Exercise Mosaic Tiger Hones Rescue Capabilities

The 347th Operations Support Squadron out of Moody AFB spent some quality time with the team of USCG Station Mayport, going over their water rescues for downed pilots as a part of "Mosaic Tiger 24-1".

The weather off the Florida coast worsened to the point of calling off the actual exercise rescue, giving teams a bit of a 'snow day' as they met and mingled with each other ahead of the actual training to be held when everything clears. During the week, the teams from Moody worked with a trio of local Coast Guard stations including St. Petersburg and Cape Canaveral, aided by their safety boats as they practiced recovering targets for hoist operations.

Despite the weather both sides were upbeat, possibly because they had a rare chance to check out each other's toys waiting for the weather to clear (assumed, but they seem content from the photos published). “This training opportunity benefits both sides by giving our respective crews new encounters with environments and capabilities,” said Coast Guard Petty Officer 1st Class Tim Mathis, USCG STA Mayport unit supervisor. “Complacency can be the divider between failure and success, and exposing search-and-rescue resources to fresh scenarios deepens the well to draw from when the call comes in real time.”

“We benefit from working with the Air Force by working through a different set of scenarios that we may not usually see or expect,” Mathis said. “This promotes real-time risk assessment and evaluation that is essential to growing as first responders. The opportunity to develop a universal standard or response cannot be understated as more resources are available to respond in any given situation.”

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