JOINT BASE MCGUIRE-DIX-LAKEHURST, N.J. -- To better train and equip Airmen for the future fight, the 423rd Training Squadron (TRS) from the U.S. Air Force Expeditionary Operations School at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst has incorporated the KingFish Agile Combat Employment (ACE) game as the capstone exercise for Air Mobility Command’s (AMC) Rapid Global Mobility Course (RGMC) 3.
During the five-days of instruction, students receive lessons delivered by AMC’s subject matter experts in rapid global mobility. Utilizing the information received, students apply the lessons to scenario-based educational challenges, where they engage with instructors to gain a strategic perspective on how the core competencies of rapid global mobility integrate to make AMC and the Joint Force maneuver.
Implementing KingFish ACE into the RGMC 3 provides students the opportunity to better understand ACE and Multi-Capable Airmen concepts in a more tangible fashion they can visualize, learn from, and comprehend.
The first course to incorporate the KingFish ACE game trained 32 students, including two wing command chiefs, from 19 different Air Force specialty codes across nine different geographic locations.
“Being able to have Airmen from different types of Air Force specialty codes work together in teams encourages them to think broad scope, and outside the realm of their everyday career in the military,” said Tech. Sgt. Emesh Fernando, 423rd TRS instructor. “There is an emphasis on ACE concepts while reiterating the four tenets of RGM: airlift, aerial refueling, air mobility support, and aeromedical evacuation.”
The game was designed by Col. Troy Pierce, to highlight a model scenario that takes place within the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command (INDOPACOM) area of operations using the ACE model, which prioritizes deployment to austere locations with agile teams that leave small footprints. Each team must understand the relationships between task, threat, capabilities, and timing of a pacing challenge adversary to be successful.
“The true benefit of this capstone is its ability to have Airmen think from an MCA perspective, as we progress toward a more multi-capable functioning mentality on future missions in relation to the pacing challenge outlined in the latest National Defense Strategy,” Fernando said. “We are not just playing a game, or connecting topics discussed, we are focusing on fostering discussions and inspiring a change of how we have thought about operations overseas. It’s our responsibility to prepare Airmen for the next fight and better enable our students to think toward potential operations, especially within the INDOPACOM theater.”
Throughout the course of the capstone, the Airmen learn components of mission planning and execution such as mission briefs, understanding the concepts of load planning, identifying critical capabilities, host-nation limiting factors, working together as a team, and organizing team dependencies while remaining flexible enough to act on information that is not always complete.
“Integration of KingFish Ace is part of a deliberate evolution in the training delivered by the 423rd Training Squadron and across the Air Force Expeditionary Operations School," said Lt. Col. Robert Switzer, 423rd TRS commander. "Our instructors and courses are aimed squarely at building a winning framework for developing and employing strong, war-ready Airmen and airbase weapons systems that will dominate in any conflict.”
Acceptance into RGMC 3 requires each student to complete the RGMC 1 and RGMC 2 courseware as a pre-requisite. RGMC 1 and RGMC 2 is available for all Air Force members to enroll in. Information regarding these courses can be found within the myLEARNING AMC. Personnel that desire to attend RGMC 3 are nominated by their wings for attendance.