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32nd AOG integral element during OIF

USAFE News Service

Release Date: 5/16/2003

By Tech. Sgt. Mona Ferrell, USAFE News Service

RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany (USAFENS) -- Working as a group during peacetime, and transforming themselves into an air operations center during combat, the members of the 32nd Air Operations Group here were a crucial link in the success of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

The primary mission of the 32nd AOG is to develop air and space strategy for the European theater and be prepared to plan and execute that strategy, said Col. Mace Carpenter, 32nd AOG commander.

During routine day-to-day operations, the AOG is broken down into three units: the information warfare flight, the air operations squadron and the intelligence squadron, said Carpenter.

However, during war, the same group of individuals transforms into an AOC consisting of five primary divisions: operations, air mobility, plans, strategy and ISR (intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance).

"Our goal in the AOG is to get the information to the JFAC (Joint Force Air Commander) and the CFAC (Combined Force Air Commander) as required. Whatever, he needs to make the key decisions, and then we implement his decisions to orchestrate and execute the air and space warfare.

"Remember, there's three basic levels of warfare; tactical, operational and strategic," Carpenter added. "A good example of tactical would be a fighter in a four-ship dropping weapons in a specific part of the battle field. When you're talking operational, you're talking about orchestrating all of the tactics that going on in the battlefield within a great context.

"And then, the strategic level of warfare is how it affects other nations, we're looking at longer-term periods and everything else that goes along with it," Carpenter said. "The AOC has to be very well aware of the strategic impact, and the capabilities and limitations of tactics at the operational level. We develop the operational strategy; we plan that strategy and then we execute it."

It's during the execution phase that this 200-strong Air Force group becomes a weapon system of lethal force; and the key to their strength is integration.

"We have a team of people with more than a dozen AFSCs (Air Force Specialty Codes) that work together closely," said Carpenter. "Integrating all of these AFSCs, and the disciplines that encompass them is imperative . the key is integrating information operations and warfare with intelligence and operations.

"It's kind of like a radiator; in the vertical (pipes) is each of the units that comprise the AOG. But across the subordinate divisions, the operations division has all three components, the plans division has all three and the strategy division has all three squadrons in it. They're fully integrated, and without that integration, you start breaking down the stove pipes and become less effective - that's the key to the Air Combat Operations Center being a weapon system - integration."

And if integration was key to the AOC operating as a weapon system during OIF, it's teamwork that ensured the AOG members kept that integration in mind prior to heading downrange. The AOG deployed nearly 130 members to approximately nine locations in six different nations during the operation, but the group's teamwork and dedication to duty was readily apparent even prior to the mobilization.

"We started working hard preparing for the war last fall," Carpenter said. "We had never really mobilized before . our troops pulled together with old equipment and without all of the packing we would ideally like to have.

"We had guys working extremely hard; working around the clock setting up pallet after pallet of equipment. When it was all said and done, I think it was around 14 or 15 pallets of communication gear and equipment they had packed up," he said. "It was a brilliant effort - they worked in the freezing cold to get it done. So, when it came time to deploy, we were ready and nothing was frustrated. We got everything together right and we got it downrange like it needed to be."

Teamwork was also apparent and essential for the 32nd AOG members who stayed here on station.

"Teamwork was crucial with 58 percent of our personnel deployed," said Lt. Col. Brian Ford, USAFE Theater Air and Space Operations Center director of staff, and acting 32nd AOG commander during OIF.

"Of those remaining in the group here at Ramstein, their primary function was to provide logistical and administrative support to those who were deployed," said Ford. "It was essential to pool the entire group to determine what talents we had remaining for all of the duties we needed to cover. As it turned out, we had an array of talent remaining, so although no one unit (within the group) had all they needed, as a group we had sufficient expertise remaining."

Integration, teamwork and dedication to duty; members of the 32nd AOG, whether remaining here or mobilizing downrange, were an integral element to the success seen during OIF.

"I really can't say enough about the talent in the 32nd AOG," said Carpenter. "This (war) was a tremendous and joined team effort. It was very joint and combined with our British and Australian partners. And, we worked well with the Army, the Marines and the Navy . we had all kinds of talent from all over the place that put it together, and the 32nd AOG was instrumental in this talent pool."