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379th AEW's success is built through HNCC

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Bryan Swink
  • 379th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs
SOUTHWEST ASIA --  Building and maintaining positive and respectful relations with the host nation is vital to the success of the 379th Air Expeditionary Wing's mission in Southwest Asia. This is where the 379th AEW Host Nation Coordination Cell comes into play.

HNCC serves as the liaison between U.S. Armed Forces and the host nation concerning a multitude of significant matters to include immigrations, customs, current operations and diplomatic clearances. It is the only office of its kind throughout the Air Force, which brings an exclusive and diverse mission to the 379th AEW.

"This is truly a unique and interesting job," said Lt. Col. Darel Longyear, 379th AEW HNCC deputy director. "There is no other job like this in the Air Force. We have the opportunity to interact and build lasting relationships with our host-nation counterparts which in turn allows us to accomplish our mission successfully."

Every mission U.S. and coalition forces want to accomplish, whether its building new living quarters, laying new sidewalk or simply launching an aircraft, must be coordinated through the host nation. Ongoing and effective communication with host-nation government and military leaders is vital to ensuring any U.S. mission is accomplished here.

"We are guests in their country," said Longyear, deployed from Pittsburgh Air Reserve Station, Pa. "There are many customs, courtesies and procedures we, as guests, need to comply with to ensure we demonstrate proper respect to our host-nation counterparts."

HNCC ensures any coalition aircraft entering the country, or even flying over the country, has the proper permissions to do so.

They process more than 200 aircraft clearances per day, 135 transient fighter aircraft per month and more than 65,000 diplomatic clearances every year.

"To keep good relations and to respect the host-nation's requests, we make certain all correspondences are sent through the proper channels," said Maj. Cameron Russ, 379th AEW HNCC chief of diplomatic clearances. "They are the approving authority for everything that happens on this installation and we are very mindful not to disrespect their procedures."

To ensure proper communication, HNCC employs five cultural advisors within the cell that help to nullify the language barrier between the two groups. These advisors accompany HNCC staff during daily interactions with the host-nation personnel to ensure Airmen fully understand the conversations and honor the proper customs and courtesies.

"Communication is extremely important and the cultural advisors help ensure the right messages are being delivered two ways," said Maj. Shelby Robb, 379th AEW HNCC deputy chief of diplomatic clearances. "They play a vital role in our daily interactions and make sure all paperwork gets submitted correctly and on time."

An equally important aspect of HNCC duties encompass the customs and immigration processes for all service members, Department of Defense civilians and contractors working on and transitioning through the 379th AEW.

"We make sure everyone coming into and leaving the country have the proper clearance and paperwork," said Staff Sgt. Shane Maynard, 379th AEW HNCC liaison officer.

A major task every HNCC Airman must undertake is building and establishing a positive rapport with the host-nation personnel. This ensures trust, builds the partnership and creates an effective working relationship.

"When HNCC personnel rotate through on their deployments, the slate is wiped clear with the local officials because they see new faces," said Maynard, deployed from Little Rock Air Force Base, Ark. "Each person must work to gain their trust individually. It's definitely a challenge, but our group has built an outstanding working relationship with them and our continued successes prove this."

HNCC helps educate personnel entering the country before interacting with host-nation personnel to ensure the guest are aware of the customs and courtesies.

"We have an excellent relationship with the host nation and as we continue building our alliance, we enable the successful completion of our mission said Longyear."