Contingency Response Airmen conduct operations in SOUTHCOM AOR

  • Published
  • By Capt. Cassidy Fisher
  • 621st Contingency Response Wing Public Affairs
CARIBBEAN ISLANDS --  

CARIBBEAN ISLANDS - Airman assigned to the 621st Contingency Response Wing deployed to the Caribbean Islands November 29, 2025 to support logistical operations and enable rapid global mobility.

Primarily consisting of Airmen assigned to the 921st Contingency Response Squadron, the tailored Contingency Response Element included members from the 571st Mobility Support Advisory Squadron and the 621st Contingency Response Wing Staff Agencies.

The CRE opened a contingency airfield to support tanker logistical operations. The main mission of the 921 CRS is to open, operate, and close airbases in austere environments while maintaining complete self-sufficiency. The CRE accomplished its mission ahead of schedule, allowing operations to start on time and provide handoff to follow-on forces.

Every member of the CRE is vital to accomplishing the mission. From aerial porters and civil engineers to personnelists and financial managers.  Although each Airman is a subject matter expert in their own respect, the CRW emphasizes the importance of Mission Ready Airman.

For example, an intelligence officer will build a tent while a security forces defender helps download cargo from an airplane and a weather forecaster pulls security on the airfield. This cross-functional approach ensures that CR Airmen are prepared to handle any challenge and guarantee mission success.

Every mission the CR accomplishes comes with lessons learned and takeaways. Capt. Chris Delgado, 921st Contingency Response Squadron assistant director of operations and CRE director of operations, learned how important it is to build relationships with host nations.

“Building relationships both with the host nation and military partners and getting on the same page early is important,” Delgado said. “We were fortunate the host nation was happy to receive us and showed us everything, which made receiving our partner forces really easy.”

One of Delagdo’s main takeaways from this deployment is how important contracting is to achieving certain objectives.

Tech. Sgt. Miriam Rodriguez, 921st Contingency Response Squadron contracting specialist, in tandem with Staff Sgt. Paul Diaz, 921st Contingency Response Squadron financial management specialist, proved vital to CRE operations.

“As the contracting officer on the ground, I purchased goods and services to meet sustainment and quality-of-life needs when they could not be met through existing resources,” Rodriguez said. “Having a contracting officer in the CRE is important, but only as part of the larger A4 sustainment effort.”

A4 refers primarily to the logistics efforts within the U.S. Air Force.

Rodriguez coordinated with host nation agencies and local commercial vendors to secure sanitation services, transportation, potable water, and portable latrines while using her Spanish fluency to execute purchases efficiently and in compliance.

Rodriguez didn’t act alone in her quest to ensure CRE self-sustainment. She partnered with Staff Sgt. Paul Diaz to manage funds and physically acquire the resources.

“Tech. Sgt. Rodriguez and I worked on procuring everything that was needed to start operations and keep them going, even setting up our follow-on forces,” Diaz said. “We coordinated most of the communication that was going on since we were some of the only Spanish speakers in the unit.”

Diaz continued that without contracting and finance, no matter how urgent a requirement would be, it would be delayed due to fiscal risks and inefficiency causing the mission to slow or stop.

“My biggest lesson-learned is that for a mission to succeed we all depend on each other’s expertise and communication. Every career field has their own lane and set of responsibilities," Diaz said.

The CRE’s operational success also heavily relied on the specialized skills of air advisors. Building strong international partnerships is a core mission of the 621 CRW, a task executed by these highly trained individuals.

Master Sgt. Enrique Marquez, 571st Mobility Support Advisory Squadron air advisor, embedded within the CRE to provide language-enabled skills and relationship building capabilities.

“Air advisors come with a particular set of skills that involve cultural sensitivities and habitually interact with partner nation militaries,” Marquez said. “We are prepared to conduct key leader engagements and everything down to tactical-level operations.”

This mission was tailor-made for the contingency response airmen of the 921 CRS. Lt. Col. Ryan Strength, 921 CRS commander, emphasized the importance of CR employment and effectiveness of CR Airmen.

“We were initial-operating-capability within a handful of hours and then we were FOC [fully-operating-capability] within the time constraints even though the environment didn’t allow an easy accomplishment of that,” Strength said. “We had to create our plan while on-ground and make tactical-level decisions. And to watch it execute on the timeline makes my heart proud.”

The CRE’s mission was to answer the call, execute the mission, and redeploy. Now, they wait for the next alert, ready to go at a moment's notice. For Contingency Response, mission success is the only standard.