Photo By Cpl. Fatmeh Saad | Lance Cpl. Anna Dolmany, a net operator, receives a medical evacuation request during...... read more read more
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CHERRY POINT, N.C. - “This is Nomad, I have a MEDEVAC ready to pass, over,” said a Marine net operator during air support element and direct air support center drills aboard Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, North Carolina, June 3.
Marines with Air Support Company, Marine Air Support Squadron 1 practiced relaying various requests from ground units, such as medical evacuations, air support and supply replenishments.
1st Lt. Bradley J. Sanders, the company commander, said the training schedule they have recently implemented is set up on a two week rotation: the first week is spent planning for drills and the second week is performing it. This means the Marines take part in two training drills per month to meet standards and maintain readiness.
“ASE drills are an opportunity for Marines to get hands-on experience, and for our unit to take advantage of small-unit and noncommissioned officer leadership,” Sanders said.
Marines practiced interpreting incoming information and actualizing it into map coordinates instantaneously. Moments after analyzing the data, net operators communicated the information with the helicopter director controller, who relayed commands to the aircrafts providing support.
“Part of being a good leader is knowing you can always learn something new,” Cpl. Karen Hernandez, the crew chief for the ASE.
The repetitive nature of their training schedule allows Marines to polish and perfect the skills necessary for their job, making it second nature.
“Confidence,” Hernandez said. “This job requires you to have a lot of confidence and I hope that’s what my Marines get out of this. You can’t hesitate when you’re taking calls from ground units who depend on us to get them the support and resources they need. Our Marines need to reassure the units we help that we’ve got their back, and we do that by understanding our job and having confidence in our ability to act when needed.”
ASEs are a smaller, mobile extension of the larger DASC units and are important because of their accessibility to ground units while minimizing their footprint. Both units are responsible for the incoming flow of information from units requesting air support and communicating with aircraft to direct the flow of traffic.
“If you draw a communications diagram between air and ground in Marine Air-Ground Task Force, we would be a little lightning bolt connecting the two,” Sanders said.
| Date Taken: | 06.03.2015 |
| Date Posted: | 06.04.2015 14:25 |
| Story ID: | 165508 |
| Location: | CHERRY POINT, NORTH CAROLINA, US |
| Web Views: | 372 |
| Downloads: | 3 |
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