Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

By Tech. Sgt. Scott King
60th Air Mobility Wing Public Affairs

TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. (AMCNS) -- Little known to many personnel and residents here, the U.S. Navy has had a presence on the other side of the Travis runway since April 1988. More than 100 sailors man a tightly secured area known as "TACAMO," or "Take Charge and Move Out."

TACAMO is fully integrated on three Air Force bases, including Travis, Tinker AFB, Okla., and Offutt AFB, Neb., as well as Naval Air Station, Patuxent River, Md., carrying out a national mission involving joint operations. The mission is to provide a survivable and reliable communications link between national decision makers and the country's arsenal of strategic nuclear weapons.

On a "beat-the-threat alert," the two Navy E-6B Mercury aircraft here enable the National Command Authority to relay orders through all phases of conflict to ballistic missile submarines, bombers and missile silos 24 hours a day to protect national security through nuclear deterrence.

Fleet Air Reconnaissance Squadron Three Detachment (VQ-3 Det. Travis) and the Navy Computer and Telecommunications Strategic Communications Unit Detachment Fairfield combine to make up one of the Navy elements at Travis.

"It's vitally important to national security that we're here," said Senior Chief Petty Officer James Valdez, assistant officer in charge of VQ-3 Det. "We have an important role serving as an airborne communications platform. Within seconds, we can receive an emergency action message, alert the crews and have a TACAMO airplane off the deck, capable of serving as "the" vital link between national leaders and various nuclear weapons systems."

The TACAMO aircraft are highly modified Boeing 707s built in 1986 in Seattle, Wash. They stand ready on a moment's notice to assist the crew in getting airborne to provide secure, survivable, jam-resistant strategic communications. At Offutt AFB, the E-6Bs are manned with a battle staff and an airborne launch control system capable of ground alert, force generation, force management and airborne launch of Peacekeeper and Minuteman Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles.

The bottom floor of the Travis facility houses the crews around the clock, seven days a week. The crews and the aircraft rotate in and out of Travis from Tinker AFB and Offutt AFB as well as random locations on the West Coast and from bases in the Pacific.

"To keep us on our toes, drills are run all the time," said Senior Chief Petty Officer Antonio Chavez, senior chief petty officer in charge of NCTSCU. "We treat every drill as a real-world mission and hope the real thing never does happen."

NCTSCU is responsible for the emergency action and over-the-counter messages that flow into the facility. The messages have to be authenticated, deciphered and relayed to and from the E-6B Mercury aircraft.

According to Petty Officer Chavez, they accomplish this task through a communications infrastructure that includes medium speed computer data lines to radio signals in the very low frequency to extremely high frequency spectrum. "It's essential to our mission that we provide rapid, accurate and precise communication," he said.

Also essential to the mission is keeping the planes standing ready. Forty-two Navy maintenance personnel stand watch over the aircraft, ensuring they are ready to roll off the Travis runway and serve as a survivable communications platform.

"We support alert status maintenance," said Petty Officer 2nd Class Owen Quintero, an aviation mechanic with VQ-3 Det. "We're kind of like a Texaco for these planes - the moment they hit the deck, we fuel them, provide an oil service, daily inspections and maintenance."

Compared to being out to sea, an Air Force base is a different environment for the Navy sailors working here. The Travis TACAMO facility is tightly guarded by 30 sailors who are authorized to use deadly force to protect the E6Bs.

"On Travis, we're pretty isolated out here. When we go to the other side of the base we get some strange looks and a lot of questions. Mainly - What are you doing here? Air Force people are not used to seeing us, but we get treated well considering the uniqueness of our situation," Petty Officer Quintero said.

To ease some of the burden on the crews who live at TACAMO and the sailors who work there, the facility houses a galley for the crews to prepare their own meals, a movie room to provide relief from the stresses of constant alert duties, a weight room and tennis and basketball courts. But, the creature comforts they have at Travis don't outweigh the importance of their presence here.

"Our mission is definitely important here," said Petty Officer 2nd Class Deanna Peabody, an information systems technician. "We provide a direct link between senior leadership and our TACAMO aircraft."