Fighter Wing: A Guided Tour of an Air Force Combat Wing

and perhaps small carts and vehicles. Since it is vital that certain loads and personnel arrive in a particular order, the unpredictability of airlift in a crisis sends the normally calm personnel under Major Bass into a frenzy, as they fire up laptop computers and check specifications to recalculate what and who will go onto a particular aircraft. Then they have to call homes and squadrons to order 366th wing personnel on standby to get themselves and their personal gear to the mobility office now! Although their job is to move the wing in a crisis, most of Major Bass's personnel will never leave Mountain Home AFB. Their lot in life is to push people, planes, and equipment forward to wherever the 366th is sent, but to stay home in the anxiety and emptiness that is a home base during a crisis.

366th Medical Group

The morale and quality of life on an Air Force base depend greatly on a well-managed, well-staffed medical group. This is not only to provide flight surgeons for the aircrews and combat medics for the ground personnel, but also general medical care for the families and dependents of the wing and base personnel. The geographic isolation of Mountain Home AFB makes this particularly important — the nearest major metropolitan hospital is more than fifty miles away.

Commanded by Colonel C. Bruce Green, MD, the 366th Medical Group provides medical services across the full range of missions. In addition, they are capable of deploying a field hospital with the wing, to provide medical services for the 366th and its attached units in the field.

366th Combat Support Group

The 366th Combat Support Group covers many specialized tasks and services such as engineering, communications, base security, and law enforcement, as well as food and sales services. Commanded by Colonel Robert G. Priest, the 366th Combat Support Group is the final slice in the 366th pie, and while its functions may seem secondary to the combat functions of the wing, rest assured that the quality-of-life issues faced by Colonel Priest's personnel are just as important to the success of the 366th's mission as the skills of the combat aviators in the flying squadrons.

366TH CIVIL ENGINEERING SQUADRON. Commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Cornelius Carmody, this unit allows the 366th to move into an unknown host airfield and make it fully operable. Doing this ranges from supplying and guaranteeing potable water and pure jet fuel to assuring the quality of the electrical power. On some deployments (such as to Saudi Arabia), this may be easy. But in other places, all the engineers can do is survey a bare bones base and transmit their construction requirements to an Air Force 'Red Horse' airbase construction battalion. In a time that would amaze you, these units can take a patch of desert or jungle, add concrete and water, and build one of the world's busiest airports. The 366th engineers also oversee quality assurance on construction projects back at Mountain Home AFB.

366TH COMMUNICATIONS SQUADRON. Headed by Lieutenant Colonel Dennis J. Damiens, the 366th Communications Squadron is more than just a miniature phone company. It is a state-of-the-art organization that is absolutely vital if the Operations Squadron is to have anything to plug their CTAPS system terminals into. Colonel Damiens's crew can plug into virtually any kind of voice, data, or satellite system, ranging from commercial phone companies to the new MILSTAR system that is just coming on-line. In addition, they provide local communications support around Mountain Home AFB, and maintain all of the secure communications systems of the wing.

366TH SECURITY POLICE SQUADRON. Even the most law-abiding small town needs a police force. Mountain Home AFB is a small town with zero tolerance for drug and alcohol abuse, along with several billion dollars of irreplaceable assets that require extremely dependable protection. The Security Police Squadron, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel James E. Leist, serves the functions of that local police force. Additional duties include anti-terrorist intelligence while at home, and airbase defense when the wing is deployed overseas. If the wing were to deploy to an area with a serious local security threat, the Security Police Squadron would coordinate overall airbase defense, and any reinforcing units would plug in to them. This might include anything from an allied/host nation military police unit to Special Forces units specializing in anti-terrorist activities.

366TH SERVICES SQUADRON. The 366th Services Squadron, commanded by Major Timothy P. Fletcher, runs the mess halls, the officers/enlisted clubs, the base commissary, and a host of other activities that make life bearable for military personnel. A good Services Squadron can make even the most desolate base into a duty station to remember. In the words of one young pilot, 'They make Mountain Home a great place to come home to.'

OUTSIDE HELP: OTHER ATTACHED UNITS

Despite the variety and capability of the units in the 366th Wing, there is no way they could go off to war all by themselves. While the Gunfighters can deal out death in several dozen interesting and creative ways, they are a bit shorthanded when it comes to finding and identifying the targets to be terminated. This is not a flaw or weakness in the structure of the wing, because the Air Force generally guards reconnaisance and target intelligence assets quite closely, and parcels them out carefully. Since the 366th is solidly backed by the senior leadership at ACC, the wing is near the top of the priority list for reconnaisance and intelligence support of all kinds.

552nd Air Control Wing, Tinker AFB, Oklahoma

When ACC decided to set up the 366th as a composite wing, one idea they seriously considered was to give the wing its own small (three-aircraft) squadron of E-3 Sentry Airborne Warning and Control Systems (AWACS) aircraft. Unfortunately, these aircraft are extremely scarce; only thirty-four were built for USAF service. Nevertheless, no significant force would normally deploy without AWACS support, and the 366th is high on the list of favored users. Thus, a standing arrangement has been made between the 366th Wing and ACC headquarters that in the event of a deployment, the parent unit for all USAF AWACS aircraft, the 552nd Air Control Wing (ACW), will supply a few of the precious eyes in the skies.

Based at Tinker AFB just east of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, the 552nd is the sole operator of the big radar planes in U.S. service (in four Airborne Air Control Squadrons: the 463rd, 464th, 465th, and 466th). The 552nd maintains detachments all over the world, from Alaska to Turkey, and has become an important airborne tool of American diplomacy. But this has come at a high price for the overworked crews, who are routinely away from their homes and families for months at a time. The operational tempo has always been high for the crews of the 552nd Wing, probably too high. By the beginning of 1994, an average AWACS crew was spending over 180 days a year on temporary duty (TDY) assignments overseas. In mid-1994, Brigadier General Silas R. 'Si' Johnson arrived at Tinker AFB to take over command of the wing. Si Johnson is a career multi-engine combat pilot, with thousands of hours in KC-135s and B-52s. Right now, the officers and enlisted personnel of the 552nd already feel the confidence of a strong hand on the reins of their wing and their community. They will need it too, because the demand for their unique capabilities continues unabated.