HORSHAM, PA. Airmen from the Pennsylvania and Texas Air National Guard, assigned to the 111th Attack Wing and 149th Fighter Wing, trained together during home station readiness training at Biddle Air National Guard Base, Pennsylvania, Aug. 10-19, 2026.
The training focused on preparing Airmen for the challenges they could face in a deployed environment while giving them the opportunity to learn from Airmen outside their own units.
“Home station readiness training is a readiness requirement,” said Chief Master Sgt. Katie Hannafon, the 111th Force Support Squadron senior enlisted leader.
“The focus is on essential tasks, basically that they are faced with in a deployed environment.”
This year, the training combined human resources and services Airmen to emphasize the overlap between their responsibilities while deployed.
“We're not narrowing people down into just learning only what their AFSC requires of them,” Hannafon said.
“We're kind of expanding and going outside of those bounds because there's a greater chance that that's what they're going to be met with in a deployed environment anyway.”
For Tech. Sgt. Fischer, a human resources administrator with the 111th Attack Wing, this meant working through a scenario where Airmen had to establish operations without the structure of a traditional base.
“My scenario was everybody was deployed with no base, just had a whole town,” Fischer said.
“So we kind of had to just make it work with that.”
The team had to determine how to organize its limited personnel, map out a plan and figure out how to accomplish the mission.
“It was very fun to put our brains together and come up with a plan in a different location,” Fischer said.
For some Airmen, the training provided their first opportunity to experience what a deployment could look like.
“A lot of us have never been deployed before, You were able to see what that would look like from beginning to end.”
The training also required Airmen to think beyond what they already knew.
“It was very fun to kind of get the brain going and just think outside the box,” Fischer said.
For Airman 1st Class Elisa Hernandez, a services Airman with the 111th Attack Wing, working with another unit provided a chance to see different approaches to the same mission.
“It's a great opportunity for us to learn stuff that they probably do differently, and then vice versa, as well,” Hernandez said.
Hernandez said the experience was especially valuable as a newer Airman.
“It's nice meeting new people with more experience, because I'm a newer Airman,” Hernandez said.
“So just hearing everyone's experience, especially from people who aren't from our state and how they do stuff.”
The 149th Fighter Wing traveled to Pennsylvania because Biddle had equipment that was not available at their home station for the Texas unit to train with. For Airman Kaleb Leech, a services Airman with the 149th, the training reinforced that professional development does not stop after technical training.
“Training never really ends,” Leech said.
The joint environment allowed newer Airmen to learn from experienced members while also giving them the opportunity to contribute their own knowledge.
“You could learn a lot from other perspectives, other leadership,” Leech said. The training also built relationships between the two units.
“This experience was really fun,” Leech said. “I like how we're always together, and we can crack jokes and be more of a family.”
Hannafon said that type of training is important because the work performed by FSS Airmen can often go unseen by others.
“What I would hope is that more people understood the important jobs that our FSS Airmen do in these different environments,” Hannafon said.
The training gave Airmen an opportunity to make mistakes, learn from other perspectives and build confidence before facing similar situations in a deployed environment. For the Airmen from Pennsylvania and Texas who participated in the training, it was more than completing a readiness requirement. It was an opportunity to learn from each other, adapt to changing circumstances and become better prepared for whatever comes next.
“What I'm impressed by is the level of professionalism and the vast array of experiences that our members have had so early on in their career."
“I'm very proud of all of the stuff that they do.”
The mission may change. The resources may change. The location may change. Training like this prepares Airmen to do what matters most: adapt, learn and keep the mission moving.