Agile Combat Employment is one of the most talked-about concepts in the Air Force. The ability to rapidly deploy and establish forward operating locations, manned by multi-capable Airmen, is the way the Air Force is crafting the future of warfare.
The Airmen of the 24th Special Operations Wing, Detachment 1, also known as Deployment Cell or "D-Cell," have been doing just this for over 60 years.
The unit, based out of MacDill Air Force Base, Florida, consists of 54 members across 15 career fields, forming four agile teams. These teams of multi-capable Airmen are trained in 49 cross-functional tasks including Survival Evasion Resistance and Escape, or SERE, training, advanced shooting, and advanced combat casualty care.
The primary role of D-Cell is to "bare base," which is to rapidly turn undeveloped locations into fully functional bases.
"The unique thing about us is that we have small teams that can go anywhere," said Master Sgt. Nathan Johnson, a logistics superintendent and D-Cell Bravo Flight lead. "And because we can do other jobs, we can set up a bare base extremely fast, extremely efficiently."
Due to working in such light and agile teams, being multi-capable Airmen is essential for mission success.
"Most of our Airmen are at – and I can say this comfortably – at probably a three-level in each other's career fields, and some even a five-level," said Master Sgt. Sammy Bridges, security forces superintendent and D-Cell Delta Flight lead.
"If I fall out, the next guy on my team, even though he might be a power [production] guy working on a generator, or he might be a services guy, guess what? He can still upload an aircraft," added Staff Sgt. Jonathan Webb, an air transportation craftsman. "That [multi-capable Airman] concept is more than what you think it is."
$(document).ready(function () { let isDesktopInit = false; let detailSize = "full"; let displayhgt = "95vh"; let $this = $('[data-fancybox]').fancybox($.extend(true, {}, $.fancybox.defaults, { buttons: ['share'], caption: function (instance, item) { var caption = ''; if (item.type === 'image') { if (isMobile()) { caption += '
' + '
' + '
'; } else { caption += $(this).find('figcaption').html() + getDetailsURL($(this).parent()) + getDownloadURL($(this).parent()) + showFBShare(); } } return caption; }, afterLoad: function (instance, current) { //initial desktop view if (isMobile()) $(".fancybox-caption__body").addClass("mobile"); }, afterShow: function (instance, current) { var $currentSlide = $(".fancybox-slide.fancybox-slide--current.fancybox-slide--image").parent().parent(); if (isMobile()) $currentSlide.find(".fancy-detail-link").on("touchstart", function() { captionToggle(); }); }, afterClose: function () { } })); let debounceTimer; $(window).on("resize", function (event) { if (isMobile()) return; if ($(".af3-caption-body").length > 0 && $(".af3-caption-body").css("height") != undefined) { event.stopImmediatePropagation(); $(".fancybox-caption__body").removeClass("half"); isDesktopInit = false; captionToggle(); debounceTimer = setTimeout(function () { clearTimeout(debounceTimer); debounceTimer = null; recalculateImageSize(); }, 1000); } }); function recalculateImageSize() { // Fancy box miscalculates because of race conditions with new layout var origImgWth = $(".fancybox-image").prop("naturalWidth"); var origImgHgt = $(".fancybox-image").prop("naturalHeight"); var winWth = $(window).innerWidth(); var winHgt = $(window).innerHeight() var ratio = Math.min(winWth / origImgWth, winHgt / origImgHgt); var newImgWth = (origImgWth * ratio); var newImgHgt = (origImgHgt * ratio); var dstTop = Math.floor((winHgt - newImgHgt)) / 2; var dstLeft = Math.floor((winWth - newImgWth)) / 2; $(".fancybox-content").removeAttr("style"); $(".fancybox-content").css("width", newImgWth + "px"); $(".fancybox-content").css("height", newImgHgt + "px"); $(".fancybox-content").css("transform", "translate(" + dstLeft + "px, " + dstTop + "px)"); } function captionToggle() { if ($(".fancybox-caption__body").hasClass("af3-caption-body")) { $(".af3-caption-body").stop(true, false).animate({ height: "0vh" }, 800, function () { // Animation complete. closeDetails(); }); $(".fancy-photo-detail-link").html($(".fancy-photo-detail-link").html().replace("CLOSE", "SHOW")); } else { $(".fancybox-caption__body").addClass("af3-caption-body"); $(".af3-caption-body").addClass(detailSize); $(".af3-caption-body").animate({ height: displayhgt }, 800); $(".fancybox-caption").addClass("af3-caption-bg"); $(".base-caption-info").addClass("full-height"); $(".fancy-photo-detail-link").addClass("photo-detail-gradient"); $(".fancybox-button").css("display", "none"); $(".fancy-photo-detail-link").html($(".fancy-photo-detail-link").html().replace("SHOW", "CLOSE")); $(".fancybox-caption__body").prepend(prependClosing()); $(".closing-box, .closingx").on("touchstart", function() { captionToggle(); }); } } function getDetailsURL(fbObj) { return 'DETAILS'; } function getDownloadURL(fbObj) { return 'DOWNLOAD'; } function showFBShare() { return ''; } function closeDetails() { $(".af3-caption-body").removeClass(detailSize); $(".fancybox-caption__body").removeClass("af3-caption-body"); $(".fancybox-caption").removeClass("af3-caption-bg"); $(".base-caption-info").removeClass("full-height"); $(".fancy-photo-detail-link").removeClass("photo-detail-gradient"); $(".fancybox-button").css("display", "block"); if (detailSize === "half") { detailSize = "full"; displayhgt = "90vh"; $(".fancybox-caption").removeClass("desktop-init"); } } function prependClosing() { return '
' } function isMobile() { var isMobile = false; //initiate as false // device detection if (/(android|bbd+|meego).+mobile|avantgo|bada/|blackberry|blazer|compal|elaine|fennec|hiptop|iemobile|ip(hone|od)|ipad|iris|kindle|Android|Silk|lge |maemo|midp|mmp|netfront|opera m(ob|in)i|palm( os)?|phone|p(ixi|re)/|plucker|pocket|psp|series(4|6)0|symbian|treo|up.(browser|link)|vodafone|wap|windows (ce|phone)|xda|xiino/i.test(navigator.userAgent) || /1207|6310|6590|3gso|4thp|50[1-6]i|770s|802s|a wa|abac|ac(er|oo|s-)|ai(ko|rn)|al(av|ca|co)|amoi|an(ex|ny|yw)|aptu|ar(ch|go)|as(te|us)|attw|au(di|-m|r |s )|avan|be(ck|ll|nq)|bi(lb|rd)|bl(ac|az)|br(e|v)w|bumb|bw-(n|u)|c55/|capi|ccwa|cdm-|cell|chtm|cldc|cmd-|co(mp|nd)|craw|da(it|ll|ng)|dbte|dc-s|devi|dica|dmob|do(c|p)o|ds(12|-d)|el(49|ai)|em(l2|ul)|er(ic|k0)|esl8|ez([4-7]0|os|wa|ze)|fetc|fly(-|_)|g1 u|g560|gene|gf-5|g-mo|go(.w|od)|gr(ad|un)|haie|hcit|hd-(m|p|t)|hei-|hi(pt|ta)|hp( i|ip)|hs-c|ht(c(-| |_|a|g|p|s|t)|tp)|hu(aw|tc)|i-(20|go|ma)|i230|iac( |-|/)|ibro|idea|ig01|ikom|im1k|inno|ipaq|iris|ja(t|v)a|jbro|jemu|jigs|kddi|keji|kgt( |/)|klon|kpt |kwc-|kyo(c|k)|le(no|xi)|lg( g|/(k|l|u)|50|54|-[a-w])|libw|lynx|m1-w|m3ga|m50/|ma(te|ui|xo)|mc(01|21|ca)|m-cr|me(rc|ri)|mi(o8|oa|ts)|mmef|mo(01|02|bi|de|do|t(-| |o|v)|zz)|mt(50|p1|v )|mwbp|mywa|n10[0-2]|n20[2-3]|n30(0|2)|n50(0|2|5)|n7(0(0|1)|10)|ne((c|m)-|on|tf|wf|wg|wt)|nok(6|i)|nzph|o2im|op(ti|wv)|oran|owg1|p800|pan(a|d|t)|pdxg|pg(13|-([1-8]|c))|phil|pire|pl(ay|uc)|pn-2|po(ck|rt|se)|prox|psio|pt-g|qa-a|qc(07|12|21|32|60|-[2-7]|i-)|qtek|r380|r600|raks|rim9|ro(ve|zo)|s55/|sa(ge|ma|mm|ms|ny|va)|sc(01|h-|oo|p-)|sdk/|se(c(-|0|1)|47|mc|nd|ri)|sgh-|shar|sie(-|m)|sk-0|sl(45|id)|sm(al|ar|b3|it|t5)|so(ft|ny)|sp(01|h-|v-|v )|sy(01|mb)|t2(18|50)|t6(00|10|18)|ta(gt|lk)|tcl-|tdg-|tel(i|m)|tim-|t-mo|to(pl|sh)|ts(70|m-|m3|m5)|tx-9|up(.b|g1|si)|utst|v400|v750|veri|vi(rg|te)|vk(40|5[0-3]|-v)|vm40|voda|vulc|vx(52|53|60|61|70|80|81|83|85|98)|w3c(-| )|webc|whit|wi(g |nc|nw)|wmlb|wonu|x700|yas-|your|zeto|zte-/i.test(navigator.userAgent.substr(0, 4))) { isMobile = true; } return isMobile; } });
