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- [Josh] The men and women of the 354th fighter wing

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are expected to be prepared to be deploy

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at a moment's notice.

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Ready to act, should a contingency ever arise.

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Which is exactly what Artic Gold 18 one is preparing

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them to do.

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- So I think the fact that the wing puts

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^such an emphasis on exercises like this directly correlates

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^to the priority to fight tonight because now we can know

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^for a fact that we're ready to go, if and when

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^we're called up.

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- [Josh] Exercises such as Artic Gold not only allow

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airmen to prepare to deploy, but also gives their family

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a little bit of insight as to what a deployment

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may be like.

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- Well, so I've got a lot of young airmen in my squadron,

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and exercises like this are probably the first time their

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families have seen them uprooted from their normal schedule,

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and sent out the door to essentially a pretend war today.

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So I think it's good kind of just setting the stage for

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the families so they know what to expect if it were

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to happen in real life.

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- [Josh] Senior Airman, Josh Weaver, Eielson Air Force Base,

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Alaska.