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Voice in the sky ensures convoy calls will always be answered

  • Published
  • By Master Sgt. Jeff Loftin
  • 379th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs
Southwest Asia --  On a lonely stretch of highway in the Iraqi countryside a military convoy hits an improvised explosive device that tears through a vehicle and injures some of its passengers. As convoy members rush to render aid, a frantic call goes out over the radio for help. But, so far from a city or communications tower will anyone be listening? Suddenly a calm voice breaks the darkness and reassures them help is on the way. It is the voice of what some convoy members have called "God in the sky." 

"Because we're airborne, we're kind of like God in the sky (for convoy members)," said Navy Lt. John Allen, joint airborne battlestaff mission commander for a unit stationed at this Southwest Asian base. "We hear everything because it's filtered up to us through our radio systems. Those guys on the ground can only hear a certain number of miles around their perimeter. If (a convoy) can't get a hold of anyone, they are basically by themselves and that is not a good thing. If something should happen - an IED is found, a vehicle breaks down or they need medical evacuation - we are there to gather that information and relay it to whoever is needed to get that explosive ordinance disposal team there or that MEDEVAC launched." 

Ensuring communications in areas where radio transmissions are most difficult is a unique mission done by a unique unit. Known locally as Task Force 124, a small contingent of Navy personnel deployed from Tinker Air Force Base, Okla., fly a single E-6B aircraft originally designed for nuclear command and control to assist ground forces in Iraq. 

"Everything about this mission is unique to us because it is so unlike what we do back home," said Navy Capt. Brian Costello, commander of the Tinker-based wing. "There is nothing that compares to this." 

The difference between normal and deployed missions provides both rewards and challenges for those here. 

"Back home our mission is nuclear command and control, so it's all these training missions in hopes you never do your real mission," said Lt. Cmdr. Matthew Sniffin, the officer in charge of the unit here. "Over here it is very satisfying for us because we are doing a real mission each time we fly - and that's helping save people's lives." 

The unit, also known as TACAMO, which stands for "Take Charge and Move Out," has two nine-member crews here who routinely fly 12-hour missions. Personnel are constantly being changed out due to the large number of flying hours, which makes training a unique challenge. 

"The communications guys have to learn a new role," said Lieutenant Allen, a Laurel, Md., native. "I've been in the squadron two years training and performing the same job. I come out here as a senior officer on the crew and I'm at square one just like everyone else trying to learn what my position is. We all have to learn from scratch when we come out here. The mission itself is completely different with the communications system we're using." 

In this role, the unit's technicians use an Army system called the Joint Airborne Communication Suite. Members of TF-124 were trained by the Army when they originally took over the mission in 2006. The Army had been using the system in C-130 aircraft. 

"It's a steep learning curve that has to happen very quickly," said Captain Costello, a Pompton Plains, N.J., native, regarding learning the new system. 

Technicians usually get only two 12-hour training flights with a few members of the previous rotation to master the system and the new role of filtering radio calls from all over Iraq. 

"Some nights the most challenging part is just keeping up with everything that is going on," said AWV2 Todd McInerney, flight technician. "You will have guys talking directly to you and you'll have guys trying to talk to some other ground station and not having any luck. You have to tend to them at the same time as tending to others. You have to figure out who needs what and whose needs are more important. Some guy may be trying to get a radio check while another may be trying to get a MEDEVAC. You'll be trying to help that one and the other guy will still be talking. It's a lot more rewarding than what we do back home because we see the results happen as we work." 

Since the unit took over this mission in October 2006, it has flown 593 missions with 4,950 hours over Iraq. During those flights they have handled more than 15,300 tactical support calls. The unit will fly nearly 600 hours in just this 60-day rotation. 

Keeping the voice in the sky for all those hours takes some maintenance miracles from 16 folks on the ground. With limited tools and supplies they rely on ingenuity and a helping hand from other base units here. 

"The maintainers we have out here are amazing," said AWV2 Ryan Fuhrman, flight technician, and an Erie, Pa., native. "They really work hard to keep the aircraft up. Six hundred hours is a long time and that bird is tired. It takes a lot of work to keep her ready." 

Because of their efforts, the aircraft and its unique crew will again perform its unique mission of patrolling the dark skies over Iraq tonight, assuring convoy commanders someone will be there when they call.