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Rock Solid Warrior: Senior Airman Aaron Archer

  • Published
  • 386th Air Expeditionary Wing
SOUTHWEST ASIA --  

Rank/First & Last Name: Senior Airman Aaron Archer

Deployed Unit: 386th Air Expeditionary Wing Command Post

Duty Title: Command Post Controller

Home unit/station: 87th Air Base Wing Command Post, Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst

Family's military heritage: My Dad was a Green Beret in the Army. He was assigned to one of the airborne units out of Fort Bragg.

What is your mission here? My mission here is to be the central hub for information to and from the wing commander. This includes notifying him and other commanders of major events that happen on base and in the AOR that will affect our capability of performing our mission. We also play a key role in aircraft taking off and landing at this base. We receive information from the crews on our radio and disseminate it to the appropriate agencies, weather that is aerial port, maintenance, or higher headquarters. We also are the first line of defense when it comes to theater missile defense.

What are some of the best parts of your mission? One of the best feelings is after there is a major event. We are nonstop on the phones, working an emergency, calling everyone, making sure stuff gets coordinated and taken care of. Then the dust settles and everyone is ok, all the notifications are made, all the reports sent, and you know you did a good job. You can see exactly what you did and how it helped.

What are some of the challenges you face while conducting your mission, and how do you overcome them? One of the biggest challenges we face is that when the command post calls it is almost always bad news. When we call the commander at 3 a.m. for a notification it is because something bad has happened. Being that we are always in the events when bad stuff is happening we tend to receive the blame for stuff not going smoothly, weather it is our fault or not. We work to overcome this by not letting it get us down or affect our mission. We rely on our other controllers to keep us focused on the task at hand, help make sure all steps are done, and be a part of the accountability that we need to overcome the negative light we tend to find ourselves in.

How does your job differ in a deployed environment vs. home base? At home base we tend to do the same job as we do deployed. However, at a deployed location we add in hostile action to what we monitor.

How many times have you deployed? This is my first deployment.

What makes this deployment unique? Coming from a base of 40,000+ personnel assigned to fewer than 2,000. Being as there is so few people I feel like I can get to know a lot more of them.

Why did you join the Air Force? I worked at a call center for AT&T. I was a manager with 15 people assigned to me, and was making good money until the recession hit. I lost my job along with 80 percent of the people working at that call center. I did odd jobs for 5-6 months and was struggling to support my wife and daughter. A friend suggested I join the Army, saying that they would take care of me. I went to the Army recruiter and took the ASVAB with them. I scored very well and realized that maybe the Army was not for me. I talked to my Dad who suggested I talk with the Air Force recruiter. After talking with the Air Force Recruiter the first time I was hooked, I could follow in my dad's footsteps, serve my country and support my family. Three months latter I was on my way to basic.