Command post: 442nd Fighter Wing's nerve center

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Leo Brown
  • 442nd Fighter Wing public affairs
WHITEMAN AIR FORCE BASE, Mo. --  At the end of a non-descript hallway in a 442nd Fighter Wing building at Whiteman Air Force Base sits the wing's nerve center.

Known as the command post, it's staffed by 10 Citizen Airmen - continuously multi-tasking - whose jobs are to simply know everything that might affect the wing and its mission.

"During exercises and real world situations, the command post serves as a clearing house for all information, both internal and external, from higher headquarters or from the situation that's happening, so that all the actions the wing performs can be fully coordinated," said Lt. Col. Karen Barrett, chief of the command post.

The staff, made up of three air reserve technicians and seven traditional reservists, performs a litany of tasks that frequently involve communicating with higher headquarters, senior leaders and, potentially, every other wing in Air Force Reserve Command.

They often perform these duties all at the same time.

Their successes, they say, comes from their attention to detail and their willingness to train, train and then train some more.

Since command post controllers face a multiplicity of real-world and exercise scenarios dealing with people, equipment and security, training is priority one.

"It's information flow - in and out, and we try to make sure all the group commanders know what's going on," said Senior Master Sgt.Tony Fleming, command post superintendent. "We maintain a log of everything that happens that's significant."

Meeting the demands of commanders and passing accurate information to wing agencies, often with tight time lines, can be very taxing, Colonel Barrett said, but she has nothing but praise for her troops.

"They're awesome," Colonel Barrett said. "Their technical skills are just so highly refined.

"Everything we do is checklist driven," she said. "Every action we take when we get a notification about a bird strike or a hung ordinance or any reportable item, we immediately flip to our quick reaction checklists and that drives our behaviors."

"From intelligence to emergency information and resource information, it's a huge undertaking," said Senior Airman Adrian Walker, who's been with the command post since 2003 and was awarded the Air Force Reserve Command's Airman of the Year in Command and Control for 2004. "We have two people at the console, a senior controller and a junior controller. We work together well. We're training usually every month. We have refresher tests every 30 to 60 days dealing with emergency actions to general knowledge. The first thing I do here on a Saturday of a UTA is get my test out of the way."

The focus required in this job begins as soon as members show up for work.

"Imagine that to get into your office you had to have six combinations in your head and if one of them is not keyed in properly, the police show up, handcuff you and take you away," Colonel Barrett said.

Once inside the command post, the Airmen must be ready to face whatever comes their way.

"It's sometimes feast or famine," said Master Sgt. Tammy Coffman, command post controller.

"One of the biggest misconceptions about the command post is that we don't do anything but watch CNN and that's very wrong," Colonel Barrett said. "It's a very stressful job. You have to listen to radios, watch screens, answer telephones and they'll throw scenarios at you - an A-10 bird strike, an ejection, a crash - and you have to respond in seconds.

"When one thing starts to happen, all kinds of things happen," she said. "The telephones ring at once and everyone wants to know what happened. You've got to prioritize your actions so you can accomplish the required tasks in the time allotted."

Sergeant Fleming said the command post staff must brief unit commanders each unit training assembly.

"We have 10 units that are required to report to us things like how many personnel they have, how much equipment they have and whether it's working," he said. "That report goes to the Pentagon and as that information is changed, we brief the commanders on each UTA."

The command post staff also noted that when A-10s are in the air, their work gets busy.

"Whenever there's flying, we're open," Sergeant Fleming said. "We're required to monitor all flight activity. If there's a downed or missing aircraft, we would initiate search and rescue procedures."

"In our flight following data base, we have to put in every arrival and landing time, and there's people monitoring what we're doing," Sergeant Coffman said. "If it's not done timely, we have to explain what went wrong."

Staff Sgt. Elaine Birch has been with the command post for six months and previously worked as an active-duty Air Force member in the Kadena Air Base, Japan, and Incirlik Air Base, Turkey, command posts.

"It's an interesting job," she said. "You get more of an overview of the wing and people's jobs as opposed to other career fields. You get to learn about each section, especially when you go to battle staff. You're usually responsible for the information commanders need from you, all the emergency action messages. You're the eyes and ears for the base."

Colonel Barrett stressed that wing members should know that they can and should call the command post when they see "anything that is out of the ordinary.

"A big challenge we have is getting people to understand that things they might see as they perform their duties might be reportable to us, such as a co-worker being injured or extremely sick," she said. "If the situation is dire enough, we have to forward that information to Air Force Reserve Command and 10th Air Force. When in doubt, call the command post."

"It's my favorite job since I've been in the Air Force," said Sergeant Coffman, who joined the Air Force in 1987. "I kind of like 'being in the know.' Everyone reports to us and we disseminate that information to the wings and to the commanders."

The staff, which also consists of Maj. Gordon Kucera, Tech. Sgts. Gerald Thompson, Craig Burton and Julie Burges, and Amn. Devin Smith, have banded together to form a unique "family" and support each other to accomplish their mission. Their experience ranges from 20-plus years in the Air Force to just a few months.

"I like how we kind of have our own little home here," Sergeant Coffman said.

"I like the people I work with. It's a great group of people. This is like a second family here," said Airman Walker, who works as a civilian for the Kansas City, Missouri's office of emergency management. "I love coming here. It's been a great opportunity. This job opened the door to my current job. It's something new every day, depending on the information we get."

"An interesting aspect of this job is always knowing what's going on and who the key players are," Sergeant Birch said. "With all that comes a great deal of responsibility not to disclose anything you shouldn't. If people get access to that information, the effects could be devastating."