621st Contingency Response Wing | |
---|---|
Active | March 2005 – Present |
Country | United States |
Branch | Air Force |
Type | Rapid Mobility, Contingency Response, Initial Airbase Holding |
Size | 650 military and civilian personnel |
Part of | Air Mobility Command |
Garrison/HQ | Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst |
Nickname(s) | "The Devil Raiders" |
Engagements | Operation Unified Response |
Commanders | |
Current commander |
Colonel Charles R. Henderson |
The 621st Contingency Response Wing (621 CRW) is a wing of the United States Air Force based out of Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, New Jersey.
The 621 CRW is responsible for training and rapidly deploying personnel to quickly open airfields in remote locations and extend Air Mobility Command's ability to deploy people and equipment around the globe.
Most of the operations can be classified by three types, Joint Task Force - Port Opening (JTF-PO), where USAF and US Army units create distribution chains, Expeditionary Air Mobility Support, (EAMS) where CRW personnel augment existing forces for the mission, and Initial Airbase Opening (IAO)
In 2005, the 621st was created with four groups, eight squadrons and ten geographically separated operating locations aligned with major US Army and Marine Corps combat units. The wing maintains a ready corps of light, lean and agile mobility support forces able to respond as directed by the 618th Air and Space Operations Center (Tanker Airlift Control Center) at Scott Air Force Base, Ill., in order to meet Combatant Command wartime and humanitarian requirements.
Following the 2010 Haiti earthquake of 12 January, the 817th Contingency Response Group deployed to Toussaint L'Ouverture International Airport, Port-au-Prince, Haiti in support of Operation Unified Response. Before the earthquake, Toussaint L'Ouverture handled an average of 20 flights a day. Immediately following the earthquake this number jumped dramatically. At its peak on 19 January, more than 160 aircraft landed and were safely unloaded by the CRW—an 800 percent increase in air traffic from pre-disaster levels.