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Army and Air Force build relationship by participating in joint exercise

  • Published
  • By Brandice J. Armstrong
  • Tinker Public Affairs
TINKER AIR FORCE BASE --  The Army/Air Force joint exercise concluded today and proved successful. 
   The Army's 6th Battalion, 52nd Air Defense Artillery at Fort Sill, the 3rd Combat Communications Group and the 552nd Air Control Wing participated in a two-week exercise. Primarily held at Glenwood Training Area, just north of Tinker on Southeast 29th Street in Midwest City, and Forward Operating Base Hamilton at Ft. Sill, they united to verify communications capabilities and create a productive working relationship. 
   "This was a great opportunity for us to exercise connectivity as would be required of us during deployments," said Army Maj. Lisa Bartel, battalion operations officer. "We came away with a lot of lessons learned and look forward to implementing those lessons in future missions." 
   The two-week exercise was organized in two phases. During the first week, half of the battalion - about 250 members - deployed to Glenwood to practice communications capabilities. During the second week, the second half of the battalion arrived at Glenwood and conducted a similar mission. 
   About 70 Tinker Airmen participated in the exercise. 
   Using the 3rd Herd's AN/TRC-170 troposcatter radio system, the 6-52nd ADA saw images taken by the 552nd ACW's Air Warning and Control System radars at Glenwood and Ft. Sill and applied their Patriot Missile Defense System. The Soldiers then communicated to one another via the 3rd Herd's Non-Secure Internet Protocol Router network and a Secure Internet Protocol Router network, said Maj. Jacqueline Meyer, 31st Combat Communications Squadron commander. 
   The equipment proved invaluable. 
   "The support we received from the Air Force was phenomenal," said Major Bartel. "Many of our Soldiers have never seen the products of linking into the AWACS and this was a great opportunity to show them what kind of air picture they would see during a deployment." 
   Without the help of the AWACS, 6-52nd ADA Command Sgt. Major Michael Banes said, the 6-52nd ADA would only see an area about the size of a football field. But, with AWACS radars, the Army unit can see the size of a county and possible "leakers," enemy aircraft or missiles that slip through the first line of defense without being targeted by our airborne or ground forces. 
   "With the AWACS there is no blind spot," Sergeant Major Banes said. 
   In addition to practicing communication capabilities, the 6-52nd ADA also taught and attended combat lifesaver skills at Glenwood, and several Soldiers flew in familiarization AWACS flights. 
   "Next time we will set more difficult objectives for ourselves building on what we learned in this exercise," Major Bartel said. "I think we did a good job of starting out slow and plan to increase the complexity in the future."