621st Contingency Response Wing

The 621st Contingency Response Wing facilitates the global deployment of personnel and equipment for Air Mobility Command (AMC).^[3]

Most of the operations can be classified by three types: Joint Task Force — Port Opening, where USAF and US Army units create distribution chains; Expeditionary Air Mobility Support (EAMS), where wing personnel augment existing forces for the mission; and Initial Airbase Opening (IAO). Other operations include: Air advisory with partner nations, augmenting or stand-alone command and control, and air advisory on airlift assets for U.S. Army and Marine units.^{[4][citation needed]}

The 621st was established on 24 June 1994 as the 621st Air Mobility Operations Group and was activated on 22 July of the same year at McGuire Air Force Base (part of Joint Base McGuire–Dix–Lakehurst since 2009). It was expanded into the 621st Contingency Response Wing on 1 March 2005.^[5] The 621st included four groups, eight squadrons, and ten geographically separated operating locations aligned with major US Army and Marine Corps combat units. The wing maintains mobility support forces able to respond as directed by the Eighteenth Air Force at Scott Air Force Base, Illinois, to meet combatant command wartime and humanitarian requirements. Following the 2010 Haiti earthquake of 12 January, the 817th Contingency Response Group deployed to Toussaint L'Ouverture International Airport, Port-au-Prince, Haiti, in support of Operation Unified Response.^[6] Before the earthquake, Toussaint L'Ouverture handled an average of 20 flights a day. Following the earthquake, flight volume increased from an average of 20 to a peak of 160 aircraft per day on 19 January, representing an 800% increase in air traffic.^[7]

In early 2010, airmen from the 571st Contingency Response Group and 819th Global Support Squadron deployed to Camp Marmal, Mazar-i-Sharif, Afghanistan, to provide aerial cargo handling support for the Operation Enduring Freedom logistics surge.^[8] The 816th Contingency Response Group was inactivated on 11 June 2010.^[9] In August 2010, 30 Airmen from the 818th Contingency Response Group deployed as a Contingency Response Element, or CRE, to Chaklala Airbase, Pakistan.^[10] Once deployed, they provided additional aerial port capabilities to increase aircraft loading efficiency for the Pakistan Air Force's Central Flood Relief Cell.^[11]

Airmen from the 621st Contingency Response Group deployed three times in support of Operation Inherent Resolve. In 2015, they deployed to Iraq, where they established an airstrip at al-Taqaddum to support coalition forces in the Battle for Ramadi. In 2016, the group established the Kobani airfield in Syria and also set up an airfield at Qayyarah West in Iraq to support coalition forces in the Battle of Mosul. In November 2016 Airmen from the group with a contingent of civil engineers, intelligence personnel and security forces, were temporarily deployed to expand and modify the airstrip that the Airmen had established at an air base where they deployed near Kobani, so it could be used to assist in the offensive to retake Raqqa from ISIS. The airbase gives the US an additional location for its aircraft to support U.S. and other anti-ISIS forces, but it had been used by US forces only due to the condition of the runway, which restricted what types of aircraft could land there. General Carlton D. Everhart II, commander of Air Mobility Command, said that the base enables aircraft to deliver critical supplies and equipment, and to help position forces. He added that airmen from the 621st group have supported anti-ISIS coalition forces on the ground in Syria.^[12]

In early 2021, the 621st was involved in the closure of multiple airfields and bases within Afghanistan as part of the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan. On 18 August 2021, the Pentagon announced the deployment of the 621st back into Afghanistan to support evacuation operations following the collapse of the Afghan government.^[13]

During the Space Shuttle program (1981–2011), the 621st provided standby support for potential emergency landings at alternate locations.

Designed to provide a quick response mobility force, the 621st Wing's shuttle support mission was only to be executed in the event of a post-launch emergency that forced the shuttle to land at an alternate location. Wing airmen sat on call during the scheduled launch to facilitate the response in case the shuttle mission was aborted.^[14]

• Constituted as the 621st Air Mobility Operations Group on 24 June 1994

• Activated on 22 July 1994

• Re-designated the 621st Contingency Response Wing on 1 March 2005