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Show NEWS March 1, 1991 H;::'cp Times 7 'Nerve centers' keep winq qoinq by Sgt. Gary J. Kunich 3S3th TFW Public Affairs AN AIR BASE IN THE MIDDLE EAST-T- his base, housing the 3S8th Tactical Fighter Wing, Provisional, bustles with activity as daylight creeps over the horizon. But no place bustles with more activity than the site of the Survival Recovery Center and Wing Operations Center. "The SRC and WOC are the nerve centers of the entire base," said Maj. Jenny Artery, the SRC director. "Together, we're the command and control center for all flying and combat support operations. Every agency we need to keep the wing flying is represented here." On the SRC side of the house, those agencies include air base operability, explosive ordnance disposal, disaster preparedness, security police, fire department, civil engineering, hospital, communications and resource management. In the WOC, maintenance and operations officials keep the commander updated on the status of all the wing's aircraft. "Although the SRC and WOC have two different missions we work side by side and our jobs interlock," explained Major Artery. "The main job of the SRC is to make sure this base can still operate and generate sorties before, during and after an attack. "The WOC initially breaks out the air tasking order from headquarters and allocates blocks of missions to each squadron. We also coordinate mission details with U.S. Central Command Air Forces and keep tabs on the jets from the time they take off until they return," Lt. Col. Bruce Allen, WOC director, added. "The maintenance representative keeps the commander and all of us informed of any problems. That way we can make adjustments to meet combat taskings." And while this base itself has not had to recover from an attack, Major Artery said it's important that the SRC and WOC work closely together. "We still play a big part in the operations of emerthe base. For example, if there's an gency and an aircraft is coming back that still has ordnance on it, we have to make sure it's taken care of immediately. Our EOD representative will alert his people to the problem and get it taken care of." If the base does come under attack, though, things would get a lot more hectic, she said. "Units around the base would call here and report any damage they've received. The plotter would then take that information and mark the places that were hit on a base map we have. Our primary job is to keep the jets flying, so we'll assess the damage and find out what needs to be taken care of first so the mission can continue. "With all the agencies we have here, it's like one- day-to-da- y in-flig- ht DUgJOOU Fg stop shopping," Major Artery continued. "The different shops can communicate with one another, without having to make a bunch of phone calls. If it's determined that we were hit with chemical weapons, our disaster preparedness representative would determine what kind of chemical it was, what effect it would have on the base and how long the threat would last. He could notify the security police representative here and tell him how big of an area they should rope off, so more people aren't injured. "Meanwhile, EOD could dispatch people to locations where bombs have landed, but haven't exploded, to take care of that problem," she said. "We would handle the worst problems first and then work down from there:5 No matter what, the mission comes first, so if the runway is bombed, that would be our first area of responsibility. After the area is declared safe, the civil engineering representative would dispatch his people out to make the minimum repairs necessary. When those repairs are complete, we'll tell the operations people in the WOC so the jets can get off the ground." According to the major, other agencies in the SRC would be equally busy during an attack and would have specific tasks they'd have to accomplish. The hospital representative would find out where the wounded or casualties are and would contact the hospital so they could make preparations. If there face-to-fac- e, full ok Working hard to maintain quality of life only have we put up tents, we've done a lot of projects to maintain a high 388th TFW Public Affairs quality of life and other projects to enAN AIR BASE IN THE MIDDLE sure the mission could continue." The squadron has accomplished a lot EAST An old television commercial once said, "GE brings good things to in the more than five months they've life," but at this Saudi Arabian base, been here, but, he said, it hasn't been it might be more appropriate to easy. "Normally we arrive at a base 10 change GE or General Electric to days before everyone else to start set"CE" or civil engineering. ting up, but in this case, most of us arSince the beginning of this deploy- rived 10 days after everyone else. We ment for the 388th Tactical Fighter had to double up our workload and Wing, Provisional, the crew of more work around the clock to provide peothan 150 civil engineers, from seven ple with comfortable places to live and shifts, different bases, has been responsible work. We were working for a majority of all the construction around the clock before a lot of the projects here, ranging from tent city other shops on base." toiSince that time, they've put up well and latrines with American-styl- e 235 tents and put together over lets to a jogging track. Although these have been some more noticeable hundreds upon hundreds of bunk beds. projects, MSgt. Gary Bowman, the "The beds were originally singles, but squadron's noncommissioned officer in we wanted to make sure people had as charge, says that's only the tip of the much room as possible in their living quarters," Sergeant Bowman exiceberg. "The only time some people think of plained. "In order to do that, though, CE is when something breaks down we had to weld each individual bed and they see us fixing it, but the bot- together. Each tent also had to be tom line is that without us, a lot of this equipped with electricity and air conbase wouldn't be here," he said. "Not ditioners before anyone could move in. by Sgt. Gary J. Kunich 12-ho- ur were any fires, the fire department would dispatch trucks to make sure blazes were under control. The communications representative would make sure telephones and other communications lines are repaired immediately. And if supplies or transportation are needed, the resource management representatives could call their respective people. "Everyone in the SRC and WOC plays an extremely vital role in making sure we stay combat ready," Major Artery said. "Sometimes people don't realize how important something is until they don't have it. For instance, a lot of people depend on the phone to do their job. If all the lines were down after an attack, we'd need them operational as soon as possible." But for now, there have been no attacks at this base and although base members hope and pray that never happens, they must always remain alert and ready to do their job, Colonel Allen stressed. "Down here, we make sure the 'combat clock' is running smoothly. It's important that we coordinate with the appropriate people and that we use good, rapid communication. One of the challenges is making sure the mission continues without any glitches. If there were an attack against our base, we'd work closely with the SRC to know the first moment we could keep so much fire power on the bad guy that the hospital has no more business than they have now." (IDF DV It was a lot of work, but working together, we were able to put up about 16 completed tents a day." Because they were working with equipment, the mostly European-styl-e NCOIC said wiring electricity was one of the biggest challenges the squadron faced. "This is the first time many of the civil engineers have been faced with a deployment of this magnitude. There wasn't any time to waste to learn about new equipment before we started our projects. Basically, everyone had to learn as they were working. On the positive side, it's helped a lot of the engineers to expand their career knowledge." real-worl- d Sergeant Bowman said some of the squadron's other projects include working with the locals to install washers and dryers, putting in water purification units to make the tap water drinkable, and equipping the Air Transportable Hospital with running water. And while some people might take this type of work for granted, Col. Bill Petit, hospital commander, is quick to compliment their work. "In addition to them installing running water for us, they've advised us on our concrete floors, helped put in sanitary draining and redundant electrical systems," he said. "Without their timely and expert work, we wouldn't have been able to have been appointed one of the best ATHs in the theater." But while their work at the hospital was a large project, Sergeant Bowman said perhaps one of their biggest jobs was preparing for the arrival of the 69th Tactical Fighter Squadron from Moody AFB, Ga. Because of security reasons, they had very little notice of the squadron's arrival. Once again, workloads were doubled to build even more tents and an aircraft shelter for the That entailed laying 480 meters of concrete, 12 inches thick. "Putting in that concrete was like walking through a big bowl of thick oatmeal," joked A1C Jim Anderson, a civil engineer electrician. "All of us were glad when that project was done. It didn't matter what our jobs were we were all out there working." "We may have a wide variety of career fields in civil engineering, but there's no such thing as specialties," Sergeant Bowman added. "Everyone in the squadron was pouring and forming concrete. That's because no matter what the job is, we all pull together to get it done." F-16- s. |