DOBBINS AIR RESERVE BASE, GA -- ABRAHAM LINCOLN CAPITAL AIRPORT, Ill. – Six airmen, and one officer from the 183d Wing Force Support Squadron took part in the Silver Flag 2022 training event Aug. 5-12 at Dobbins Air Reserve Base, Georgia.
Throughout the event, the airmen learned the skills needed to set up and maintain bare base functions, and they were assigned tasks to demonstrate those skills.
Those tasks involved assembling structures with the Small Shelter System, deploying the Single Pallet Expeditionary Kitchen and setting up a fully functional Mortuary Affairs Collection Point. Additionally, they helped assemble a Personnel Support for Contingency Operations team to process incoming members.
The 183d airmen came from the food services, lodging and mortuary affairs components of services, each having their own responsibilities during the training.
Silver Flag began with four days of classroom learning, then shifted to outside application of training, before finally concluding with a two day field training exercise to demonstrate the skills learned.
Food service airmen were responsible for the assembly and disassembly of the Triple S structures and the SPEK, and the preparation and handling of meals for members at the event.
Airmen in lodging had to overcome the challenges of accommodating incoming members while overcoming supply and shelter shortages.
The mortuary affairs airmen were responsible for setting up the MACP, and were given search and recovery scenarios accompanied by tests on how to properly process and transfer remains after recovery.
“Silver Flag is a course designed to dial in Ability to Survive and Operate skills and prepare for an environment that constantly changes due to enemy engagements or supply chain shortages,” said 1st Lt. Justin Releford, the 183d Wing Sustainment Services Flight commander.
Releford attended Silver Flag as part of the Command and Control component of the exercise. They were responsible for ensuring base functions could sustain a personnel increase from the initial 45 to the planned 2,000 across a 13-day timeframe.
The 183d airmen worked alongside the 105th FSS and multiple other units from various locations to complete the tasks they were assigned and overcome the obstacles presented while accomplishing those tasks.
“Silver Flag training serves as a reminder that we are all battlefield airmen,” said Releford. “It is our duty to adapt, overcome and, if we must, fight our enemies face to face in order to meet mission requirements.”
Silver Flag training has been held for over 20 years, and it is a deployment requirement for all services and support airmen that must be met every 48 months.