MARTINSBURG, W.Va. –
The 167th Airlift Wing completed a four-day Readiness Exercise Validation event, Sentry Unicorn 2024, at Shepherd Field, Martinsburg, West Virginia, April 21.
Held in tandem with the West Virginia National Guard’s Sentry Storm 2024 exercise, the REV gauged the wing’s ability to self-assess its mobilization, operation and sustainment capabilities in contested and degraded environments.
A team of twenty Air Mobility Command inspectors observed the 167th Inspector General’s Wing Inspection Team (WIT) as the WIT assessed more than 300 167th AW Airmen executing mission essential tasks during the exercise.
“It’s important that we are properly self-assessing and reporting as a wing,” said Lt. Col. Tony Henry, 167th AW Inspector General. “When it’s time to mobilize, we need to ensure our personnel are as trained, prepared, equipped and ready as we have reported them to be.”
Exercise participants worked through 330 injects to demonstrate various aspects of the wing’s mission to include deployment processing, loading and launching aircraft, defending the base, emergency and attack procedures and casualty care. Thirteen C-17 Globemaster aircraft missions transported nearly 200,000 pounds of cargo and 197 passengers during the exercise.
With a focus on joint interoperability, support from five other units enhanced the realism of the exercise scenarios.
An Integrated Combat Turn, or rapid re-arming and refueling, was conducted on two A-10’s from the Michigan Air National Guard’s 127th Wing, between their simulated combat missions.
Blackhawks from West Virginia National Guard’s C. Company, 1-150th Assault Battalion, C. Company, 2-104th General Support Aviation Battalion and C-130 aircraft from the 130th Airlift Wing supported personnel recovery and aeromedical evacuation scenarios.
Additionally, the 167th transported a High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) from the 5-113th Field Artillery Battalion, North Carolina Army National Guard, for a HIMARS Rapid Infiltration (HIRAIN) at Fort Liberty, North Carolina.
“I asked a lot of our wing during this exercise, and I couldn’t be prouder of the efforts demonstrated by our Airmen,” said Col. Martin Timko, 167th Airlift Wing commander. “We don’t want to settle. We want to continually improve and continually build confidence in our members so they can go downrange and handle anything that is thrown at them.”
The REV is one part of a continual evaluation process that culminates in a capstone visit. The next capstone visit for the 167th AW will be in 2026.