CAMP GUERNSEY, Wyo. –
The hard, rubber tires bounced over the rocky road of the North Training Area at Camp Guernsey, Wyo., as the vehicle's occupants strained to see out the small, dust-covered windows, Oct. 19.
The Airmen inside the vehicle scanned the open fields and hills of the range, looking for something out of the ordinary - for something to move when it wasn't supposed to.
"I saw something move by that rock," said Airman 1st Class Hollie Quinn, 790th Missile Security Forces Squadron convoy response force team member, as she pressed her finger against the window in the direction of the movement she saw. "It's right there. It looked like two guys just sat down behind the rock."
The Airman manning the turret swung the heavy, armored shield toward the direction Quinn was pointing, charged the mounted machine gun and prepared to engage the potential threat. This was day five of the Road Warrior exercise, which instructed Airmen how to safeguard, defend and recover a convoy carrying a nuclear resource.
Today, the Airmen were showing how to respond to threats while engaged in a rolling convoy.
"We don't get training like this back at base," said Quinn, who is stationed at F.E. Warren Air Force Base, Wyo. "Here you are thrown into different scenarios. It's more realistic when everything goes down."
When things go down, Quinn and her team respond by instantly establishing a 360 degree perimeter around the vehicle. They move with the efficiency of having practiced these maneuvers hundreds of times.
"It becomes muscle memory," said Staff Sgt. James Hodge, 790th MSFS convoy response force squad leader. "We practice these vehicle dismounts so we don't go into code black and shut down."
Code black is when an Airman's fight-or-flight response results in a freeze mentality. They can't act or react to the incoming threat - which can be fatal. The training at Road Warrior is specifically designed to remove code black from possible reactions. Airmen are drilled to respond instinctively, with the seriousness of their job forefront in their minds.
"The main reason we are doing this is because we transport nuclear resources," said Master Sgt. Michael Canne, 620th Ground Combat Training Squadron additional duty first sergeant. "If the resource fell into enemy hands the results could be catastrophic. We take this training very seriously."
As the Airmen tenaciously engaged the opposing force and protected the nuclear resource, they steadily improved their communication and coordinated response.
"It's all about the team," said Quinn. "We have to know how the team works together in order to engage the threats and protect the resource."
Editor's Note: This story is part of a series highlighting Road Warrior X, the nuclear-convoy training exercise held annually at Camp Guernsey, Wyo.