AMC’s First Mobility Guardian to Include 23 Partner Nations

Twenty-three nations have signed on to either participate in or observe Air Mobility Command’s first Mobility Guardian exercise, making the Air Force’s first and largest mobility exercise a showcase of its capability in addition to training, AMC chief Gen. Carlton Everhart said. The exercise, which replaces the Air Mobility Rodeo as AMC’s largest exercise, will focus on practicing AMC’s entire mission, including airdropping about 1,000 paratroopers, setting up remote airfields, conducting aeromedical evacuation missions, in-air refueling, and other mission sets, Everhart said at AWS17. The exercise, planned to begin in late July at JB Lewis-McChord, Wash., will also include conducting fires with the Navy and Army, and will even include an industry day. Mobility crews have gotten “very good” at its current mission, including taking off from the East Coast, resting at a hub in Europe, and flying down “the boulevard” to different locations in the Middle East. However, AMC hasn’t practiced how to bring it all back home after executing the mission. Mobility Guardian will allow AMC to “exercise a lot of pieces of the puzzle,” Everhart said.