to a
CH-53E Super Stallion at
Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst. during
Operation Allies Refuge, August 2021 The 621st was established on 24 June 1994 as the 621st Air Mobility Operations Group and was activated on 22 July of the same year at
McGuire Air Force Base (part of Joint Base McGuire–Dix–Lakehurst since 2009). It was expanded into the 621st Contingency Response Wing on 1 March 2005. The 621st included four groups, eight squadrons, and ten geographically separated operating locations aligned with major
US Army and
Marine Corps combat units. The wing maintains mobility support forces able to respond as directed by the
Eighteenth Air Force at
Scott Air Force Base,
Illinois, to meet combatant command wartime and humanitarian requirements. In the
2010 Haiti earthquake of 12 January, the 817th Contingency Response Group deployed to
Toussaint L'Ouverture International Airport,
Port-au-Prince, Haiti, in support of
Operation Unified Response. Before the earthquake, Toussaint L'Ouverture handled an average of 20 flights a day. Following the earthquake, flight volume increased from an average of 20 to a peak of 160 aircraft per day on 19 January, representing an 800% increase in air traffic. In early 2010,
airmen from the 571st Contingency Response Group and 819th Global Support Squadron deployed to
Camp Marmal,
Mazar-i-Sharif,
Afghanistan, to provide aerial cargo handling support for the
Operation Enduring Freedom logistics surge. The 816th Contingency Response Group was inactivated on 11 June 2010. In August 2010, 30 airmen from the 818th Contingency Response Group deployed as a Contingency Response Element to
Chaklala Airbase, Pakistan. Once deployed, they provided additional aerial port capabilities to increase aircraft loading efficiency for the
Pakistan Air Force's Central Flood Relief Cell. Airmen from the 621st Contingency Response Group deployed three times in support of
Operation Inherent Resolve. In 2015, they deployed to Iraq, where they established an airstrip at al-Taqaddum to support coalition forces in the
Battle for Ramadi. In 2016, the group established the
Kobani airfield in Syria and also set up an airfield at Qayyarah West in Iraq to support coalition forces in the
Battle of Mosul. In November 2016, airmen from the group with a contingent of civil engineers, intelligence personnel and security forces were temporarily deployed to expand and modify the airstrip near Kobani to support the
offensive to retake Raqqa from
ISIS.
General Carlton D. Everhart II, commander of
Air Mobility Command, stated that the base enables aircraft to deliver critical supplies and equipment and helps position forces. In early 2021, the 621st was involved in the closure of multiple airfields and bases within Afghanistan as part of the
withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan. On 18 August 2021, the Pentagon announced the deployment of the 621st back into Afghanistan to support
evacuation operations following the
collapse of the Afghan government. ==Operations for NASA==