Courtesy Photo | Lt. Col. Brad Seehawer and Maj. Stephen Lin, 321st Air Mobility Operations Squadron,...... read more read more
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Lt. Col. McNair, the 613th Air Operations Center Air Mobility Division Chief, is responsible for executing airlift, air refueling, and aeromedical evacuation within the Pacific theater, but she, like all other theater Air Operations Centers, are only manned for day-to-day operations. For exercises that bring in aircraft from other parts of the world, the AOC relies on augmentation to help transition to the 24-hour operations that are needed to support an exercise the size of Valiant Shield 24.
The augmentation couldn't just come from any squadron, though. The AOC is a weapons system, funded and trained as if it were an airplane, which means that only certain units are trained and qualified to augment. Most of the AOC is staffed and organized by Air Combat Command, but the Air Mobility Division has a unique relationship with Air Mobility Command to source the mobility expertise needed to plan and execute logistics. Within AMC, there are two active duty squadrons that have been on-call global mobility command and control experts for nearly 50 years: the 321st Air Mobility Operations Squadron at Travis Air Force Base, California and the 621st Air Mobility Operations Squadron at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, New Jersey. And only one of those squadrons was attending Valiant Shield.
McNair briefed AMC leadership and advocated to get augmentation from both squadrons since the magnitude of this exercise called for additional support.
In an area of operations that covers 52% of the world's surface and is mostly water, air refueling is an important enabler for the Pacific, allowing the fighters and bombers to fly long enough to accomplish their training objectives.
Mobility provides meaningful maneuver to the joint force, providing them the opportunity to train in precise, lethal, and overwhelming multi-axis, multi-domain effects that demonstrate the strength and versatility of the United States military, its allies, and its partners. VS24 prepared the joint and combined force to rapidly respond to crises and contingencies across a spectrum of operations from humanitarian assistance and disaster relief to armed conflict.
McNair obtained an additional four tanker experts from the 621 AMOS who were tasked to deploy to Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam within 48 hours.
Members of the 321 and 621 AMOS worked alongside members of the 613 AMD, members from the 349 and 514 AMOS of the Air Force Reserves, and the 201 AMOS of the Hawaii National Guard to build the mobility support plan for the 12-day exercise. Volunteers from the guard and reserve squadrons play an important part in exercises, providing long-term expertise and training to the active duty squadrons. Together the team enabled VS24's objective to assist U.S., allied, and partner forces in developing regional and global power projection capabilities. Integrated training allowed the participating countries to refine the skills required to succeed in the defense of their shared interests in the region.
When not planning and executing the air campaign, the Total Force AMOS was helping refine the future of the Air Operations Center. Tanker planners and AMD Battlespace Management Operators worked closely with Air Force Life Cycle Management Center Detachment 12, nicknamed Kessel Run, to refine the Kessel Run All-Domain Operations Suite, the next generation software upgrade for the AOC. For many members of the AMOS, this was their first major exposure to the new software.
"We planned our missions alongside Kessel Run," Master Sgt. Daniel Jordan, 321 AMOS tanker planner said. "It was useful to have them next to us providing real-time fixes and tweaks."
Air refueling received a lot of attention during VS24, but airlift planners were also experimenting with next-generation mobility concepts. AMOS planners helped refine the Air Mobility Operations Control Center, the 613 AMD's distributed method of controlling tactical airlift within Pacific Air Force’s Agile Combat Employment scheme of maneuver. When forces disperse in a hub and spoke model, the AMOCC provides flexible airlift options to commanders in the field and gives them the freedom to move passengers and cargo to nodes without having to compete for prioritization in the AMD. It’s a new concept but a familiar name to those with a long memory: the Air Mobility Operations Control Center was the organization responsible for control air mobility operations in PACAF from 1996 to 2005. The unit became the AMD once the 613 AOC was activated in 2005.
“Letting the AMOCCs plan their own missions helped us focus on the big cargo movements,” Master Sgt. Chelsea DiMarco, airlift planner said. “It was impressive to see it execute so transparently.”
After 12 days of transporting fuel and cargo across the Pacific in support of joint and coalition objectives, VS24 came to an end. As the tankers, airlifters, fighters, and bombers start flying back to the mainland, the members of the AMOS headed to the airport to catch their own flights home and prepare to return for the next exercise, just a few weeks away.
The 613 AMD is known as “The Big Kahunas,” referencing the Hawaiian word for a highly trained expert and popularized as a nickname for surfer Duke Kahanamoku. For nearly 20 years the Big Kahunas have been the experts in air mobility for the Pacific theater, but when the waves get too choppy they rely on help from the Total Force AMOS to deliver air mobility at pace, at speed, and at scale for the combatant commander.
| Date Taken: | 06.12.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 06.25.2024 12:33 |
| Story ID: | 474784 |
| Location: | JOINT BASE MCGUIRE-DIX-LAKEHURST, NEW JERSEY, US |
| Web Views: | 142 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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