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By Airman 1st Class Anneliese Kaiser 92nd Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs
Fairchild Airmen participated in the U.S. Strategic Command exercise, Global Thunder 22, Nov. 2-10, with the fundamental mission to deter, detect and prevent strategic attack against the United States and its allies. Exercise Global Thunder is an annual command and control exercise designed to train and assess U.S. Strategic Command forces’ readiness as a strategic deterrent force. “This is a global strategic exercise to showcase our strength,” said Master Sgt. Brandon Curcio, 92nd Air Refueling Wing Inspector General team exercise planner. “It’s an incredibly important exercise that helps us send a signal to our allies, and our adversaries, that we’re always ready and out there extending our global reach.” Training exercises like Global Thunder involve extensive planning and coordination to provide Fairchild’s Airmen unique training opportunities, which ensure they remain always ready to deter, detect and respond to strategic attacks against the U.S. and its allies 24/7. “It is a lot of moving parts,” Curcio said. “There’s an extreme timeline that we have to work with, and the closer we get to the event, things begin to change a lot, which forces us to quickly adapt and overcome with our planning process.” Along with Team Fairchild’s primary mission of providing aerial refueling, the 92nd Air Refueling Wing plays a vital role in the strategic deterrence mission by enabling and extending the global reach of USSTRATCOM’s forces and its allies. “I think it gives the Airmen involved a chance to understand that we are more than just an air refueling wing,” Curcio said. “By participating in this exercise [Global Thunder], our Airmen are able to see the impact and role they play in deterring adversaries, and ensuring the success of the mission.” By successfully executing exercise Global Thunder, Team Fairchild can continue to be prepared with an enhanced mobility response to deter attacks against the United States and its allies. “Global Thunder is an intense exercise that allows us to simulate a high stress environment that we don’t normally experience, and I’m extremely proud of our Airmen and their efforts for successfully executing such an important exercise,” said Col. Cassius T. Bentley, 92nd ARW Wing commander. “Our ultimate goal was to show the world our readiness capability in supplying rapid global mobility and we definitely did that.”