Polar Force Exercise Trains Soldiers to be Multifunctional

U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Mikana Halloran, flight medic, and U.S. Army Maj. Titus Rund, flight surgeon, both with the 2-104th G. Company, 2nd Battalion, 2nd Detachment, Air Ambulance, Alaska Army National Guard, load an Airman with a simulated injury into an AKARNG UH-60L Black Hawk for a medical evacuation during Polar Force 20-1 at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, Oct. 8, 2019. All images: Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Emily Farnsworth.

October 10th marked the end of Polar Force 20-1, a biannualtwo-week mission readiness exercise designed to test multiple elements of theAgile Combat Employment concept of operations. The exercise allowed soldiersand airmen from units across Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, todevelop and strengthen the skills required in austere environments and adversesituations.

This iteration saw a lot of firsts, including a helicopter medical evacuation of patients with simulated injuries, an Expeditionary Medical Support System tent in a simulated deployed environment, a Tactical Combat Casualty Care course (TCCC), and the use of drones to map a runway.

Civil Engineer Explosive Ordnance Disposal airmen clearedDual-Purpose Improved Conventional Munitions during Polar Force 20-1 tosimulate an attack on an airfield.

“We blew off 400 quarter-blocks of C-4 during thistraining,” said U.S. Air Force Col. Mike Staples, 673d CE Group commander.“This training event sets the stage for the next Polar Force in the spring whenwe’ll test our rapid airfield damage repair capability. This and othercapabilities are critical to success in the multi-domain fight.”

CE Airmen on JBER partnered with the Air Force CivilEngineer Center using drones to view and map a runway prior to and after thesimulated attack, providing the ability to identify damage the naked eye can’tsee, said U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Taona Enriquez, Camp Mad Bull commander.

“Over time, we’ll be able to see those overlays on top ofeach other and see the destruction that’s happened to the airfield, not onlyfrom attack but from wear and tear,” Enriquez said. “It’s giving us abaseline.”

This iteration of Polar Force also boasted the first Level 1 TCCC training course in the Air Force, the Department of Defense’s replacement for self-aid buddy care, Enriquez said. Airmen with the 673d Medical Group taught 118 airmen from different career fields medical skills that are useful not only in deployed environments, but also in providing immediate life-saving care to any trauma victim.

A U.S. Airman assigned to the 673d Air Base Wing marks a find during a search and recovery exercise during Polar Force 20-1 at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, Oct. 9, 2019. U.S.

A major part of the exercise was the defense and operationof a simulated deployed base, Camp Mad Bull, as the hub of a simulated medicalmission.

An element of the ACE concept is to deploy with a smallerfootprint and less airmen. To accomplish this, airmen must learn how to performtasks and functions of other career fields to augment each other when needed.Airmen who had never set up a military tent before were setting up living andworking areas; civil engineers were supplementing defenders and learning how torefuel an F-22 Raptor; and paralegals were doing search and recovery for asimulated downed aircraft.

“In order for the ACE concept to be successful, we have tolearn to be multifunctional, which is one thing we absolutely accomplished atCamp Mad Bull,” Enriquez said. “There’s no doctrine written for this. We weregiven the space and time to test this and that’s what we’re doing across allechelons.”

“It was inspiring to see airmen from different career fieldslearn something and be able to apply it,” Quam said. “We trained CE Airmen howto do litter carries on a live helicopter and two hours later, they wereloading patients and taking patients off of live helicopters. They had neverdone that before in their life.”

In addition to cross-functional training, Polar Force is anexercise that allows base leadership to identify the strengths and weaknessesof each wing’s internal capabilities and identify the strengths and weaknessesthat arise when working together. Identifying those weaknesses is used as anopportunity for improvement.

When EOD airmen were demonstrating their ability to operatein mission-oriented protective posture level 4 in a simulated hazardousenvironment, they had an issue pulling the firing pin with gloves on, Enriquezsaid. EOD leadership challenged its airmen to visit the JBER innovation lab touse the 3D printer to create something to pull the firing pin while wearinggloves.

The vision is for Camp Mad Bull to be a regional training site, and exercises such as Polar Force lay the foundation.

Source: Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson