Aussies don't rest in Southwest Asia

Published Nov. 16, 2012
By Senior Airman Bryan Swink
379th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs

SOUTHWEST ASIA -- They have been here since the beginning. They fly under the radar with a 22-person team, but their mission is of immeasurable importance toward the ongoing operations in the area of responsibility.

Members of the Royal Australian Air Force are assigned to the Combined Air and Space Operations Center, a tenant unit of the 379th Air Expeditionary Wing, to provide support capabilities to enable air efforts in support of coalition troops downrange.

"We are broken up into different cells providing different missions," said Wing Commander Sean Corkill, commander of Australian task units here. "We work hand-in-hand with our coalition counterparts to provide effective intelligence and surveillance capabilities to assist in the fight."

The Aussies have personnel on station whose primary mission is to support the air tasking order, but many are here to provide logistical support to the entire team.

There are communications specialists here that maintain all the Australian systems used and also work as liaisons with U.S. communications personnel to ensure the unit can function properly on U.S. systems.

The Aussie administration office takes care of logistical items to include mail, purchasing uniforms, taking care of flight arrangements, lodging quarters and planning morale activities.

"The admin officer and I are like a jack of all trades," said Flight Sergeant Vanessa Schneider, senior noncommissioned officer in charge of logistics. "We take care of the many recurring tasks so the rest of our team can focus on their mission."

Working with service members from different countries can have its challenges, but the Aussies embrace that challenge full force.

"I feel very lucky and fortunate to be here working with people from all around the world," said Leading Aircraftman Cosmo Fardone, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Division analyst. "The language accents can get challenging, but being able to learn and share different tactics, techniques and procedures has been invaluable."

The Royal Australian Air Force has a footprint all across the AOR. These Aussies may not be large in numbers, but their footprint is huge.

"We have a great team who work very well together," said Corkill. "We are all thankful for the great support from coalition counterparts while we work together to accomplish a mission together."