LRS Airmen impress active-duty hosts

  • Published
  • By Lt. Col. Kimberly Lalley
  • 514th Air Mobility Wing public affairs
JOINT BASE MCGUIRE-DIX-LAKEHURST, N.J. --  For the last two weeks in June, 16 Airmen from the 514th Logistics Readiness Squadron and one Airman from the 35th Aerial Port Squadron spent their annual training at Aviano Air Base, Italy.

This was the first time they were sent out as a team and they represented the entire unit.

They completed a weapons inventory that normally would take five days in one-and-a-half days.

The team also assisted with a redeployment to Royal Air Force Lakenheath, an air station in England.

The Reserve vehicle maintainers made such an impression that the leaders at Aviano's 31st Logistics Readiness Squadron are hoping to bring some of them back. 

The team started each morning with physical training and exercised with the active-duty unit they were assisting. According to Lt. Col. Stephanie Aaron, 514th LRS commander, they performed exceptionally well. The Airmen received valuable training and worked hard and were thrilled to visit places like Rome, Florence and Venice in their down time. 

For the last two weeks of July, 12 Airmen from 514th LRS and one from the 88th Aerial Port Squadron and one from the 35th APS participated in a similar annual training tour at Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany. The results were also exceptional.
Aaron said LRS has never gone on an annual as a unit prior to the two European training trips. 

The 514th LRS is authorized 43 positions, and everyone that was current on their fitness and readiness participated in this overseas training. Normally annual training is spent at home doing exercises.

Several different Air Force career fields were represented in the annual training tours, including vehicle log maintenance, supplies, fuels, logistics plans and quality assurance. 

Annual trainings tours like these foster commonality, Aaron said.

It takes an active-duty Airman two-to-three years to become qualified as a  logistics readiness officer, but it takes a Reserve Airman approximately four-to-six years for the same qualifications. The biggest challenge she said is to rotate the logistic readiness officers between assignments with aerial port units and logistics readiness units.

Normally, the Logistics Air Force Specialty Codes don't comingle. It's necessary for QA's to be well rounded and know each other's jobs.

With these annual trainings, everyone worked together as a team and got to know one another.

Their efforts paid off as the Freedom Wing Airmen were recognized as a cut above several other Reserve units who performed their annual tour overseas. Of the three Reserve logistics squadrons that assisted at Spangdahlem, only the 514th LRS was invited back. 

The teams sent to Italy and Germany were great ambassadors as they completed valuable training in Europe, Aaron said.