CRT Chief: The Quarterback to Mission Success

Published Aug. 25, 2025
By Staff Sgt. Scott Warner
621st Contingency Response Wing

TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. --

For the National Football League, teams are required to have a handful of captains before the start of the season and these team leaders are elected by their peers to ensure their teammates’ jobs are performed at the highest level and that there is accountability during a long, tough football season.

Airmen discuss operations — Airmen with the 821st Contingency Response Squadron and 921st CRS discuss daily operations during a team meeting for Exercise Turbo Distribution 25-2 at Fort Hunter-Liggett in Jolon, California, August 19, 2025. Exercise TD-25 was designed to test a Joint Task Force-Port Opening team with opening and operating an airbase while simultaneously training personnel to rapidly respond to humanitarian aid and/or disaster response missions around the world. (U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Scott Warner)

Similarly, a Contingency Response Team (CRT) Chief is elected by their peers to lead a group of highly specialized Airmen and ensure team mission success during tough training exercises and deployments.

A CRT normally denotes the size of the team deploying, consisting normally between 15-25 Airmen, whereas a Contingency Response Element (CRE) consists of more than 100 Airmen.

To become a Contingency Response Team Chief, an Airman must successfully complete six tasks:

Complete an application called a Command Job Qualification Standard
Complete landing zone safety officer training,
Complete drop zone controller/safety officer training
Complete a contingency response mission planning course
Complete a mobile command and control communication (C3) operations course.
Lead a mission away from their duty station

Airman aims down her scope — U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Nancy Hawkins, 821st Contingency Response Squadron fire team leader, aims down the scope of her weapon during Exercise Turbo Distribution 25-2 at Fort Hunter-Liggett in Jolon, California, August 18, 2025. Exercise TD-25 was designed to test a Joint Task Force-Port Opening team with opening and operating an airbase while simultaneously training personnel to rapidly respond to humanitarian aid and/or disaster response missions around the world. (U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Scott Warner)

“A CRE Commander and CRT Chief have similar responsibilities because both can have final mission authority and makes decisions not explicitly assigned to higher-level authority,” Tech. Sgt. Travis Urquhart, 921st Contingency Response Squadron operations expeditor and Exercise Turbo Distribution 25-2 CRT Chief in-training said.

Urquhart is one of two CRT Chiefs in-training to be certified during Exercise Turbo Distribution 25-2, which is a U.S. Transportation Command-led exercise taking place in August at multiple locations.

Turbo Distribution is a Joint Task Force-Port Opening exercise designed to train personnel to rapidly respond to humanitarian aid/disaster response missions around the world.

“Additionally, the CRE Commander, or CRT Chief, can be the primary liaison with the host nation, coalition or other U.S. forces, the supported command and/or controlling agency,” Urquhart stated. “Unless otherwise indicated, the CRE Commander or CRT Chief may delegate specific duties to other team members as necessary, but in a nutshell, you are responsible for leading a team in the planning, deploying, redeploying and reconstituting a team at any austere airfield around the world.”

Airman puts on helmet — U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Benjamin Hardin,921st Contingency Response Squadron noncommissioned officer in charge of weather operations, tightens his helmet strap during Exercise Turbo Distribution 25-2 at Fort Hunter-Liggett in Jolon, California, August 18, 2025. Exercise TD-25 was designed to test a Joint Task Force-Port Opening team with opening and operating an airbase while simultaneously training personnel to rapidly respond to humanitarian aid and/or disaster response missions around the world. (U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Scott Warner)

For Exercise TD 25-2, 20 CR Airmen from the 821st Contingency Response Squadron and 921st CRS are participating as part of a CRT which provides aerial port capabilities, conducts airfield assessments and determines the suitability and feasibility of the airfield and landing zones in support of air operations immediately upon arrival at Fort Hunter-Liggett in Jolon, California.

If Exercise TD 25-2 were a football game, the most important position on the field is the quarterback, which would be CRT Chief on location, and the goal, similar to winning the game, is to have mission success upon returning home.

"I left my career field as a boom operator to be in CR," Urquhart shared. "Now I get to lead highly specialized teams as a CRT Chief and that will open the door to different deployment opportunities and perspectives that I didn't have before as a boom operator."

A pararescueman prepares to land during Exercise Turbo Distribution 25-2 at Fort Hunter-Liggett in Jolon, California, August 19, 2025. Exercise TD-25 was designed to test a Joint Task Force-Port Opening team with opening and operating an airbase while simultaneously training personnel to rapidly respond to humanitarian aid and/or disaster response missions around the world. (U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Scott Warner)

How an Airman becomes selected to become a CRT Chief is actually quite simple. The position is only open for the rank of Technical Sergeant and Master Sergeant. If they are labeled as 1A1 flyers, they will need to step away from their primary mission designation, just like how Urquhart did, to join the 621st Contingency Response Wing for three years in order to become a CRT Chief. Most importantly, these applicants must have demonstrated and excelled at previous leadership positions in order to even be considered.

Finally, CRT Chiefs must complete three field exercises: an observational exercise of a fully qualified team chief, an instructor-assisted exercise to learn how to perform the duties of a CRT chief, and lastly, an evaluation exercise where they are observed by a qualified CRT Chief.

For Urquhart, Exercise TD 25-2 was his last step and evaluation exercise in becoming a fully certified CRT Chief.

Now, the once boom operator, will now be entrusted to lead a CRT team down the field to score a mission touchdown anywhere around the world and he must be ready to have his number called upon at any time.