Airmen from Osan Air Base were deployed to Gwangju during a recent training event to test their ability to rapidly deploy assets on the Korean peninsula. Airmen performing outside of their career fields in an unfamiliar environment is the U.S. Air Force’s Agile Combat Employment (ACE) concept in action. Multi-capable Airmen refers to the ACE concept of training Airmen to do basic tasks outside of their usual specialty in order to be more well-rounded. Tech. Sgt. Christopher Dial, a 51st Security Forces Squadron Airman, assisted crew chiefs as they marshalled an F-16 Fighting Falcon into its parking spot at Gwangju Air Base, Aug. 16, 2022.
“The more Airmen that we train to be mulit-capable, the less people we have to take with us when we deploy. This is vital for our flexibility and allows us to operate from anywhere,” said Maj. Joseph Basala, 36th Fighter Squadron pilot.
“Maintenance is leading the way in training our Airmen to be multi-capable. We are preparing them to be able to move anywhere, set up operations and immediately start launching jets,” said Master Sgt. Mathew Gibbs, 25th Fighter Generation Squadron production superintendent.
To accomplish this, Airmen have taken on training and additional roles within their squadrons to practice maintaining their mission requirements and operations tempo with minimal manning if necessary. The ultimate goal of ACE is to remove the Air Force’s dependency on main operation bases and instead to project air power from smaller dispersed forward operating locations. ACE takes into account that in a future fight, Airmen might operate in contested and degraded environments. That is why the U.S. Air Force are here training at Gwangju. Preparing them to survive, adapt and thrive in any theater and in all conditions.
Osan Air Base is a United States Air Force (USAF) base located near Songtan Station in the city of Pyeongtaek, South Korea, 64 km (40 mi) south of Seoul. Despite its name, Osan AB is not within Osan City, which is 7.5 km (4.7 mi) to the north. The base is the home of the headquarters for Seventh Air Force, Pacific Air Forces’ 51st Fighter Wing, and a number of tenant units. The base is also the headquarters of the Republic of Korea Air Force (ROKAF) Operations Command. Osan Air Base is also the departure and arrival point for U.S. government-contracted “Patriot Express” flights bringing service members and their family members to South Korea.
