Members of 17th Air Force (Air Forces Africa) participated in an exercise testing the unit's ability to plan for and execute a short-notice non-combatant evacuation operation in Africa, February 8-21, 2010.

The exercise, called Objective Lens, was the first in-house exercise since the unit first stood up in October 2008.

The exercise was designed to test how well the Air Force Staff and 617th AOC transitioned from planning to execution since taking the lead over airspace within the combined joint operating area-Horn of Africa, explained Lieutenant Colonel Steven Hill, 17th AF chief of exercise training division and lead planner of the exercise.

"We generated OBJECTIVE LENS 2010 to place stress on our system in order to identify areas of strength as well as areas we need to focus on for improvement," Hill said. "The most difficult undertaking was crafting a framework to build scenarios for the participants."

AOC Commander Col. Andy Redmond said that he was pleased to see how his people rose to the occasion to take on the comprehensive exercise.

"Our folks worked hard over the President's day weekend to prepare for the execution phase of the exercise, and their hard work resulted in an outstanding performance, he said. "We proved that we're ready to execute a complex air operation when required to support U.S. AFRICOM's mission."

The complete story is available on 17th Air Force's website at http://www.17af.usafe.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123191392.