29 OKINAWA, Japan – As hundreds of Marines with Marine Aircraft Group 36 and Marine Air Control Group 18 staged in the early hours of Friday morning with all the equipment to sustain operations for a short period of time, leaders and planners observed the culmination of 48 hours of tireless execution. During the previous two days multiple squadrons from across 1st Marine Aircraft Wing scrambled to plan and respond to a no-notice drill designed to surprise and test their ability to respond at a moment’s notice to any contingency.
Marines with 1st MAW conducted this Alert Contingency Marine Air-Ground Taskforce (ACM) drill from May 19 to May 21 in order to maintain readiness as the III Marine Expeditionary Force’s Air Combat Element of the ACM in the Indo-Pacific.