Air Force Tech. Sgt. Charles Higgins, an Air Transportation craftsman from the 86th Contingency Response Group, buttons up window flaps on a DRASH quick erect shelter during a training exercise at Ramstein Air Base. (Ben Bloker / S&S)
Air Force Tech. Sgt. Charles Higgins, an Air Transportation craftsman from the 86th Contingency Response Group, buttons up window flaps on a DRASH quick erect shelter during a training exercise at Ramstein Air Base. (Ben Bloker / S&S)
Members of the 86th Contingency Response Group open up a DRASH. The three day exercise is designed to get all the diverse Air Force specialties represented in the CRG to work as a single unit, similar to how they deploy. (Ben Bloker / S&S)
Air Force Tech. Sgt. Drew Hallead, a Security Forces craftsman from the 86th Contingency Response Group, stakes down the flooring of a DRASH. The 86th CRG is the Air Force’s "first-in" team designed to secure a bare-bones air field and establish operations. During the last year the unit deployed to 69 countries. (Ben Bloker / S&S)
RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany — The call could come at any time. The place could be anywhere.
And the mission could be almost anything, from supporting humanitarian relief in Africa to combat operations in the Middle East.
When the Air Force needs an airfield in some far-flung country across the globe, it turns to its contingency response groups.
The call to the 86th Contingency Response Group headquarters at Ramstein has come often. While the group of nearly 300 airmen is certainly not the largest unit on base, it is easily one of the most deployed and most diverse.
Name any major military operation in Europe, Africa or the Middle East since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and there is a good chance the group had a part in it.
The group, consisting of 40 different specialties, deployed to 69 countries in 2006 alone. While the unit has been busy, airmen such as Master Sgt. Chuck Cremeans say they love the work.
One of the group’s two deployable medics, he has been with the unit for more than five years.
“I don’t want to leave,” said Cremeans, who has been in the Air Force for 22 years. “I like the mission. It’s very different. It’s high speed and there’s no drag … I like that.”
The unit, known as the 86th CRG for short, is practicing its ability to set up a small tent city this week during a three-day exercise on base. The group tries to do similar training throughout the year, but that can be a challenge because of deployments. Some members are gone as many as 200 days a year, helping set up airfields or providing security for runways used by Air Force cargo planes.
The unit is one of the few in the Air Force that requires a portion of its personnel to be “jump qualified” and trained to parachute into hostile territory. During the Iraq war in March 2003, members of the Ramstein group parachuted into northern Iraq with Army paratroops with the 173rd Airborne Brigade.
The Air Force created the groups six years ago after lessons learned from military operations in the Balkans. The Ramstein-based unit was the first established and helped bring together airmen dedicated to responding to late-breaking missions anywhere on the globe. Before, the Air Force cherry-picked airmen from across different units when the need arose.
The groups consist of a range of people, from fuel specialists to engineers. Because they often deploy in small teams, members must do many different jobs to get the mission done. That requires every airman to be able to do things such as putting up the tents and providing force protection. Each airman must be trained to shoot several different weapons.
“We really are a slice of the Air Force and its incredibly diverse group of people that come together,” said Lt. Col. Rob Redanz, commander of the group’s 86th Air Mobility Squadron.
“It truly is like a family,” he said. “It is more like a family than any squadron I have been in and it’s because we’re so small.”
Part of the goal of the exercise this week is for the airmen to learn how to work together much like they would in an austere location. The end of summer has brought new people to the group who could use the practice.
Just like other commands throughout the Air Force, 86th Contigency Response Group commander Col. Kevin Ross said they have had to deal with fewer people than they would like. But, he said, the mission remains important and will likely remain in demand.
“I expect we’ll be gainfully employed for years to come,” Ross said.
