Alaska Naval Militia sailor provides crucial aviation coordination for Operation Halong Response

Photo By Maj. David Bedard | Alaska Naval Militia Master Chief Petty Officer Eric Zimmermann, an air traffic controller assigned to Task Force Bethel, serves as the director of air operations during the Alaska Organized Militia’s Operation Halong Response in Bethel, Alaska, Nov. 16, 2025. AKOM members, including Alaska Air and Army National Guardsmen and members of the Alaska Naval Militia and Alaska State Defense Force, continue coordinated response operations in support of the State Emergency Operations Center following Typhoon Halong. (Alaska National Guard photo by Maj. David Bedard)  

ALASKA, UNITED STATES

11.20.2025

Story by Maj. David Bedard 

Alaska National Guard   

BETHEL, Alaska — Bethel is 56 miles from the mouth of the Kuskokwim River and the adjoining salt water of the Kuskokwim Bay and the Bering Sea. The Western Alaska hub city is 1,136 miles from the small but crucial Southeast Alaska Acoustic Measurement Facility at Ketchikan and is 1,762 miles from Naval Air Station Whidbey Island, Washington, the closest major Navy installation.   So, why was U.S. Navy Reserve Master Chief Eric Zimmermann, an air traffic controller and member of the Alaska Naval Militia, deployed to the inland Alaska community as part of the ongoing response to Typhoon Halong?   The answer is one part association and another part expertise.   According to AKNM Regulation 10-1, “The mission of the AKNM is to provide a trained naval force to augment the AKOM and other State of Alaska organizations.   “The Alaska Naval Militia is the naval component of the Alaska State Organized Militia, with the other components being the Alaska National Guard and the Alaska State Defense Force,” the regulation further reads. “These forces and their activities are under the jurisdiction of the [Alaska] Department of Military and Veterans Affairs.”   AKNM sailors who volunteered for the response included a nurse, a construction mechanic (Seabee) engineer, and a logistics specialist.   “The Alaska Naval Militia are able to leverage a diversity of skills and a diversity of experiences,” Zimmermann said. “We bring that to bear to increase mission effectiveness.”   Zimmermann is a Federal Aviation Administration civilian ATC at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport, so he is familiar with shepherding aircraft through surprisingly congested Alaska airspace.   As an ATC Sailor, Zimmermann can control F/A-18 Super Hornet fighters from the pitching deck of a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, F-35B Lightning II short take-off and vertical landing fighters from an amphibious assault ship, or AH-1Z Viper attack helicopters from a Marine Air-Ground Task Force expeditionary airfield ashore.   With civilian and military skillsets combined, Zimmermann’s expertise was critical to maximizing a mix of Army National Guard, Air National Guard, Coast Guard and other agency aircraft to safely evacuate storm victims and move responders and materiel to Western Alaskan communities in need.   “Being an air traffic controller helps me understand the aviation environment out here,” Zimmermann said. “FAA rules still apply out here in Bethel. But what I think I really bring out here is my experience as a Navy Reservist. The last couple of years, I have been training to the point that I am teaching disaster management, humanitarian aid, and disaster relief.”   Most recently, Zimmermann deployed to Palau in the Pacific Ocean’s Oceana region for Pacific Partnership 2025, a Navy mission that works collaboratively with host and partner nations to enhance regional interoperability and disaster response capabilities, increase security and stability in the region, and foster new and enduring friendships in the Indo-Pacific.    “My Reserve expeditionary air traffic control team went to Palau to work with local aviation authorities as well as aviation stakeholders and emergency response personnel to provide them context and training as well as build resilience and capacity for the country to respond to a natural disaster using aviation logistics and air transport,” Zimmermann said.   Though thousands of miles apart and varying dramatically in climate, the tropical archipelago and Western Alaska have a bit in common when it comes to the challenges of distance – namely a country of islands divided by water and a subarctic landmass divided by tundra both requiring aviation to bridge gaps during a disaster.   Zimmermann said he was grateful to be able to bring his newly honed expertise to Alaska.   “For me personally, as an Alaskan born and raised here, to be teaching everything that I’ve learned in the last couple of years to Palauans in the military and this specialization, to be able to come home – and though it’s incredibly unfortunate that this disaster happened – to have this opportunity to leverage that skill set, not just doing the job I trained to do, to help fellow Alaskans has been incredible for me,” Zimmermann said.   The master chief said the disaster came at an especially challenging time: the “shoulder season” between summer and the winter freeze on the Kuskokwim River and its tributary streams.   “You can’t use boats this time of year,” Zimmermann said. “There’s about an eight-week window where the navigable waterways are unusable, and not just the water – the river freezing over to be able to drive on – but existing trails, snowmachine trails, four-wheeler trails, things like that to be able to move supplies over land are not frozen enough to be able to use effectively. So right now and likely for about the next three weeks depending on weather, the only way relief supplies, building supplies, food, and water are moving in and out of the villages that are affected most by Typhoon Halong is through the air. In principle, it’s over-the-shore logistics and supporting people in need.”   As the Task Force Bethel director of air operations, Zimmermann coordinated everything from Army and Air Guard helicopters to various State of Alaska contracted aircraft.   “When I arrived, I saw everybody was operating with good intent – trying to get food and building supplies into the communities that need them in an immediate triage scenario or in a long-term repair reconstruction and making homes habitable again,” Zimmermann recalled. “But what I saw was everyone was working independently. And, so, taking a tool that we use in the amphibious Navy called an air tasking order, I distilled that down into a very simple product and was able to get the stakeholders together to understand that we are all working towards the same goal with good intent. If we work together, we can overlap our capabilities, we can force multiply, and we can be far more efficient.”   Pretty soon after implementing his pared-down ATO, aviation operations moved along at a faster clip.   “I would say within 72 hours, the vast backlog of supply movement was eliminated, and we had aircraft free to be able to respond to emergent tasking without having to cancel other missions,” Zimmermann said. “If a water supply in a village was running low, and they needed water that day, we had air assets thus freed up to be able to move water or food to a village almost instantly off the ground versus having to schedule it the next day and force water or food rationing in communities.”   The master chief said being able to equip the joint force to best help communities has been a rewarding experience.   “Something like this is why most Reservists, most service members, join the military – namely the opportunity to learn skills and have experiences, and then later be given the opportunity to deploy those skills or leverage those experiences to meet the mission whatever it may be,” Zimmermann said. “I think this mission, being humanitarian in nature, I think a lot of people respond positively to that. Since I have been here starting Nov. 1, we have had uniformed members out in the field and below freezing temperatures, working during daylight hours, maximizing daylight hours, not doing easy work.   “They’re moving stuff, they’re cleaning out homes, they’re reinstalling equipment, and they’re doing it with multiple layers of clothing on, and we’ve had several cases of folks in the field asking to stay,” the master chief continued. “I really and truly believe that they are doing that because they know that in what they do, they’re bringing their skills to bear, they’re bringing their experience to bear, and what they do matters, and it has a direct impact on the community. Being able to give back to our community is an incredible thing.”

• Date Taken: 11.20.2025
• Date Posted: 11.20.2025 16:02
• Story ID: 551945
• Location: ALASKA, US