Small units have big responsibility Published May 18, 2012 By Brandice J. O'Brien Tinker Public Affairs TINKER AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. -- It's a matter of orchestrating chaos. When Air Force personnel or cargo arrive or depart from Tinker, it's up to two small units, of less than a dozen active-duty members in each office, to make sense of it all. The 72nd Logistics Readiness Squadron Air Terminal Operations, 72nd ABW Installation Deployment Office and 552nd Air Control Wing Deployment Office handle such missions, working whatever shifts it takes to get the mission accomplished. Additionally, in recent years, the two units have handled extraordinary tasks, outside of their typical scope of operations. "We do a lot for the Air Force and military, in general," said Tech. Sgt. Matthew Armstrong, 72nd LRS Passenger Services Section noncommissioned officer in charge. "We get cargo and troops to operations downrange. For such a small section, we make a huge impact." The Air Terminal Operations has three branches - Air Traffic Operations Center, the Ramp and Passenger Service Section - within its area of responsibility. The ATOC coordinates with the base operations for inbound and outbound weekly flight schedules, file mission manifests and assist with the loading and unloading of cargo or personnel from the flights. Personnel often assist the air control wing, 3rd Combat Communications Group and 507th Air Refueling Wing with their missions. The ramp section does the physical uploading and downloading of cargo. The passenger services section processes and manifests passengers, as well as uploading and downloading military and Guard members, reservists and retirees with their dependents who, when there is space available, fly on aircraft that are en-route to another destination at virtually no cost and few restrictions; passengers may be subjected to taxes and like expenses. This service is traditionally known as "Space A." The passenger service section also caters to space reserve travelers, known as "Space R," who go to deployed locations around the world. Additionally, the Air Terminal Operations section has executed unique missions, such as in the summer of 2010 when a 40-foot piece of the USS Oklahoma mast flew from Hawaii by way of a C-17 Globemaster to Tinker en route to a museum in Muskogee for restoration and display. The USS Oklahoma, like the USS Arizona and seven other battleships, was assaulted at Pearl Harbor when the Empire of Japan initiated a sneak attack against the U.S. Navy. The USS Oklahoma was hit in the side by nine torpedoes, rolled over and within 11 minutes, her keel was out of the water. More than 2,100 Navy and Marine officers and enlisted personnel were assigned to the ship and the attack killed 429 of them. The USS Oklahoma was one of three ships hit that day that did not return to battle. She sunk to the bottom of the harbor. The mast was downloaded onto a tractor-trailer rig and driven to Muskogee. Similar to the Air Terminal Operations section, the 552nd ACW Deployment Office handles sending cargo and personnel to operation locations and oversees the return trip. While missions can happen at any moment, Maj. Brad Moss, 552nd ACW Deployment officer, said typically troops of 100 to 300 Airmen are sent out every six months. Typically, Airmen are accompanied by cargo, which may fill five to seven aircraft. When taskings come down from Air Combat Command Headquarters, it is the deployment office that helps decide what groups are sent downrange. The decision is based on available units and how frequently they receive orders. "Our challenges revolve around meeting the commanders' expectations and getting folks in place on time and getting them home," Major Moss said. One such challenge occurred in early 2011 when an unplanned deployment was tasked to the air control wing on a Saturday afternoon. Within 36 hours of the initial call, the first Airmen were deployed even though few details were known and the requirements changed at least once. Yet, the wing didn't miss a step. "I was pleasantly surprised at how relatively smooth things went. I have been around this sort of deployment in the past, and between the 552nd ACW and the 72nd ABW working together, getting out of town went relatively well," said Col. John Rauch, 552nd ACW commander, six months later when reflecting on the chain of events. "We completed an exercise in the fall and had gone through some of those scenarios and a lot of it was very similar with the exception of the fact that there were holes this time in what we knew -- where were we going, how much was going -- but we knew we had to lean forward." Col. Bob LaBrutta, then 72nd ABW commander, agreed. "We have forged an outstanding relationship with all of our mission partners on Tinker. Establishing effective communications between the operational units, like the mighty 552nd ACW, is essential to our deployment machine being prepared 24/7 to get iron, equipment and personnel into the fight, anywhere in the world, on a moment's notice," he said. "Because Colonel Rauch and his team had such great situational awareness on what might be required for this tasking, and they provided that information to our deployment experts, it allowed the 72nd ABW to lean forward and ensure America's Wing was ready for action. I'm very proud to say that when the balloon went up, Tinker responded in an exceptional manner. In fact, the 552nd ACW was one of the first NATO partners downrange executing the mission in support of Operation Odyssey Dawn! That's a testament to this installation's mission focus, teamwork and readiness."