Laughlin launches Warrior Action Team to boost readiness and morale

The real test at Laughlin Air Force Base is whether its new Warrior Action Team can close the mission gaps that come with a fast-moving training wing, where communication, continuity and fitness all affect how well pilots are produced. Base leaders are already using hard numbers to judge the effort: a May 19 5K challenge drew 87 participants, and 68 finished in under 40 minutes.

The Warrior Action Team was built to serve as a central hub for continuity, resource alignment and deliberate messaging, with the stated aim of making sure every Airman is empowered to win. Its monthly events have ranged from cybersecurity and assignment briefs to an excellence-in-competition pistol shooting match, a firefighter challenge and a Tactical Combat Casualty Care rodeo. The March 20 TCCC rodeo put fitness and combat readiness side by side, which is the point of the program: make readiness visible, measurable and shared across the wing.

That approach matters at Laughlin because the 47th Flying Training Wing has been active at the base since Sept. 1, 1972 and has trained more than 15,000 pilots for the United States and its allies. The wing also uses XL Days, readiness days earned each quarter by meeting minimum pilot production goals, as another way to tie morale to mission performance. On April 17, XL Games brought that culture into a single day of competition that included a Warrior Run, T-38 pull, basketball, kickball, ultimate frisbee, pickleball, archery shootout, volleyball, golf scramble and e-sports.

The new team is not Laughlin's first attempt to treat resilience as a trainable skill. In October 2023, the wing hosted Warrior’s Edge Mindset Training for instructor pilots, a program built around 16 principles of mindset and focused on psychological flexibility and mental strength in high-stress environments. Later, on Nov. 15, 2024, the 85th Flying Training Squadron joined the first Wings for Warriors outreach event at Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston, where four instructor pilots met with more than 100 patients and families.

For Del Rio and Val Verde County, Laughlin’s internal culture is never just internal. The Texas Comptroller says the base was established in 1941 near Del Rio, and the county authorized a grant application in December 2025 for a $985,000 tactical aircrew fitness complex there. If the Warrior Action Team is working, its impact should show up in more than turnout numbers: commanders should see stronger cohesion, better pilot-production performance and a wing that can keep pace with the demands of training the next generation of airpower.