403rd Wing Reservists ride alongside Vehicle Ops Airmen

  • Published
  • By by Airman 1st Class Curt Beach
  • 2nd Bomb Wing Public Affairs
BARKSDALE AIR FORCE BASE, La. --  Five reserve Airmen assigned to the 403rd Logistics Readiness Squadron, Keesler Air Force Base, Mississippi, came to Barksdale for real-world training with 2nd LRS vehicle operations Airmen here June 1-15.

"We've received the opportunity to do a lot of hands-on training here," said Staff Sgt. John Simmons, 403rd LRS safety representative. "Some of the things the active duty Airmen do on a daily basis are things we only get to do once a month. It's the kind of training you hope to get on an annual tour. We need to be deployment-ready at all times, and this tour helps us to be at that level."

This annual, two-week tour arms the reservists with necessary skills and knowledge on vehicles and equipment their home station doesn't have available. Working together with Barksdale Airmen, they received training on vehicle recovery, wreckers, towing vehicles, tractor trailers and documenting cargo operations.

"The goal is to see how we assimilate with the total force," said Capt. Fiona Pham, 2nd LRS deployment and distribution flight commander. "This tour gets the reservists important training they need and lets us know what we need to have in place for back-filling."

When P5 deployment tempos begin October 1, 2nd LRS is anticipating a significant manpower loss, so it's critical to have capable, experienced people ready to fill the gaps.

"When these deployments kick off, the [B-52s] will be staying, people will be going, but the mission must go on," said Pham. "We know there will be guys like these who will be ready to hit the ground running."