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News | Oct. 16, 2020

JTF-CS Completes Deployment Exercise

By JTF-CS Public Affairs Joint Task Force Civil Support

FORT LEE, Va. -- As part of an exercise to verify its military air load and prepare the command for rapid deployment anywhere in the country, teams from Joint Task Force - Civil Support convoyed its deployable vehicles to Fort Lee and loaded them onto a C-17 Globemaster III cargo trainer, Oct. 14-15.

JTF-CS members practiced convoy procedures, loaded vehicles onto the trainer and secured them for air transport. Exercise KODA began with an early-morning alert to the command of a simulated nuclear blast in a U.S. metropolitan area.  The command members reported to headquarters and received direction to move and load the vehicles for transport.

Air Force Master Sgt. Christina Anders, JTF-CS noncommissioned officer in charge of air movements, said the training gave some new command members a chance to practice something they have never done before.

“Loading cargo or vehicles on a plane for some people can be worrying because you’re in a very tight, closed space as you drive onto the aircraft,” Anders said. “When we go on deployments – even on exercises – we are responsible for driving our own equipment onto the aircraft.”

She said those who went through the training gained comfort and confidence with the vehicles and procedures.

“It teaches them to focus on their spotters to get the vehicle into the aircraft safely,” Anders said. “They also learned how to tie equipment down in the aircraft.”

Anders said the training is important so drivers can load vehicles and equipment quickly, which allows the teams to respond to the mission location as quickly as possible.

“A typical load like this with six vehicles should take us less than 30 minutes to get on to the plane and tied down,” she said.

JTF-CS conducts air load training quarterly using both the C-17 trainer as well as practicing the loading vehicles on an actual aircraft.

When ordered, JTF-CS conducts chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear response and all-hazards defense support of civil authorities operations in support of the lead federal agency in order to save lives, mitigate human suffering and prevent further injury. The command is located in Mullan Hall, Joint Base Langley Eustis, and comprises active duty, reserve, National Guard and civilian members from the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines.