Total Force CRC controls skies over combat theater

Published May 24, 2007
By Capt. Teresa Sullivan
379th Air Expeditionary Wing

SOUTHWEST ASIA -- In the midst of the bustling air wing is a camp along a dirt road where a team of air battle managers are hard at work monitoring the air waves every second of every day -- keeping watch of the skies.

Seventy Airmen, Soldiers and Guardsmen of the 71st Expeditionary Air Control Squadron operate a Control and Reporting Center, or CRC, watching for theater ballistic missiles or other aerial threats from their mobile "camp within a camp."

Led by the Hawaii Air National Guard's 154th Air Control Squadron out of Kauai, Hawaii, the team is primarily charged with identifying threats or aircraft foreign to the airspace over the 379th Air Expeditionary Wing and Kuwait - and can also provide valuable information to ground forces.

"Our team is very capable. Our job is to make sure you all can sleep safely at night, knowing the skies are safe," said Lt. Col. Myles Moriguchi, 71st EACS commander, the senior guardsmen here from Hawaii's 154th ACS.

The CRC maintains a vigilant watch of a real-time picture of aircraft movement through a tactical data link that receives information from various sources in their area of responsibility.

This link not only allows the CRC to have eyes in the sky, but it allows the necessary people to be tapped in, seeing the same aerial image.

"We coordinate closely with the Combined Air Operations Center, a variety of aircraft, Navy ships, ground forces and with our Army counterparts with the Patriot Battalion here," said Colonel Moriguchi. "We serve as an interface between the air and the ground and we can clear the air space if use of the Patriot is necessary."

The Army Patriot Battalion includes air defense systems with radars, a control station, equipment and missile launchers with munitions at the ready.

The CRC communicates closely with the Army who stands ready to utilize their weapon system if necessary, said the colonel. The CRC's point man for the Army serves as a liaison between them and the patriot unit.

"If we had a hostile on track, like a ballistic missile, the Air Force unit here at the CRC relays the message to me and after correlation of the track, I relay it to the patriot units," said Army Capt. Steven Rachamim, 11th Air Defense Artillery Brigade fire control officer, a Baltimore native, based out of Fort Bliss, Texas.

Although they haven't had to respond yet, the CRC team is ready at a moment's notice
seven days a week.

"My job every day is to maintain awareness of all the operations, to be sure we've got the pictures coming in and that we're properly linked with the Army and the CAOC," said Capt. Jeffrey Lum, 71st EACS senior director and Oahu, Hawaii, native.

Part of Captain Lum's job is to oversee the operational modules, considered to be the heart and soul of the operation.

The operational modules are made up of surveillance technicians who watch the data links at the "hub" of the CRC. Other key players for the CRC include satellite and microwave communicators, vehicle and radar maintainers, communication operators, supply technicians, intelligence specialists and other support staff.

What makes this team diverse is also what make them click, according to the colonel.

"We're seamless," said the colonel of the squadron made up of personnel from five guard units, two active duty units and the Army. "We may come from different places, but we all work for the 71st EACS. We have a mission to do - one team, one fight."