AMOS Airmen Conduct EXERCISE JERSEY TURNPIKE Published Jan. 14, 2026 By Lt Col Michael Gargano, 621 Air Mobility Operations Squadron 621st Air Mobility Operations Squadron JOINT BASE MCGUIRE-DIX-LAKEHURST, N.J. -- JOINT BASE MCGUIRE-DIX-LAKEHURST, N.J. – Drawing on lessons from real-world events in the Middle East, air mobility specialists completed a three-day crisis simulation here from Dec. 3-5. Experts from the 621st Air Mobility Operations Squadron and its reserve counterpart, the 514th AMOS, participated in the exercise dubbed Jersey Turnpike. The training immersed participants in a high-stakes scenario inside a specialized facility that replicates an Air Operations Center, or AOC, which serves as the nerve center for U.S. air missions. "When a crisis erupts anywhere in the world, the AMOS is the team that gets the call," said Lt. Col. Michael Gargano, the air refueling control team chief. "We have to be ready to deploy at a moment's notice and seamlessly integrate to get missions off the ground." The AMOS provides a rapid-deployment force of specialists from 23 career fields, including pilots, logisticians, and medical personnel, who can augment an AOC to plan and execute airlift, air refueling, and aeromedical evacuation missions. Gargano said the exercise was based on events from this summer in the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility, but the lessons are broadly applicable. “One of our big training objectives was focused on access, basing, and overflight to set the theater for sustained air operations,” he said. The exercise was a critical training milestone for the 67 personnel who took part. More than 25 of them completed essential qualification or upgrade training, certifying them as ready for future global operations.