The White Falcon - 14.12.2001, Page 4

85th Group hones force protection
skills in exercise Northern Guardian
Story and photo by J02 Stephen Sheedy
The 85th Group conducted its quarterly
exercise, Northern Guardian, at NAS
Keflavik from Dec. 11-12.
According to 85th Group Superintendent
of Plans and Programs, Master Sgt. Todd
Williams, the exercise was designed to test
the 85th Group’s readiness to deal with a
variety of both air and ground threats.
“The exercise included drills such as self-
aid and buddy care, which tested an Airman’s
ability to give medical aid to themselves and
others. 85th Group’s ability to provide force
protection was also put to the test with drills
on how to handle mail bombs, weapons of
mass destruction and a major accident
response exercise. We also had unexploded
ordnance exercises to identify, mark and
report to see how our people responded,” said
Williams.
Exercise Northern Guardian also tested the
85th Group’s readiness to provide air defense
for the base and Iceland.
“The main mission of the 85th Group is to
provide air defense,” said Williams. “We
encountered encroachments of our airspace
by unknown aircraft and conducted live
intercepts.”
According to Williams the exercise also
forced the 85th Group to adapt to a constant-
ly changing situation.
“Since the bomb threats forced the evacu-
ation of many work
spaces, we were able
to see how some
units were able to
function after being
forced to evacuate
their buildings and
move to alternative
locations,” said
Williams.
The exercise
involved every unit
of the 85th Group.
Navy and Marine
units at NAS
Keflavik were not
participants.
According to
Williams, the Air
Force established a
A medic assists a wounded Airman during exercise Northern
Guardian Dec. 11. The two-day exercise tested the 85th Group’s abili-
ty to respond to a variety of threats.
special group of personnel to represent Navy
units not participating in the exercise, but
who would be called upon in a real situation.
“For the purpose of the exercise, we estab-
lished the Air Force Exercise Control Group,
which responded to calls that would normal-
ly go to the Public Works Department, Naval
Hospital Keflavik or Naval Security,” said
Williams.
At the close of the
exercise, the 85th
Group began the task
of evaluating what
happened and finding ways to improve for
the future.
“We always take away lessons learned and
we look at fixes from previous exercises then
reevaluate them to ensure they work. That’s a
big part of setting up an exercise, finding
problems that occurred in the past and taking
another look at them,” said Williams.

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Page 4
The White Falcon
December 14, 2001