Andersen concludes "Beverly Palm 13-7" exercise Published Dec. 4, 2013 By Tech. Sgt. Zachary Wilson 36th Wing Public Affairs ANDERSEN AIR FORCE BASE, Guam -- The 36th Wing concluded exercise Beverly Palm 13-7 last week, earning a grade of "Effective" from base inspectors during the week-long event that tested the Wing's ability to conduct combat operations across the full spectrum of operations. The exercise, which featured a variety of scenarios ranging from a major airplane crash, mass casualty events, missile and ground attacks, fires, evacuations, emergency evacuations of civilians to the continental United States and many other events, was designed to test the base's ability to respond to a wide range of contingencies and keep the mission on track. Additionally, BP 13-7 was conducted in close coordination with 7th Air Force, the warfighting numbered Air Force headquarters and their associated units stationed in the Republic of Korea. According to 7th Air Force officials, their version, called "Beverly Bulldog 14-01," was a South Korean peninsula-wide event that was part of a continuous exercise schedule and was not related to any real-world threats or situations. The exercise tested units and supporting organizations on their wartime missions with an emphasis on the operational and tactical levels of war while simulated combat operations under hostile field conditions. "The main difference with this exercise from all the other ones we've done here recently is we were working in-synch with 7th AF's 607th Air Operations Center," said Lt. Col. Steve Harrold, 36th Wing Inspector General and senior base exercise planner, known as "Warlord." "We built our exercise injects based upon simulated intelligence generated by 7th Air Force for the region. Additionally, their AOC generated our air tasking orders for each sortie to use our bomber and tanker capabilities to support the fight. We generated actual sorties from Andersen to support the requirements of the larger exercise." Generating air power is only one of Andersen's functions during a contingency the scale of the scenario the Wing exercised. Additional missions including deploying forces forward and receiving civilian non-combatants from affected areas as a stop-over before arriving in the continental U.S. The base also experienced a number of simulated missile and ground attacks throughout the exercise to test the Wing's ability to protect the people and resources on the installation, recover from the attacks and continue to accomplish the mission. Andersen's newest tenant unit, the Army's Task Force Talon brought a new capability that base leaders have recently begun to integrate into exercise planning and execution. "The integration of the U.S. Army's Task Force Talon using the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system capabilities proved vital to the inspection," said Master Sgt. Alain Baylosis, the IG's Wing Inspection Team lead. "It provided Andersen realistic events based on their threat analysis and capability. The wing was able to execute and assess wartime response from incoming threats." The Wing's score of "Effective" is one out of five possible scores under the Air Force's new guidelines for inspection outlined in the re-written Air Force Instruction 90-201, The Air Force Inspection System. The other scores are "Outstanding," "Highly Effective," "Effective," "Marginally Effective," and "Ineffective." The Wing passed, in other words, but IG officials stress there are areas to continue focusing on. Several other exercises are scheduled over the first part of 2014 to further fine-tune Wing processes. "Overall, I was really happy with the Wing's focus and motivation during this past exercise," Harrold said. "In particular, the tenant units on this base who are not assigned to the 36th Wing were phenomenal in their support of this exercise and I can't thank them enough, particularly units like the, the 506 Expeditionary Air Refueling Squadron, 734th Air Mobility Squadron, U.S. Army's Task Force Talon, OSI and the Global Hawk detachment."