PETERSON SPACE FORCE BASE, Colo. -- Members of multiple U.S. Air Force security forces units, 4th Space Operations Squadron and other military units stationed along Colorado’s Front Range participated in a military exercise at Piñon Canyon Maneuver Site last week.
In the early hours on a cold, rainy Tuesday, security forces members stood ready at Peterson SFB military passenger terminal to board two 302nd Airlift Wing C-130 Hercules aircraft. Their mission — deploy to a remote U.S. Army base in southeastern Colorado in support of the Front Range Offensive 25-1 exercise.
However, due to the weather conditions and the status of the dirt runway at PCMS, the flights were canceled, and members were then bussed to the installation, located two and a half hours from Colorado Springs.
“You can, to the smallest detail, plan an exercise a year in advance and things can still drastically change when you get to the day of,” said Master Sgt. Travis Beatty, 50th SFS Logistics and Resources superintendent. “Things like weather have a profound effect on operations. That’s why we build in contingencies — provisions for possible events or circumstances.
“The Front Range Offensive 25-1 is an exercise testing a combination of tactical planning, development of junior leaders, Agile Combat Employment techniques, ground combat tactics and enhancing the interoperability of Air Force and Space Force units at the squadron levels,” Beatty said. “This was our first opportunity to exercise in an austere environment with Airmen and Guardians conducting their missions codependently while also executing early phase operations in a contested environment with no established infrastructure.”
The Front Range Offensive 25-1 marks the second time the 50th Security Forces Squadron has sponsored this event. The first exercise was a proof of concept with 29 total personnel consisting of mostly security forces, one contracting and one U.S. Space Force member from the 2nd Navigational Warfare Squadron — responsible for operating the Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite constellation. This iteration not only grew in scale to incorporate 65 total personnel but also to include more specialties.
While security forces are protecting the area, 4 SOPS is simulating real-world, expeditionary environment operations, said Spc. 4 Jennifer Guinn, 4 SOPS mobile military satellite communications operator.
“Our unit is a mobile mission — a packaged-up extra terminal supporting the MILSATCOM constellation that can deploy just about anywhere,” Guinn said. “Our people have commercial driver's licenses to move equipment, can stand up a mobile operations console in remote conditions and they are weapons-qualified and trained to set up a perimeter and defend mission assets, if necessary.
“Although the expeditionary part of this exercise is not a new concept for us, this is the first time we have worked with security forces for an exercise like this. We hope to build a better understanding of operating under extreme field conditions over a continuous 24-hour period for an entire week. This includes sleeping in cots, eating MREs — [Meals, Ready-to-Eat] — and maintaining site integrity without departures. We are also assessing any overlooked necessities — everything from mental aspects like attention to details and errors to food, water, showers and restroom facilities.”
Special Operations Forces Medical Element members from Cannon Air Force Base, New Mexico, also participated in the exercise.
Always ready — be it for support of military operations or humanitarian aid, SOFME members are highly skilled medics that are tasked with taking the standard of care seen in hospitals and bringing that to the battlefield in the most skilled and advanced way possible.
“The exercise planners sent out a request to see if there were any medical assets in the area that could support, and we took the opportunity to highlight SOFME skills,” said a special operations forces medical element team member with the 27th Special Operations Wing. “The nearest hospital is approximately 40 minutes — give or take — from PCMS’ front gate. We’re here to take care of the folks and bridge that gap from the point of injury, or illness, all the way to the hospital.
“I didn’t know if I was going to be making a clinic out of a tent, a conex box or out of the bed of a pickup truck… it’s always an interesting challenge that we prepare for. People in the military medical community sometimes refer to what we do as ‘dirt medicine,’ – while that may sound cool, it also has a negative connotation. What we do is try to bring the hospital to the battlefield, emulating best practices you see in a hospital setting to an austere location. We take the unknown and still provide the best, life-saving care we can with what we have. It’s interesting — and a challenge for a medic.”
After a few days, just as quickly as the team had set up and established forward operations it was time to end the exercise and everyone to return home.
“A multi-functional team consisting largely of Defenders and Guardians will create tactical, operational and strategic level after action reports consisting of lessons learned… to showcase successes, challenges, obstacles and areas where policy changes can enable more units to conduct these types of exercises,” Beatty said. “These young warfighters from all services and functional areas are the future of the United States military and will continue to hone their edge to ensure that should deterrence fail, the United States will dominate the field of battle against any adversary now and into the future… our junior leaders in all branches today are better prepared, better trained, better equipped and more capable than ever before to ensure the continued security of the United States of America.”
The 21st and 50th SFS are part of Space Base Delta 1. To learn more, visit www.petersonschriever.spaceforce.mil.