The phone began to ring on the other end of the line that early afternoon,
“Security Forces Training, Tech Sergeant Mueller.” Came the reply on the other end of the
line.
“Hey Tech Sergeant, this is Tech Sergeant Lombardi with the 173d Security Forces Squadron out in Klamath Falls, Oregon.”
“Well how’s it going sir?”
“It’s another day in Awesome’ville out here, how about you?”
A light hearted laugh came over the phone, “Awesome’ville! I like it! … Man we’re just plugging away at another day out here in Boise. Living the dream and enjoying life.”
“Hell’z yeah! That’s great to hear! Well… the reason I’m calling today. I have two of my DSG guys that keep pestering us for coming out to Boise and doing a joint Annual Training event, your squadron and mine. What do you think?”
There was a slight pause on the phone before the exhaled breath came across, “Yeah, your Master Sergeant called me the other day to ask about that… Do they realize how much planning and hours we’re gonna have to do to accomplish this idea?”
I then let out my own large breath before I continued, “No… I don’t think they do. But, that’s why there is us. If we start planning this now… A year in advanced, I think we might just be able to pull this stunt off.”
Another pause came across the phone. “Alright brother… Let’s go ahead and start working this. I will bring it up to my leadership here within the next week and we can simply start working it from there.”
“Sounds good Bro-Bro, I’ll do the same thing on my end, start working some concepts here and send them your way. We’ll just tag-team this thing till the end.”
The phone call ended, and my mind started grinding gears for how we would accomplish something that neither of our units had ever done before, working together, but also a large scale event of this magnitude that had not been done in almost 10 years for the 173 SFS.
The first thing I wanted to do however, was give it meaning… The name, the imagery, the concept… it had to have honor and heritage… it had to be there. I thought about one of our reoccurring events at Kingsley Field, “Sentry Eagle”. I went through multiple ideas using those power phrases known for military operations. Sentry, Thunder, Northern, Centurion, Guardian, Defender, Eagle, Badger, Warrior… no combination or concept seemed to stick.
I looked down at my KIA bracelet. “SSgt Travis L. Griffin… USAF KIA 4/3/2008” I sat there, wrapped my hand around the bracelet and squeezed it tighter against my wrist. “Man… Trav would love this type of event…” I thought to myself for a moment; my mind connected to Travis’s last name. “Griffin… two great creatures that were merged in to one. That is exactly what we’re trying to do here! Operation Mighty Griffin! Oregon and Idaho… 173 SFS and 124 SFS… This is our concept, and this is how were not only going to honor Travis but all 14 of our fallen family members.”
The crest came shortly after I had set my thoughts on Operation Mighty Griffin. Ensuring that I captured both units in a way that would always show the unity and teamwork we wanted to accomplish.
Over the next year we went through the training objectives / classes we wanted our CADRE to teach and instruct. We discussed over 35 different topic areas. In reality the entire Security Forces Training Catalog was on the table; and every topic seemed to be a great choice. Yet in the end, we simply had to limit items until we had a core foundation that we wanted to utilize for training our personnel. The overall training if taught down to the bare bone concepts and brought to full fruition would have needed multiple weeks of training to get them engrained with full force proficiency.
This is exactly the traditional issue that Air National Guard members are faced with. We don’t have weeks to train, we simply have a matter of days. Eight days to be exact. Eight days to provide the best training we could, and then get SF Defenders in to the field for a three day Field Training Exercise, (FTX).
Our operation was only able to be accomplished due to over 29 Security Force Defenders from two completely separate units working over 200+ hrs behind the scenes. Many of them never meeting their counter-part in person until the first day of training taking place. This also taking in to consideration the fact that over 37x separate units… Air Force, Air National Guard, Army National Guard, Marine Reserve, all had to be coordinated with, prior to mission launch. All throughout the event, one small change could not only be a major impact to one of those 37 other units, but could create an avalanche of impacts upon another one of the 37.
As we began our training courses, MSgt Matthew Quinlan reminded all of us. “Remember your audience… We have some brand new troops in our squads directly out of Technical Training Academy, and we are using some really big words, that even I sometimes get confused on… Don’t use $20 words for a $2 concept. We are teaching the basics to our guys, and keep it basic, simple and make sure they understand the concepts.”
Leading up to the training, and triple checking my calendar, I knew we had one KIA Anniversary coming up, SrA Jason Nathan, KIA 23 Jun, 2007. Making sure we honored our fallen family members, we also wanted to make sure we continued to share stories of courage, honor, and perseverance.
We shared stories of Security Forces Defenders like Sgt Kimberling,
who would simply tell people, “I’m just a regular guy.” As MSgt Lambrecht would go on to say… “There are hundreds of stories like Sgt Kimberling in our career field… we need to make sure we keep sharing their stories and reminding our young SF Defenders about their stories.” Sgt Kimberling, a Bronze Star, Air Force Combat Action Medal, and Army Commendation Medal recipient, is the humble warrior that would simply say, “I will go… I will fight.” But at no time did he want a spotlight placed upon him.
As Lt. Annelise Rowe would remind our members, “Even a regular guy, can do extradorinaiy things.”
As SSgt Jonathan Finer shared his story with members in training, “I’m passionate about 9-Line Medevacs, and want to make sure every single person knows how to call them in… it takes on a different meaning for some people when you have to call them in on your brothers whose only hope of survival is that helicopter getting to them as soon as possible.”
These Security Forces professionals set out to make sure Operation Mighty Griffin wasn’t some classroom experience where all you see are photos on a power point presentation. They coordinated air assets to match the real-world experiences they had all lived through in their military careers.
“I kid you not TJ… there we were on a mission when we got hit, and got hit hard… RPG’s, Machine Guns… we get on the radio and call out TIC, (Troops in Contact.).
I had no TACP/JTAC experience… I had never talked to an air asset before and called in an air strike. I was simply with my guys and knew that we needed Air Support as soon as possible.
As soon as I get on the radio to call for help, this voice comes across the radio waves and says, “This is the Polish Air Force, we’re on our way now! Where are you guys at?” We popped smoke to mark our location… and the next thing we see is this Polish Attack Helicopter comes screaming over the hillside next to us, and provided our overwatch and support as we regathered our forces once the firefight was over. Bad ass man, bad ass!”
Coordinating with the 190th Fighter Squadron and the 168th General Support Aviation Battalion; Operation Mighty Griffin members got a first hand experience to have Emergency Close Air Support, (eCAS) from A-10 Warthogs but also UH-60 Black Hawks for a hands on 9-Line Medevac.
As the last day of the FTX came to a close. We had one final major event to conduct. An award and recognition ceremony.
With all the squad members packed in to a stuffy classroom. We stood on stage, and started with reading off the title of the Award, the fallen SF Defender it was named after, recapped their story, and then explained why the member or team was selected.
As the members came up on stage they were handed off a piece of paper… colored toner printed across the sheet… and an engraved A-10 Anti-Tank round casing.
SrA Elisabeth Leonard shared it best on her social media page.
Though Travis was the one who inspired us to title our Annual Training, “Operation Mighty Griffin” We wanted to make sure that our Airmen always had something to carry each one of our fourteen fallen family members memories on with them. That we always honor them and keep their stories and memories alive and within us. Seeing posts like SrA Leonard’s, TSgt Jesus Guevara’s and many more was that validation that not only did we provide awesome training, but training with meaning… heritage… and honor. It wasn’t the colored paper that made it mean something… it was the name that was printed on that paper that means everything.
It wasn’t just training we accomplished, nor an award that was earned. It was a new extended family we gained. A group of men and women, that I am proud to call a part of my military family. When you can sit around a table with them, pour out your heart, with tears in your eyes, and know that they have your back. Through thick, and thin, in battle and once the firefights are all over with.
It is this extended family that made it all worth it. The long hours spent in the office by yourself late in to the night. The multiple phone calls and emails asking, and answering questions. The metric ton of stress on your shoulders, the sleepless nights… Was it worth it? EVERY FUCKING SECOND. Thanks to my new family in the 124th Security Forces Squadron. I love you guys, and will always have your back. This was Operation Mighty Griffin.
Leaderistic 
Amen and thank you for this post, brother. You are truly extraordinary, despite how regular you will always claim to be. We are all blessed to have you as a new member of not only our SF brotherhood, but our FAMILY of FRIENDS.
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To see the full photo album taken of the event, go to:
https://lombardi.smugmug.com/JAT-Operation-Mighty-Griffin-2019
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I am glad to see that there are those still trying to make for more realistic training. Training will make or break you upon first contact.
Thank you for the kind words, it means a lot
J. Kimberling
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