Kentucky Department of Military Affairs Fiscal Year 2011 – 2012 Annual Report Maj. Greg Schanding (left), civil engineering officer for the Kentucky Air National Guard’s 123rd Contingency Response Group, prepares a map of functional facilities near the flight line at Fort Campbell, Ky. while members (right) of the Kentucky Air National Guard’s 123rd Special Tactics Squadron check radio communications during an earthquake- response exercise May 14, 2012. More than 30 Kentucky Airmen deployed to demonstrate their preparedness for an initial response after a natural disaster. The Kentucky Air Guard's Initial Response Hub team is the first of its kind in the nation. No other unit in the U.S. military has the same breadth of capabilities housed in one unit, with the C-130 aircraft to permit immediate response. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Maxwell Rechel) Kentucky Air and Army National Guardsmen assigned to Kentucky's Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear and High Yield Explosive (CBRNE) Enhanced Response Force Package (CERFP) received a "T" rating, trained in 16 collective tasks required to validate a CERFP mission, upon completion of their initial certification Exercise Evaluation May 24 at the Muscatatuck Urban Training Center in Butlerville, Indiana. Evaluators said the CERFP “shattered all CERFP records" and had multiple best practices that would be taught to all CERFPs nationwide. Records were set in site set up, decontamination throughput, search operations and medical set-ups and treatment throughput. The CERFP is a joint-effort between Airmen from the Kentucky Air National Guard and and Army Guardsmen from the 301st Chemical Company, Morehead; 299th Chemical Company, Maysville; and 103rd Headquarters and Headquarters Detachment, Richmond. The CERFP is a high-speed team that must be ready to deploy within six hours of a CBRNE attack, with a mission to locate and extract victims, perform mass patient or casualty decontamination and treat and stabilize patients for evacuation. The team was validated on its ability to perform those tasks by Observer Controller Trainers from the Joint InterAgency Training and Education Center in St. Albans, WV, which provides Homeland Security training to Department of Defense (DoD) assets. Guardsmen assigned to the Kentucky Chemical Radiological Nuclear High-Yield Explosives Enhanced Response Force Package stabilize a mock casualty during training May 23 at Muscatatack Urban Training Center, Butlerville, Ind. (U.S. Army Photo by Pfc. Lerone Simmons, 133rd Mobile Public Affairs Detachment, Kentucky Army National Guard) The 123d Fatality Search and Recovery Team (FSRT) successfully demonstrated its mission capabilities during Exercise Patriot 12 in July 2012, supporting 1,100 military and civilian emergency responders at Volk Field, Wisconsin simulating a national response to a major earthquake. The team shared its expertise with a new FSRT assigned to the Indiana 101 Kentucky Department of Military Affairs Fiscal Year 2011 – 2012 Annual Report National Guard, training them in all aspects of the mission while also integrating operations with FSRTs form two other participating states. The 123d Operations Group sustained through much of the fiscal year its dedicated support to the U.S. Air Force Air Mobility Command Tactical Airlift Control Center (TACC) with one aircraft and two aircrews to fly worldwide airlift, disaster response, aeromedical and VIP support missions whenever tasked. In addition, 24 personnel from the 123d Operations Group supported Pacific Command with two C-130H aircraft, two air crews and support personnel for airdrop training exercise Cope South in Dhaka, Bangladesh in April. Tech. Sgt. Joshua Shelby, a loadmaster in the Kentucky Air National Guard, shares his knowledge of heavy equipment airdrop procedures with an audience of more than 20 Bangladesh Air Force Airmen at Kurmitola Air Base, Bangladesh, on April 22, 2012. The briefing is part of Cope South, a six-day exercise where participants are scheduled to conduct cooperative flight operations, including aircraft generation and recovery, low-level navigation, tactical airdrop and air-land missions. They also will conduct subject-matter expert exchanges in the operations, maintenance and rigging disciplines. (U.S. Air Force photo by 1st Lt. Cammie Quinn) The 123d Explosive Ordnance Disposal unit of the 123d Civil Engineer Squadron continued to be fully engaged at home and abroad. Members deployed for combat support operations in Iraq and Afghanistan and assisted Indiana and Kentucky state police bomb squads with proficiency training and IED tactics. The Kentucky Air National Guard's Master Sgt. Jason Smith reads a Shippers’ Declaration for Dangerous Goods to ensure that a 400-gallon liquid oxygen tank is properly prepared for flight Jan. 18, 2012, while deployed to McMurdo Station, Antarctica. Smith is supporting Operation Deep Freeze as NCOIC of joint inspection and rigging for the fourth rotation of the 2011-12 Deep Freeze season. (Courtesy Photo) Col. Barry Gorter, Commander, 123d Operations Group, deployed from July-November 2012 as the Deputy Director of Mobility Forces for U.S. Air Forces Central Command. Col. Neal Mullaney completed an 18-month tour, including a one-year deployment, as Commander of the third joint Kentucky Army and Air National Guard Agribusiness Development Team (ADT). Col. Mullaney is the first Air National Guard ADT Commander, one of 10 ADT Airmen who deployed to Afghanistan in April 2011. Lt. Col. Dallas Kratzer, Military Personnel Management Officer for the Headquarters KyANG, was selected as Deputy Commander of ADT IV, which deploys to Afghanistan in December 2012. Lt. Col. Matthew Stone, 123d Mission Support Group Deputy Commander, completed a six-month deployment as Deputy Commander, 466th Air Expeditionary Group in Kabul, Afghanistan, maintaining responsibility for oversight of 3,000 Joint Expeditionary Tasked Airmen assigned to 154 Army Tactical Control commanders. Maj. Katrina Kerberg, 123d Airlift Wing Installation Deployment Officer, completed a 6- month deployment to Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa (CJTF-HOA) as Chief of the Joint Logistics Operations Center (JLOC). The CJTF-HOA mission is to conduct operations in 102 Kentucky Department of Military Affairs Fiscal Year 2011 – 2012 Annual Report the Combined Joint Operations Area (CJOA) to enhance partner nation capacity, promote regional stability, prevent conflict, and protect US and coalition interests. Senior Airman Shelby Basham of the 123rd Force Support Squadron cooks ground beef for spaghetti sauce during training on a new field kitchen at the Kentucky Air National Guard Base in Louisville, Ky., on March 16, 2012. The kitchen can be deployed to the site of a natural disaster to provide hot meals for relief workers. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Maxwell Rechel) Awards and Recognition: The 123d Airlift Wing received its record-tying 15th Air Force Outstanding Unit Award in March 2012. The wing is tied with the 193d Special Operations Wing, Pennsylvania ANG, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; the 349th Air Mobility Wing at Travis AFB, California (Air Force Reserve); and the 116th Air Control Wing at Robbins AFB, Georgia, a joint National Guard- Active Duty unit. The 123d Special Tactics Squadron received the Meritorious Unit Award for exceptional performance in overseas contingency operations from 2009-2011. Combat Controllers MSgt. Robert Fernandez, MSgt. Aaron May, TSgt. Harley Bobay and TSgt. Jeff Kinlaw were awarded Bronze Star Medals for meritorious achievement by Lt. Gen. Eric Fiel, Commander of Air Force Special Operations Command, earned while deployed to Afghanistan in support of Operation ENDURING FREEDOM from November 2011 to May 2012. In addition, TSgt. Bryan Hunt was presented the Combat Action Medal and Purple Heart Medal. In the past three years alone, 123d STS Airmen were deployed overseas for more than 4,600 days, conducting over 950 ground-combat missions and 10,000 hours of Combat Search and Rescue operations credited with saving more than 50 personnel. Eight 123rd Special Tactics Squadron Combat Controllers received numerous military decorations at the Kentucky Air National Guard Base in Louisville, Ky. on June 28, 2012. The combat controllers are flanked by and were presented the decorations by Lt. Gen. Eric Fiel, commander of the U.S. Air Force Special Operations Command and the Adjutant General of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, Maj. Gen. Edward W. Tonini. (U.S. Air Force photo by Master Sgt. Phil Speck) Lt. Col. David Mounkes, 123d Contingency Response Group, and Lt. Col. George Tomica, 123d Maintenance Group, completed Air War College; Maj. Steve Campbell, 165th 103 Kentucky Department of Military Affairs Fiscal Year 2011 – 2012 Annual Report Airlift Squadron, completed Air Command and Staff College (ACSC); and Capt. John Hourigan, 165th Airlift Squadron, completed Squadron Officer School, all in residence at Maxwell AFB. SMSgt. Scott Andrews and MSgt. Aileen Tucker completed the Senior NCO Academy. MSgt. Aaron Foote and TSgts. Larry Abney, Baron Bodner, Darryl Brown, Kristin Kelly, Reid Morris, Natasha Perry, Christopher Ray and Alan Smith completed the NCO Academy. SSgts. Travis Carpenter, Stephen Hart, Anthony Hayden, Dakota Puckett and Braden Sikkema graduated from the Airman Leadership School. The wing had 16 Community College of the Air Force (CCAF) graduates in FY12. Lt. Col. Todd Lally earned the 2011 Air National Guard Individual Flight Safety Award. The award is given