Beverly Sentinel 25-1: Advancing ACE Published Nov. 20, 2024 By Senior Airman Maria Umanzor Guzman 8th Fighter Wing Public Affairs KUNSAN AIR BASE, Republic of Korea -- The Wolf Pack honed its agile combat employment capabilities during exercise Beverly Sentinel 25-1 at Kunsan Air Base, Republic of Korea, November 12-15, 2024. Agile combat employment (ACE) is the concept of quickly and effectively dispersing assets and manpower across a network of smaller locations, rather than concentrating airpower at larger bases, to complicate adversary planning and increase overall combat survivability. Beverly Sentinel 25-1 was designed with several routine readiness and ACE components that enabled Airmen to practice, understand and showcase their proficiency in executing contingency operations while responding to training scenarios that tested them physically and mentally across multiple domains. “In the months leading up to Bev Sent, the ACE Operational Planning Team enhanced the equipment and manning packages to support a larger, more combat-capable ACE movement while maintaining a lean and agile footprint,” said Maj. Alex Carmona, 8th Fighter Wing chief of future operations and ACE lead. “During the exercise, the Fighter Wing measured the execution of Cargo and Personnel Deployment Function timelines, highlighting the importance of coordination between the Installation Deployment Readiness Center and Unit Deployment Monitors across the Fighter Wing.” Squadrons across the base focused on unit-specific skills, including emergency operations, crisis action team coordination, general arming procedures, mass casualty response, tactical combat casualty care, and weapons training. Sewing ACE concepts into units such as the 8th Logistics Readiness Squadron is crucial to operational success. “For our portion, the 8th LRS focused on the preparation of our Force, ensuring all support functions are in sync so that [the Wolf Pack] can generate sorties and complete any mission,” said 1st Lt. Kaalakaiopono Faurot, 8th LRS installation deployment officer. “In the exercise, the installation deployment readiness cell, played a key role in the 8th Fighter Wing’s agile combat employment movements by ensuring that all cargo and personnel are processed properly to deploy to their disclosed location.” The 8th LRS also collaborated with the 8th Force Support Squadron to successfully develop the ACE concept during Beverly Sentinel 25-1. “FSS as a whole concentrated on processing the personnel deployment line to get them on a plane in an hour while also teaching new Airmen the basic tactics such as general arming and TCCC,” said Staff Sgt. Nathaniel Turvey, 8th FSS noncommissioned officer in charge of personnel contingency operations. “Due to Kunsan being a short tour, there is constant turnover, so training like Beverly Sentinel 25-1 provides a great opportunity for us to practice and execute how things are done here.” The exercise’s success relied on seamless coordination and collaboration among all agencies and units involved to complete the mission effectively. “By guaranteeing that our people and cargo are at the right place at the right time, we are accomplishing the Wing’s ACE movements,” said Faurot. “We’re definitely considered to be working behind the scenes of things. These small agencies and operations are what help make things happen and accomplish these missions.” By refining ACE movements and integrating cross-organizational training, the 8th Fighter Wing is committed to adapting to evolving challenges and developing operational strategies that optimize mission effectiveness. “When executing ACE, the Wolf Pack mission would survive and continue to generate within the Korean Theater of Operations and Indo-Pacific,” said Carmona.