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185th Members Prepare for a Busy Year

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Rich Murphy
  • 185th PA
Sioux City, IOWA --  The men and women of the 185th Air Refueling Wing (ARW) met this weekend at Western Iowa Tech Community College (WIT) to prepare for a busy 2011 schedule. Members participated in several mandatory training sessions and briefings in order to update their training records and gain information on the latest plans for the unit.

Col. Ed Sauley, Interim Commander of the 185th ARW said, "2011 is going to be incredibly hectic. Between the many deployments, exercises, and inspections, we will all be working hard."

Chief Master Sgt. David Miller, Command Chief of the 185th, added, "Looking at the increased responsibilities many of us are being asked to take on, taking care of important annual training is difficult. By getting away from the base, we are able to collectively take care of this training and get everyone on the same page."

Many members will be deployed over the next year to several different locations world wide. In addition, the 185th will be working with McConnell Air Force Base in an Operational Readiness Inspection (ORI) this year.

Sauley said, "The goal of this meeting is to communicate our training goals as we start the new year, to better prepare ourselves for our upcoming missions."

Master Sgt. Mark Soule, one of the presenters at the meeting, led a discussion on human trafficking. Soule said, "Human trafficking is one of those topics that is important, but it does not always fit into our trainings during drill weekends. This meeting is a great opportunity to talk about the problem and take care of the training."

Members completed training in force protection, information protection, suicide awareness, human trafficking, and sexual abuse prevention. They also listened to briefings covering changes in their benefits and new services available.

For more information about the upcoming missions of the 185th ARW, contact Public Relations Officer 2nd Lt. Jeremy McClure at jeremy.mcclure@ang.af.mil.