Mobility Airmen deploy for Joint Exercise Published Sept. 11, 2011 621st Contingency Response Wing Public Affairs JOINT BASE MCGUIRE-DIX-LAKEHURST, N.J. -- Hundreds of Mobility Airmen have deployed to the Joint Operational Access Exercise Sept. 6 through 13 at locations near Fort Bragg, N.C. JOAX is a week-long exercise to prepare Airmen and Soldiers to respond to worldwide crises and contingencies. The exercise will also assess and certify the combat readiness of leadership, planning staff, and air crews to accomplish their combat employment and sustainment mission in an expeditionary setting. JOAX simulates a combined strategic inter-theater and operational intra-theater airdrop in support of a Joint Task Force. "By interacting and working closely with their joint partners, our Airmen participating in JOAX are able to develop refined processes and procedures that can potentially enhance the effectiveness of real-world operations," said Col. Chris Patterson, 621st Contingency Response Wing commander. In addition to contingency response forces from Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, participants include Soldiers from the 82nd Airborne Division; U.S. Air Force C-130 and C-17 Globemaster IIIs and various other Air Force support assets such as maintenance, security forces and tactical air control party members. "Readiness is the foundation of, and the key to our ability to rapidly respond," said Lt. Col. John Krystyniak, 817th Global Mobility Squadron commander. "This exercise will verify that our training prepares us for whatever mission we may be tasked with, wherever it may take us. Our Airmen are disciplined, cross-functional problem solvers. This is their bread and butter." The CRW specializes in rapidly establishing hubs for air mobility operations worldwide, to include remote or damaged locations, on short notice. Previous deployments include humanitarian assistance support missions to Haiti, Pakistan and Japan, and contingency deployments in support of military operations in Eastern Europe, Afghanistan and South America. JOAX photos are available HERE.