This article is from the GA ANG website. Those who monitor the military in this area will be familiar with these units as STEALTH and FANG, SNAKE, and RATTLER respectively.
117th puts faces, voices together in work with 'Eagle' unit
June, 2007 -- Members of Savannah’s 117th ACS and Florida’s 125th Fighter Wing put their collective faces and voices together recently to enhance air-to ground communications during both units annual training.
Besides their usual ground controller-pilot relationship, during the first weeks of June, Guardsmen who had only spoken over radios to each other had a chance to put “a face with a voice.”
“This field training gave us the opportunity to have face-to-face briefings between our controllers and the Wing’s pilots and to conduct live data links with the Wing’s F-15s,” explained Lt. Col. Joe Ferrero, 117th ACS Commander.
Because to its close proximity to the F-15 Wing, the 117th has often worked with the fighter unit during training missions in airspace off the coast of Jacksonville. More than 140 members of the 117th deployed to Jacksonville to train. While there Guardsmen established remote radar and radios at Fernandina Beach and a main command and operations site at the Jacksonville International Airport.
The pilots and 117th controllers had the opportunity to brief and debrief each missions face-to-face. The interaction gave the controllers and pilots a better understanding of what each was trying to accomplish and helped the controllers provide a better service which enhanced the learning curve and improved training for both units.
"It allowed us to break down each radio call made on both sides in the context of the fight and discuss the value of it," Ferrero added.
"From a personal perspective,” said Col. Jim Eifert, 125th commander, “the 117th visit provided us with a long overdue opportunity to pair a face with a name of people we've been working with daily over the phone and UHF airwaves for almost a decade,”.
“Since the controllers were able to face-to-face brief and debrief with us, we made a concerted effort to tailor our mission briefs with GCI (Ground Control Intercept operators) in mind for the two weeks we were here,” said Ferrero. “This gave them the opportunity to ask questions they wouldn't otherwise have asked during brief telephonic mission briefings.”
Sorties that were flown by F-15 Eagle fighters from the 125th were controlled by air battle managers and weapons directors from the 117th.
Another first for the 117th during its Florida training was the successful deployment of the Remote Radio Secure Voice System (RRSVS). The system makes it possible to remotely have radar, UHF/VHF/HF radios, and Ethernet connectivity from anywhere in the world via satellite. This was the first operational use of this radar and radio remote functionality system by an Air National Guard unit in the continental United States.
Instructors from the US Army Forces Command were co-located with the 117th's main site to teach an advanced data-link training course to the Georgia Air Guardsmen along with other Air Guardsman and active duty personnel from United States Air Forces Europe.
Besides their usual ground controller-pilot relationship, during the first weeks of June, Guardsmen who had only spoken over radios to each other had a chance to put “a face with a voice.”
“This field training gave us the opportunity to have face-to-face briefings between our controllers and the Wing’s pilots and to conduct live data links with the Wing’s F-15s,” explained Lt. Col. Joe Ferrero, 117th ACS Commander.
Because to its close proximity to the F-15 Wing, the 117th has often worked with the fighter unit during training missions in airspace off the coast of Jacksonville. More than 140 members of the 117th deployed to Jacksonville to train. While there Guardsmen established remote radar and radios at Fernandina Beach and a main command and operations site at the Jacksonville International Airport.
The pilots and 117th controllers had the opportunity to brief and debrief each missions face-to-face. The interaction gave the controllers and pilots a better understanding of what each was trying to accomplish and helped the controllers provide a better service which enhanced the learning curve and improved training for both units.
"It allowed us to break down each radio call made on both sides in the context of the fight and discuss the value of it," Ferrero added.
"From a personal perspective,” said Col. Jim Eifert, 125th commander, “the 117th visit provided us with a long overdue opportunity to pair a face with a name of people we've been working with daily over the phone and UHF airwaves for almost a decade,”.
“Since the controllers were able to face-to-face brief and debrief with us, we made a concerted effort to tailor our mission briefs with GCI (Ground Control Intercept operators) in mind for the two weeks we were here,” said Ferrero. “This gave them the opportunity to ask questions they wouldn't otherwise have asked during brief telephonic mission briefings.”
Sorties that were flown by F-15 Eagle fighters from the 125th were controlled by air battle managers and weapons directors from the 117th.
Another first for the 117th during its Florida training was the successful deployment of the Remote Radio Secure Voice System (RRSVS). The system makes it possible to remotely have radar, UHF/VHF/HF radios, and Ethernet connectivity from anywhere in the world via satellite. This was the first operational use of this radar and radio remote functionality system by an Air National Guard unit in the continental United States.
Instructors from the US Army Forces Command were co-located with the 117th's main site to teach an advanced data-link training course to the Georgia Air Guardsmen along with other Air Guardsman and active duty personnel from United States Air Forces Europe.
