Controlled conditions

By Private John Wellfare

WGCDR Forster Breckenridge addresses EXCON personnel at a morning briefing.

Photo by CPL Kirk Peacock

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* While No. 381 Expeditionary Combat Support Squadron activated RAAF Scherger, the exercise control element coordinated day-to-day events within the threat scenario.

EXERCISE Control (EXCON) personnel coordinating activities at RAAF Scherger had to balance valuable training with the need to have the base online in time to support air operations.

Commander of the No. 395 Expeditionary Combat Support Wing-based EXCON detachment, Wing Commander Forster Breckenridge, said it had been important that training activities at RAAF Scherger did not hamper the broader Exercise Kakadu.

“It’s about trying to balance the opportunities for training in a threat environment with the actual requirements of getting an airfield ready and that makes it pretty hard,” he said.

EXCON had deployed to RAAF Scherger to implement a realistic threat scenario and initiate a range of events to help achieve predetermined training outcomes for the deployed base support squadron, No. 381 Expeditionary Combat Support Squadron.

The EXCON detachment comprised a range of subject matter experts to provide feedback on the deployed forces’ response to the scenarios presented.

No. 381 Expeditionary Combat Support Squadron had about 10 days to activate RAAF Scherger before F-111s from No. 1 Squadron arrived to support Exercise Kakadu, the international exercise taking place across Australia’s top end. It was the first time the bare base had supported fast jet operations.

“If we started a big ground war here, which limits what the jets can do, that will limit the wider Exercise Kakadu, which is what we’re here to support indirectly,” Wing Commander Breckenridge said.

The personnel tasked with activating RAAF Scherger weren’t the only ones to learn from the activities run by EXCON.

“It’s invaluable to all of us at EXCON, from the detachment commander down.

“We have two orders groups a day. The morning orders group is the one where we go over the day’s [upcoming] activities and actually assign tasks, and the night orders group is where we get together and look at where we’ve come during the day.

“Many months of planning go into the exercise control group to develop a main-event list, and that list contains scenarios designed to achieve the agreed training objectives of the unit.

“What we have is a whole operating environment where everything that happens in and around the airfield is linked to an overall opposing force objective.

“We also provide a higher control so they can test their information flow right from the grass roots all the way through to their higher headquarters.”

Wing Commander Breckenridge said immersing the base support squadron in a realistic threat scenario was the best way to test all members of the unit and identify shortfalls in operating procedures including command and control.

“You can do tabletop exercises, but ultimately there’s nothing better than getting out on the ground and having scenarios as realistic as we can make them to develop people.

“It’s teaching us about our equipment and about our procedures so we can adapt and make sure we can achieve the job.”

 

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