New ‘ROCMOC’ keeps missions flowing at Angel Thunder 2010

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Jake Richmond
  • 355th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
DAVIS-MONTHAN AIR FORCE BASE, Ariz. --  For the duration of Angel Thunder 2010, dozens of aircraft are on hand for multiple missions every day. Some of those aircraft are even being flown more strenuously during this two-week period than they would be in a real-world deployment.

Lots of aircraft plus lots of missions equals a steady diet of aircraft maintenance.

Almost every large flying operation has some kind of maintenance operations center that serves as the "bellybutton" between the operators and their ever-needy aircraft. When exercise officials decided Angel Thunder needed its own MOC, they figured the best place to put it was right with the other command-and-control functions in the AT10 Rescue Operations Center. The "ROCMOC" was born.

"It was one of the huge lessons learned from the last exercise," said Lt. Col. Joe Pace, commander of D-M's 79th Rescue Squadron and one of the AT10 mission bosses. "We needed maintenance authority nearby that could understand the big picture of our aircraft assets. The only way to do that was to incorporate our maintenance brothers into the ROC."

Sure, it goes without saying that flying operations rely on mission-capable planes and helicopters, all of which are dependent on diligent maintainers. But the volume and variety of aircraft involved in AT10, the biggest personnel recovery exercise in the world, means some of those wrench-turners have to add another tool to their repertoire - communication.

"Whenever an aircraft needs back-shop support, like ammo or gas, we coordinate that with the maintainers at the landing site," said Staff Sgt. Jeremie Brashear, a 355th Fighter Wing MOC technician who works the day shift at the AT10 ROCMOC. "And before the missions kick off, they ask us for status updates on all the participating aircraft, and we tell them which ones they can count on."

Complicating the effort further, the exercise is utilizing four airfields this year - one each in Bisbee and Marana, Ariz., one at Nellis AFB, Nev., and the primary one here at D-M. Each location has its own on-the-ground maintainers who are not only responsible for taking care of the aircraft that land there, but also for relaying precise information back to the ROCMOC.

Based on the capability and availability of each aircraft, exercise officials either press on with the scripted scenarios or modify them. But until the ROCMOC came along, those decisions often didn't get made until the scenario was in full swing. That would impact the painstakingly tailored training objectives, which was just not ideal.

"We have to correctly quantify capabilities of all aircraft," said Colonel Pace. "For instance, in a mountain rescue scenario, we need to know if the helicopter is hoist-capable."

And the ROCMOC concept wasn't just introduced to make the exercise flow more smoothly; the plan is to include it into real-world situations, too, like when a ROC was stood up to coordinate the rescue of victims of Hurricane Gustav in 2008.

Because of that reality, AT10 participants understand the increased importance of having steady maintenance communication as part of the overall process.

"Since we're dealing with survivors who often need medical help, we have to think about that 'Golden Hour' of care that Secretary (of Defense Robert) Gates talks about," said Colonel Pace. "Any delays because you don't have a proper flow of information could make the difference in saving someone's life."