MOODY AIR FORCE BASE, Ga. -- The Mosaic Tiger 22-1 exercise has come to a close at Moody Air Force Base, Georgia, Nov. 19, 2021, bringing the 23rd Wing closer to its goal in becoming a Lead Wing for Air Combat Command.
The multi-wing exercise explored several Lead-Wing and Agile Combat Employment concepts, which helped define the deployed command structure of tomorrow’s Air Force.
“The goals of Mosaic Tiger were to validate the A-Staff construct we've recently implemented, and to validate the battle rhythm we have built in peacetime and figure out how to translate that into wartime,” said Maj. Zachary McClelland, 23rd WG A5/7 and exercise director.
The exercise placed the Wing’s A-Staff in a position to manage several contingency locations and maintain communications throughout a number of mobilized units in order to advise the commander and execute his intent.
“We made a lot of strides,” said Col. Ryan Hayde, 23rd WG vice commander and Mosaic Tiger’s Air Expeditionary Wing commander. “I think we definitely showed that the staff concept can work with the Lead Wing. I saw a lot of improvement throughout the week as we ran through a lot of challenges.”
Wings throughout the Air Force are in the process of adopting the Lead-Wing concept as a new structure for deploying and managing assets, and Moody served as one of the first major testing grounds for that concept. Several other prospective Lead Wings had observers present to witness the concept in action.
“We have talented aviators,” said McClelland. “We have a really strong team and that is what has enabled us to do these things. We're not unique in that right. Every base has really strong people, and they can do this too. They can do the same thing that we did and they can learn from how we did it, and we can all focus on it and get better together.”
The 23rd WG has a requirement to be Lead-Wing ready by October 2022. The Lead Wings who follow will be looking to Moody as an example.
“I think we learned a lot from the experience,” McClelland said. “It was a really large, collaborative effort and I might be at the steering wheel, but the engine wasn't me. This is a wing effort, and everybody put a lot into it and therefore, we got a lot out of it.”
As the 23rd WG continues to build upon the Lead-Wing concept, the A-Staff will take lessons learned from this and previous exercises to shape future exercises like the upcoming Ready Tiger.
“We intentionally made a challenging exercise and we are further along than I thought,” said Col. Russell Cook, 23rd WG commander. “We’ll take the mistakes and the lessons learned to define what we do in Ready Tiger. Our folks are crushing it. They’re working hard and fast so that by February we’ll be months ahead of schedule.”