101st Airborne Division soldiers participate in routine Deployment Readiness Exercise

101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) Public Affairs Staff

Fort Campbell, KY – 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) soldiers are participating in a routine, short-notice deployment readiness exercise this week to ensure unit and personnel readiness.

As part of the exercise, soldiers and units are conducting personal equipment checks, loading baggage, and unit equipment, conducting medical readiness checks, and preparing military vehicles for transport.

The Fort Campbell community may experience road closures and heavy military vehicle traffic later this week as the units conduct the movement of personnel and military equipment to the airfield. More information to follow as it becomes available.

“We’re alerting the Fort Campbell community of the upcoming road closures to reduce inconvenience in travel time and to remind motorists to use extra caution when driving near military vehicles,” said Lt. Col. Kari McEwen, the 101st Airborne Division public affairs officer, “Road closures and military vehicle traffic related to the exercise will not impact any communities located outside of Fort Campbell.”
 
The 101st Airborne Division is one of the U.S. military’s contingency response forces and has units ready to deploy worldwide on short notice to conduct a range of military operations from humanitarian assistance to combat capabilities.
 
The 101st Airborne Division routinely conducts deployment readiness exercises to validate the contingency response force readiness level and set conditions for Soldiers and families if the CRF is activated for deployment.

Last week the Pentagon announced that elements of the 101st Airborne Division have been directed to increase their readiness to deploy.

“The decision to place elements of the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) on heightened readiness to deploy is not a deployment order. But it is an indication to the command that we must ensure our soldiers and families are prepared if we do receive a deployment order,” said McEwen, “Deployment readiness exercises like this one ensure the highest standards of unit and soldier readiness.”

The 101st Airborne Division conducted three deployment emergency readiness exercises in May and June of 2021.

In August 2021, the 3rd Brigade Combat Team conducted a Sea Emergency Deployment Exercise as part of their deployment to Fort Polk, Louisiana for their Joint Readiness Training Center rotation.

In November, the division deployed 13,000 Soldiers to locations in the Fort Campbell training area, Camp Atterbury, Indiana, and Fort Knox, Kentucky to exercise the division’s ability to deploy in support of Large Scale Combat Operations.