KADENA AIR BASE, Okinawa — It was just another day at the F-15 hangar for Staff Sgt. Gregory Lynn — until one of his crewmen was officially declared “stabbed in the eye,” with a few other body wounds.

Lynn and others immobilized the “injured” airman, applied first aid and notified command, all while under the watch of one of the 200 airmen evaluating Kadena Air Base’s effectiveness during a weeklong war exercise.

The exercise, which simulated a buildup and eventual battle with a large aggressor nation, ended Wednesday night after beginning May 19, a day earlier than expected.

Airmen were subjected to surprise Scud missiles, snipers, even chemical warfare attacks. They had to respond to injuries, real-world foul weather and equipment failures — all while doing their assigned jobs.

“Trying to work with the chemical gear on was a struggle throughout,” said Lynn, a crew chief with the 67th Air Maintenance Unit who was assigned to fix seriously damaged jets. Still, Lynn said, his crew received an “excellent” rating from one of the 18th Wing Inspector General’s evaluators for getting aircraft repaired quickly.

Getting planes in the air for multiple sorties and fixing them accurately and quickly is key to the exercise’s success, said 18th Wing Commander Brig. Gen. Jan-Marc Jouas. “Next to actual deployments, this is the most important thing that we do,” he said.

In the scenario for the exercise’s early phase, an invasion was imminent. All aircraft repositioned as a deterrent measure while a peaceful resolution was sought. In the second phase, the enemy assaulted the base with everything from high-tech weapons to traditional guerrilla techniques.

The exercise activities can work “against any given adversary,” Jouas said. “It’s less important who we fight (than) as how well we employ and deploy.”

Evaluators watched the airmen, provided advice and critiqued performance, said Kadena spokesman Maj. Mike Paoli. It was the largest-scale exercise on Kadena in recent memory, said 18th Wing Inspector General Lt. Col. Doug Gould.

About 3,000 airmen — about half those on active duty at the base — took part, Gould said. It’s the first step in broadening future exercises to include most of the base’s area and airmen, he said.

For now, the exercise is concentrated around the base flight line. There, evaluators rate units on both objective and subjective criteria, Gould said. For example, units have target numbers of sorties they must fly, which affects the unfolding scenario against the enemy forces.

However, uncontrollable factors can overrule the target goal.

“The weather grounded flights in the afternoon,” Gould said. “We’re not going to hold that against the wing as we evaluate.”

The Inspector General’s office was in charge of the unfolding exercise scenario, with input from other units to make it as realistic as possible.

By Wednesday, allied forces had pushed the enemy back, although rocket fire continued on cities. Meanwhile, security forces infiltrated a small enemy special operations team and HH-60 helicopters launched simulated sorties to rescue 13 airmen.

The inspector general usually presents exercise findings to commanders and supervisors in two weeks.