                    
                    DAF announces Spark Tank 2024 finalistsMAJCOM News
                Safety enterprise announces new mission, vision, goals in 2024 strategic plan
                    
                    Air Combat Command welcomes new commander
                    
                    USAFE-AFAFRICA commander discusses Integrated Air, Missile Defense during Munich Security Conference
                    
                    Flosi to AFMC family: Embrace change, make every day count
                    
                    AMC rises to increasing global tension
 Quick Links
AccessibilityContact UsEqual OpportunityFOIA | Privacy | Section 508Information QualityInspector GeneralJAG Court-Martial DocketLink DisclaimerNo FEAR ActOpen GovernmentOSI Tip LinePlain LanguageQuestionsResilienceRSSSite MapVeterans Crisis LineCareers
Join the Air ForceAir Force BenefitsAir Force CareersAir Force ReserveAir National GuardCivilian ServiceConnect
            Get Social with Us
            
            Official United States Air Force Website
    Hosted by Defense Media Activity - WEB.mil