Moody AFB exercises this month

Heard choppers lately? You’re about to hear more: it’s spring Moody Air Force Base exercises!

PR carried by the Chamber of Commerce 16 April 2013, JOINT ARMY AND AIR FORCE EXERCISE, April 21-26,

MOODY AIR FORCE BASE, Ga. — A joint military exercise will be conducted from April 21 to April 26 on military training areas at Moody Air Force Base, Ga., and in the vicinity of the surrounding communities.

The 3rd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment, based at Fort Benning, Ga. is conducting the exercise along with units from the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment from Fort Campbell, Ky., 820th Base Defense Group at Moody AFB, and Air Force Special Operations Command from Hurlburt Field, Fla.

Soldiers and Airmen will use

training ammunition and other training devices to make the military exercise as realistic as possible. Additionally, a number of different rotary wing and fixed wing aircraft will be flying during the exercise.

There will be periods of increased air traffic including low-flying aircraft, both helicopters and airplanes, during hours of darkness. Increased air traffic and noise will be associated with a large airborne operation involving Army Rangers and Air Force Special Operations Forces.

This is a routine exercise, conducted periodically to maintain a high level of operational readiness for the military personnel involved. Safety surveys and risk assessments are thoroughly prepared before and during military exercises. Moody Air Force Base and the Army Special Operations community are extremely sensitive to the impact such exercises have on local citizens and intend to train safely and courteously. Every measure to reduce the amount of noise associated with the exercise will be taken. We appreciate the support of the citizens residing in the surrounding areas as this training is executed.

The 75th Ranger Regiment is a lethal, agile and versatile special operations force that conducts forcible entry operations and special operations raids across the entire spectrum of combat. Tough, realistic military exercises conducted regularly give the Rangers a decisive edge for real-world missions. Exercises such as this are the best method to test their readiness capabilities.

The 820th Base Defense Group was activated in 1997 as an exceptionally trained force protection unit of 12 Air Force Specialty Codes with an airborne capability. At a moment’s notice, the group provides the expeditionary Air Force’s only worldwide deployable, “first-in”, fully integrated, multidiscipline, highly qualified, self-sustaining force protection capability. There are no other security forces or force protection units in the Air Force with the extensive amount of training, diverse deployment history and multi-service validation as the 820 BDG.

For more information about the training exercise, please contact the 23d Wing Public Affairs Office at 229-257-4146 or 229-257-4140.

Oddly, this PR is not in Moody’s own PR web page, which doesn’t seem to have been updated for a couple of years. Not on Moody’s Current Announcements web page, either. Not on Moody’s facebook page, although that does have pictures of a February 2013 exercise.

-jsq