Courageous Channel puts Team Osan to the test

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Terri Barriere
  • 51st Fighter Wing Public Affairs
OSAN AIR BASE, Republic of Korea --  More than 1,300 members of Team Osan recently participated in the largest non-combatant evacuation operation exercise in the world. 

Courageous Channel, a semi-annual NEO hosted by U.S. Forces Korea, is a joint, peninsula-wide exercise and is the only NEO in which the non-combatants actually depart the country. 

"Osan's roll is to support Area V, Colonel Deale and ultimately, the Department of State and any plan that has been put in place to get loved ones out of harm's way," Tech. Sgt. Benjamin Johnson, Area V NEO program manager. 

The base accomplishes this through alerting, assembling, relocating and facilitating the evacuation. 

Sergeant Johnson said Courageous Channel is also an opportunity for non-combatants to actually experience the process, as opposed to the roll players that are used for simulation during base exercises. 

During the May 15-17 exercise, non-combatants were flown to Yokota Air Base, Japan. For NEO purposes, non-combatants include both command sponsored and non-command sponsored dependents, contractors, third country nationals and any family members gained while in Korea. 

Participation in the NEO is mandatory due to the importance of having the training. 

"Basically we cannot conduct war efforts until all the non-combatants are off base," said Sergeant Johnson. "So, until that happens, majority of our efforts are spent getting the NCE's to a safe haven." 

In addition, evacuating the non-combatants and families gives Airmen one less thing to think about during an already stressful time. 

"NEO provides peace of mind for war fighters so they don't have to think about anything but the mission, knowing that their families are safe," said Master Sgt. Eric Gutierrez, deputy director of the Airman and Family Readiness Center. 

According to Sergeant Johnson, during Courageous Channel, 99 percent of the NCE's were processed successfully and the base support enabled 49 people from throughout the peninsula to effectively complete the "fly away" in a timely manner. 

"This was a big learning experience for a lot of the warden's," Sergeant Gutierrez said after the completion of the NEO. "We have majority new wardens due to the turn-over rate, so this was a good opportunity to train the warden's currently on station for the next exercise, or should a real world situation arise."