552nd Air Control Wing supports hurricane relief efforts

Air Force Links ^ | Sep 8, 2005 | Staff Sgt. Stacy Fowler

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TINKER AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. (AFPN) -- For the past week, news stations have been running nonstop coverage about the devastation in the Gulf Coast region.

People have seen heroic rescues from rooftops and flooded homes, families opening their homes to those in need, and countless people and organizations donating money, supplies.

Airmen with the 552nd Air Control Wing here are no different. On Sept. 3, they began supporting search-and-rescue operations in Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi, and they leaped at the chance to make a difference.

“Everyone wanted to be the first to go,” said Maj. Raymond Lewis, mission crew commander from the 960th Airborne Air Control Squadron. “Everyone in the (operation) squadrons wanted to help. They wanted to go up there and help make a difference for those who were still trapped, as well as those who were trying to get supplies to people who need (them).”

The mission of the 552nd ACW is to coordinate efforts of military helicopters and military and civilian search-and-rescue aircraft.

According to Major Lewis, the 552nd ACW is “like a quarterback.”

“It’s like football,” Major. Lewis said. “We have the areas sectioned out, and we call the plays to the other aircraft. We send them to where they need to go, and keep aircraft from getting bunched up in one area.”

Airborne warning and control system aircraft also act as radio relay platforms to assist ground-based military activities, local police and civilian authorities.

“Keep in mind that nearly all of the radio towers, cell phone towers, transmitter stations, microwave relays and other communications sites were damaged, destroyed or knocked out of commission when Hurricane Katrina swept through the Gulf Coast area,” said Lt. Col. Scott Woodson, 552nd Operations Support Squadron commander.

During the first mission Sept. 3, crewmembers got a taste of what it was really like on the ground.

“We heard communication traffic from a group of seniors and nurses who were trapped in a retirement home,” Major Lewis said. “They were in dire need of medical supplies such as insulin, and getting extremely short on food and water. We were able to divert aircraft to that area to help them.”

“We also heard communications from aircraft airlifting people from rooftops, and somebody who needed medical care because of a stab wound was rescued and taken to a hospital for medical care,” said Royal Australian Air Force Flight Lt. Daniel O’Donnell, an aircraft commander from the 960th AACS. “It sounded really bad down there, but we were helping people by getting aircraft to where they needed to go to drop supplies, medicine, and to get people out if needed.”

The 552nd ACW is scheduled to perform daily air surveillance sorties for about a month, but, according to Colonel Woodson, that might be extended.

“I would anticipate that AWACS will fly Hurricane Katrina rescue support missions until the local search-and-rescue efforts cease, and some basic network of radio and other communication transmission system is re-established on the ground,” Colonel Woodson said.

[SandRat]

AWACS AF PING

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