Delaware National Guard - DNG News 2002

In the 166 AW Command Post (L to R): Airmen First Class Latoya Kalili, Information Management Administrator, Senior Controller Tech. Sgt. Kory Johnson, NCOIC Master Sgt. Charles Reed, Controller Senior Airman Marie Conway, Training NCO Tech. Sgt. Rex Alfes, Controller Staff Sgt. Valeria Skelly, and Training OIC Maj. Theo Dressler.

September 11th, 2001 was a day of horrific terrorist attacks on America. Since that day hundreds of people in the 166th Airlift Wing have been involved in some aspect of Operation Noble Eagle or Operation Enduring Freedom, and sometimes both. The nerve center for base communications and monitoring all activities and actions in the aftermath of these attacks has been a windowless room enclosed within a larger building, manned by people operating in relative obscurity. This room contains the 166 AW Command Post, located inside the Base Operations Building, separated from the rest of the base by coded locked doors, security systems, passwords, combination locks, and alarm systems.

Prior to September 11, there were no full time technicians operating the command post, everyone was in traditional status, and as a rule the command post was left dark and unused during the week, and only operational during unit drills one weekend per month. It is safe to say that very few people on base knew much about our Command Post, and even less knew what transpires there

Much has changed since the fateful morning of Sept. 11, and the Command Post has been operational round the clock ever since. The Command Post is comprised of Controllers (enlisted members) and Duty Officers. Since 9/11, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, there is always at least one Controller on duty, and one Duty Officer. "We went from one weekend a month to 24 hours a day -- BOOM! Not even during Desert Storm did we have this long a duration doing 24/7," says Master Sgt. Charlie Reed, the Command Post NCOIC.

This unprecedented 24/7 schedule is expected to finally end early afternoon on Saturday, July 13, 2002, ten months and a couple days after the Sept. 11 attacks.

The dedicated professionals who make up the command and control staff have sacrificed much in their civilian lives to enable this 24-hour a day manning to continue. Along with many dedicated augmentees from other sections on base, these individuals have maintained the mission of the 166 AW Command Post to be the eyes and ears of the base commander and the focal point of any and all Emergency Actions, Alerting Orders, Higher Headquarters instructions and message traffic, and flight operations. "We stand ready to coordinate a response to any crisis situation that may occur, " says Reed. Maj. Theo Dressler, Command Post Training OIC and a Navigator, states "We are a ‘One-stop shop’ for the Commander, the eyes, ears and even the mouthpiece for the Commander in his absence."

Staff. Sgt. Valerie Skelly, Controller and Training NCO, previously served active duty in the Dover AFB Command Post.
Command Post People

Besides Reed and Dressler, the pre-9/11 traditional seven members of the 166 AW Command Post are Maj. John Ptak, OIC, Master Sgt. Rex Alfes, Tech Sgt. Kory Johnson, Tech Sgt. James Jobes, and Senior Airman Marie Conway. There are presently ten enlisted members in the Command Post with the addition of three more permanent newcomers who have put in solid hours, being Airman First Class Falen Doyle, Airman First Class Latoya Kalili, and Staff Sgt. Valerie Skelly.

Numerous augmentees have helped man the Command Post and maintain vigilance over the last several months.

The Controllers, reflecting the makeup of the seven hundred or so traditional (part-time) members of the DE ANG, come from all walks of life, and had to juggle family, children, college jobs, and sometimes long commutes to the base. "Everyone was traditional, so the sacrifice was that much more. Sometimes it hasn’t been easy," says NCOIC Reed.

Master Sgt. Charles Reed works 50-60 hours a week in his civilian job as a plant manager at Hanover Foods in Nottingham, PA. Maj. John Ptak, Command Post OIC and Chief, is a DE ANG navigator and works for the DE State Police full time. Tech Sgt. Rex Alfes, the Training NCO, was a DE ANG flight engineer before coming to the Command Post about 1995. He works in management information systems in his civilian job.

Staff Sgt. James Jobes, a Controller, has three and a half years in the Command Post. In January 2002, Jobes was promoted at his full time civilian job to Capt. of Fire Station #2 in Wilmington, DE. Jobes has performed Controller duty stints at Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia, and in Puerto Rico. Tech. Sgt. Kory Johnson, a Senior Controller, came to the DE ANG from the regular Air Force at Dyess TX, where he was a command post controller.

Staff Sgt. Valerie Skelly, Controller and Training NCO, previously served with the active duty Air Force in Dover in their command post, and next was a technician in DE ANG Base Operations. She is also a full-time student at Wesley College in Dover, majoring in Media Arts, and doing an internship the summer of 2002 at the WHYY Channel 12 PBS Station in Wilmington. Senior Airman Marie Conway, a Controller, has one and a half years in the Command Post, and is an April 2001 Technical School graduate of the Keesler AFB 6 week long Command and Control School. She went on active duty Sept. 11, 2001. With the 9/11 attacks, Airman Conway had to learn nearly everything at one time. She lives in Dover, DE, goes to school full-time at Delaware State University, and works at Bank of America in Dover.

Airman First Class Falen Doyle, Controller, graduated from Basic Military Training School in Feb 2002. Airman First Class Latoya Kalili came into our unit in Feb. 2002, and works in the Information Management AFSC as an Administrator.

There are also 6 permanent duty officer augumentees, with another 10 fill-ins, doing 1-2 shifts per month. The three people used the most are Capt. Steve Greco, 1^st Lt. Eric Young, and Master Sgt. Tom Hatcher, all from the 142 Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron. Others who worked are Capt. Scott Hudson from the 166 AW, plus Maj. John DiSanto and Staff Sgt. Wayne Anderson, both from the 142 AES.

People who performed occasional fill-in duty were Tech. Sgt. Michael Pearson, a loadmaster, 1^st Lt. Daniel Hesselius, a C-130 pilot, Maj. Arne (Ned) Kolbjornsen (a traditional member and a C-130 pilot), Maj. Mark Eaton (no longer in unit), 1^st Lt. Pete Corea, Staff. Sgt. Barbara Martin, Maj. James Hornbeck, Master Sgt. Emerson Wells, Capt. Andrew Sides, and Master Sgt. Cheryl Brown, 142 AES.

September 11 – Day of Shock, and Response

Four commercial aircraft, full of innocent passengers, took to the air on the clear and rather beautiful morning of Sept. 11, 2001. At 07:55am, American Airlines Flight 11 left Boston for Los Angeles, at 08:00am United Airlines Flight 93 departed Newark, NJ bound for San Francisco, at 8:10am American Airlines Flight 77 departed Washington DC bound for Los Angeles, and at 08:15am United Airlines Flight 175 departed Boston bound for Los Angeles. As normal for a Tuesday during the workweek, hundreds of full time Delaware Air Guard members were already in their offices on the New Castle County Airbase.

At 08:45 am, A.A. Flight 11 struck the south tower of the World Trade Center in New York City. 166 AW members on duty listening to radio reports turned on television and CNN, tuning in to hear reports of some sort of aircraft crashing into one of the World Trade Towers. Eighteen minutes later, at 09:03 AM, a 2^nd aircraft, U.A. Flight 175, struck the north tower of the WTC. Like many in their civilian offices or homes learning of the incidents at the same time, members wondered what the dimensions were of the mayhem underway one hundred and thirty five miles to our north.

The 166^th AW was ready to send two C-130 aircraft up for a normal training mission. "Both Dressler and I were scheduled to fly that day. In fact, two crews had just finished our briefing to fly a local tactical airlift mission in the Base Operations briefing room," said Lt. Col. Paul Willey, a C-130 Navigator, who is the Wing’s former Command Post OIC. "We were heading for the main hanger to take our break around 09:00 and grab a snack. A number of people were crowded around the main hanger television set on their break watching the news. In fact, after even after we saw the initial reports, we were still planning on flying. It soon dawned on us that, ‘Nope, we were not flying that day’."

Maj. Dressler recalls a similar story. "I recall a person coming into the briefing room, saying that someone drove an airplane into a World Trade Tower. My first response was something like ‘Oh yeah, right!’ But we started watching the TV news, and in couple minutes, we all knew this was for real and there would be implications for us. I unlocked the Command Post and CAT, turned on the lights and the CP TV set, and tuned in to CNN. I think I was in the CP as I watched the second aircraft crash into the other tower."

Dressler had only a few minutes of relative quiet before phones started ringing. "I got a call from Col. Mehan, Wing Commander. Within fifteen minutes I was on two phone calls simultaneously. One was from Maj. Gen. Frank Vavala (Delaware Adjutant General), and one from an DE Army Guard Colonel from State Area HQ who was setting up a bridge call to Delaware Governor Minner’s office where the governor’s staff was gathering." The situation was in a state of flux, with everyone starting with the unknown and then finding out the known. "I also called the ANG Readiness Center," said Dressler, as he remained a busy person all morning and afternoon, and he engaged in regular bridge calls to the governor every thirty minutes. Maj. Gen. Vavala came to the 166^th Airlift Wing Command Post, and spent many hours there Sept. 11, and for some time later. "A lot of people were coming into the CAT, it was hard to say who was there from moment to moment, as we were all very busy on the other side of the window in the Command Post," said Master Sgt. Reed.

In Building 2600, Wing Headquarters, Wing Commander Col. Ron Mehan got a tap on the shoulder sometime just around 9:00am from his civilian assistant, Patsy Santowski, who heard the initial news reports about the first crash into the W.T.C. "She suggested I ought to start watching the television in the conference room across the hallway," said Col. Mehan. Mehan listened to the news reports for a couple minutes, watched the second aircraft crash into the second tower, then made the decision to convene the Crisis Action team (CAT) and raise security at the guard shack to 100% identification checking, and proceeded to the Command Post. Other members of the CAT, responding to the order to convene the CAT, were already starting to gather in the conference room as Mehan arrived.

Speculation mixed with sparse facts mounted on televised news reports. The base did not have to wait much longer to begin receiving details and further guidance from military message traffic. At 09:34 am, forty-nine minutes after the impact of the first aircraft, the DE ANG Communications Flight received a Defense Intelligence Agency message, contacted the Command Post, and Maj. Dressler asked Senior Master Sgt. Dan Mitchell, Chief of Airfield Management in the Operations Support Flight, to hand pick up the message and bring it to the Command Post. Only a handful of people on base are cleared to handle such classified message traffic. "I picked up about five or so incoming messages the rest of the day and hand-carried them back to the Command Post," said Mitchell.

Willey took action and immediately telephoned Master Sgt. Charlie Reed at his civilian workplace and Staff Sgt. James Jobes at his home. Maj. Theo Dressler called Senior Airman Marie Conway at her home, leaving her father a message to call the base ASAP, and indicated she had to come to the CP that night. Conway, discussing the attacks, said, "It was a shock to me. It didn’t seem like reality. It was devastating. I didn’t think that could happen in the United States. I was never in a real life situation like this."

Jobes and Reed quickly drove to base, joining Dressler and Willey, where they spent the rest of the day and the entire night working together in the Command Post. The pace of Command Post activity heightened, as more remarkable events and actions unfolded in rapid order.

At 09:40 am, the Federal Aviation Administration halted all flight operations at U.S. airports, the first time in U.S. history that air traffic nationwide had been halted. Capt. Steve Greco, who lives in New Jersey, became a Command Post augumentee after 9/11 as a duty officer. He has been a pilot with American Airlines for 3 years. "But, on the morning of 9/11 I was enroute from Pittsburgh to Indianapolis, piloting an American Airlines 737, and we just got the message ‘prepare to Divert.’ We were diverted to Dayton, Ohio, the closest airport that could handle out aircraft. It was amazing to see how the whole national airline flying system was shut down in a one hour time period." Greco was stuck with the rest of his crew in Dayton for three days. As a duty officer, he assists the command post. "Right now, it’s good that there is not a heck of a whole lot going on," said Greco in late May 2002.

At 09:43 am, A.A. Flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon in Washington, D.C.

At 9:58 am, the 166^th Airlift Wing Communications Flight received a Flash message, "the highest precedence for message traffic we have here," according to Master Sgt. Rex Alfes. Such messages trigger special warning alarms. Hand delivered courier messages were regular occurrences throughout the day on September 11, and for the rest of 2001, until the Command Post installed updated equipment, which had already been ordered before Sept. 11. Since the new equipment was installed, most message traffic now goes directly to the Command Post.

Sept. 11 got everyone’s attention, and the Air Force responded accordingly to the situation. Normal, Alpha, Bravo, Charlie and Delta are the five military Force Protection Condition (FPCon) levels, and the base was on the highest alert, FPCon Delta, for Sept. 11 from early morning until 5:42pm on Sept. 12, when the base went to FPCon Charlie.

On 9/11, the Command Post staff created PowerPoint slides from crucial material in messages from military and civilian authorities, and from CNN news reports, for immediate viewing by the assembled Battle Staff. As the national response was begun and continued, named "Operation Noble Eagle" a couple days later, Controllers were always updating PowerPoint slides each night with changing information, to present and refresh throughout the next day for the Battle Staff.

The Command Post keeps an Event Log detailing all important activity, message traffic and instructions coming through the Command Post. The Log uses Zulu time, local time plus four hours. At 23:59 daily, the log closed, and a new log is opened at 00:00. For September 11, the log had these two important notations "1038 Gov orders closing state office buildings,’ and "1038 Gov Bridge Call," showing emergency declarations from and communications with Delaware Governor Ruth Ann Minner.

At 10:05 am, the south tower of the W.T.C. collapsed. At 10:10 am, U.A. Flight 93, also hijacked, crashed in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, southeast of Pittsburgh. At 10:28 am, the north tower of the W.T.C. also collapsed. The Command Post television was tuned to CNN, and anywhere from ten to fifteen people from the CAT, sometimes referred to as the "Battle Staff," filled the adjoining conference room day and night, separated from the Command Post by a large glass window. The situation remained the same for days, with rooms full of people, and quick review of message traffic. 166^th Security Forces people were immediately given extra duty for force protection purposes. In the hours and days to come, members of the 142nd Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron, the 166^th Medical Squadron, and the Chaplains office were either given or were on the verge of being given special assignments to help after the attacks.

At just before 11:00 am, Delaware Governor Ruth Ann Minner ordered non-essential state employees to go home, ordered schools to close as soon as possible, and recommended that businesses do the same.

At 2:45 pm Governor Minner, operating from the Delaware Emergency Management Operations Center in Smyrna, sent out a press release, and in the release noted "Public Safety organizations have gone on a heightened state of alert. The National Guard, State Police, Capital Police and the DRBA (Delaware River and Bay Authority) police have all called in extra people and are taking extra security precautions at their locations as have county and municipal police agencies." Later that same evening on Sept. 11, the Governor announced that State offices and public and charter schools would resume normal operations on Wednesday, Sept. 12.

Intelligence specialists came into CAT every 2-3 hours on Sept. 11 and for days thereafter to give briefings. An air mattress was placed in the Battle Staff room, and later a very small mattress to create a second instant bed (but no box spring) was also placed in the Command Post. These became temporary sleeping quarters of enlisted and officers alike for days and then weeks to come, into October, to ensure staffing was adequate to meet any expected or unexpected need, and before a more planned, routine schedule for people was be developed.

For the Command Post, 9/12 saw the same four people on duty 24/7 as on 9/11, with Dressler, Willey, Jobes, and Reed again in the CP all day and night. On 9/13, it was Willey, Jobes, and Reed. On 9/14 it was Willey, Alfes, Jobes, Dressler, Ptak, and Reed. On 9/15 it was Ptak, Dressler, Alfes, Conway, Johnson, and Reed. On 9/16 it was Johnson, Reed, Alfes, and Conway. Lt. Col. Willey got a two-day break, "and he was looking pretty rough at about that point,’ says Dressler with a smile, these many months later. But on the seventh day, 9/17, Willey manned the CP again, along with Alfes, Reed, and Conway.

The Crisis Action Team (CAT), also referred to as the "Battle Staff," is comprised of Col. Mehan, Col. Ernie Talbert, Col. Karl Kromer, Lt. Col. Gil Nichols, Col. Kathy Eastburn, Maj. John Ptak, Lt. Col. Jon Groff, Lt. Col. Buck Condie and Lt. Col. Dave Deputy. As required, Maj. Theo Dressler, Lt. Col. Mike Silverman, Capt. Scott Hudson and Maj. Roger Saul are also included in the CAT. Since the 15th of May 2002, two more primary members have been added to the CAT, Maj. John Ptak & Lt. Col. Paul Willey.

Eight people were relied on in the CAT for the first several days, working 16-18 hours a day from Sept. 11th until about the 15th, and each continued to put in long days after that as well. Those eight people were Col. Ronald Mehan, Col. Ernie Talbert, Col Kathleen Eastburn, Lt. Col. Jon Groff, Lt. Col. Gilbert Nichols, Lt. Col. Karl Kromer, Lt. Col. Mike Silverman (the CAT Executive Officer), as well as Master Sgt. Jennifer Jones.

Over a dozen people started to augment the above personnel in the CAT around the 13th of September. Brig. Gen. Dave Jacobs, Brig. Gen. Frank Pontelandolfo, Col. John Wayne Merritt, Lt. Col. David Deputy, and Maj. Dennis Hunsicker put in hours and days above and beyond most others in the CAT. Other augmenters working in the CAT were Col. Bruce Thompson, Lt. Col. Daniel VanWyk, Lt. Col. Mike Feeley, Lt. Col. James Gooding, Maj. Pete Klabunde, Maj. Alyson Gioia, Maj. Jeff Cooper, 1^st Lt. Pete Correa, Senior Master Sgt. Emerson Wells and Ms. Patsy Santowski, the Wing Commander’s civilian assistant.

Command Post procedures and routines

Since 9/11 the CP office progressed from a ‘Manning Schedule’ that evolved from notes on paper, to a much more complex and sophisticated schedule on computer. All personnel are scheduled via this system. How to communicate consistently and well with ten to twenty people? With everyone still a traditional Controller, with 24/7 schedules and little face-to-face interaction between monthly drills, and with NCOIC Reed maintaining his fulltime civilian job, simple network technology is used to stay in touch. "As NCOIC, I only see them all together once a month, at UTA drill. In between UTA’s, I e-mail everyone," says Reed.

What could a shift be like in the Command Post? The incoming phone calls vary, feast or famine. Anyone could be on the phone, with any situation. Air Force, other military services, and occasional civilian national command authorities use our New Castle County Airbase to refuel aircraft of all type, and land in case of in-flight emergencies. On base emergencies of all types, small and large, are called into and tracked by the Command Post members. Controllers and duty officers are able to make quick contact with local civilian emergency personnel to inform or develop a plan of action to handle situations. There are checklists, processes and written procedures, regularly trained on for handling emergency actions, communicating ForceCon levels, notifications, and general messaging to and from the 166 AW. Communication to other bases and military authorities is hi-tech, using secure methods on the internet using Outlook and Outlook Express.

Maj. Dressler said "The chain of command starts with the National Command Authority (NCA), through TRASCOM (Transportation Command), through our MAJCOM (Major Command) which is AMC (Air Mobility Command), through the ANGRC (ANG Readiness Center) to the 166 AW through the Command Post." Describing the flow of instructions further, Dressler states "The 166 AW gets Air Tasking Orders (ATOs). The ATO is the execution order for that day’s missions. Operations are current operations. Combat Plans are 24 hours up to 72 hours out. ATOs are sent to the airlift units for execution. We also receive a daily Air Movement Table (AMT) which tasks units and even mobilizes units for contingency deployments."

What else is performed in the Command Post? A process called ‘Flight Following’, where each C-130 aircraft is tracked from out of the block to take off time, is task assigned to the Command Post. Maj. Dressler gave a demonstration, accessing computers in the CP, to show how each 166 AW C-130 aircraft is tracked on screen, including those out of the country as of late May.

Each day, each shift, and each daily task has a method and a purpose. According to Master Sgt. Reed, "Every day there is a routine. At 0800, the Command Post controller does a ‘Time Hack,’ where they access the National Observatory time clock. They check the day’s flying schedule with Base Operations people, they check an online system to review a maintenance log showing the status of every C-130 aircraft in the unit, and they do a check weather at the 15th Weather Squadron at Scott Air Force Base, Illinois. All this data is entered into a computer." Nothing is taken for granted regarding their equipment and lines of communication. "We do communication checks every day, every shift. We check phones, radios, computers, and our ‘STU=3’ secure phone. The Command Post (CP) receives and interprets messages, then immediately briefs the CAT. The CP is responsible for notifying the Wing Commander, Col. Mehan, or the Vice Commander, Col. Talbert. The CP may say to the commander "We have a situation, what do you want us to do?" or "We have a situation, and we recommend you convene the CAT." Either Colonel makes the decision, and in either case, the CP calls each and every member of the CAT, at home, work or cell phone to assembly the CAT when so directed.

Not all communication and activity in the Command Post deals with post 9/11 activities, as normal flying conditions returned several days after 9/11. Speaking in late May, Reed said, "3-4 months ago, one of our C-130s was enroute from Savannah to RI with members of the Rhode Island ANG. RI was fogged in, and the aircraft had to be diverted to Delaware. We had to find hotel rooms for sixty people that night, and one person had a heart condition requiring immediate hospitalization. It was early evening Sunday, and we had to call civilian help, and coordinate with hospitals." Reed personally accompanied the RI member in need to a local hospital and stayed with him until the hospital check out.

On another day, an Army helicopter passing through the area declared an in-flight emergency. The pilot requested permission to land at the New Castle County Airbase, and Senior Airmen Marie Conway, the only controller present, handled all details. The Surgeon General of the Army was on board, so he made a several hour stopover in Base Operations until a spare part was flown in to fix his chopper.

Controller Training

Controller training begins in Technical School. There are four different blocks, with the final one where everything is thrown at the controller, from A to Z, through what is referred to as ‘Duress Alarm,’ where all variables are thrown at the Controller to test how they react to unpredictable, time sensitive and stressful conditions. Enlisted members earn "Certified Controller" status by graduating from Technical School and performing Airlift duties. The 166 AW Command Post does monthly training scenarios involving hijacking, building fires, aircraft engine out, terrorists, bomb threats and other situations.

"For controller training, we do either written tests, or simulate with Senior Airman Valerie Skelly, the Asst. NCO for training, as a stand in for Col. Mehan," says Reed. "Every controller gets a monthly written test, both open book and closed book, and the topic could be on anything we do." Master Sgt. Rex Alfes, training NCO, tests and conducts training along with Skelly. "We review regulations, procedures and checklists, and C2IPS, the AMC mission monitoring system."

Controller and Duty Officer skills are also enhanced on the job, and by one-day visits to or from other Air Force and Air Guard bases. Maj. Dressler went to the 436th AW Dover AFB command post to see what they do. Conway went to the ANG RC (Readiness Center) for one month. Says Reed, "the OIC from the TENN ANG Command Post came here for a day back in late fall or early winter. He had the same problems as us; he went from a traditional part-time shop to 24/7 fulltime. Also, Dover AFB is real helpful. They gave us copies of checklists and instructions. They have different aircraft, but a lot of things are basic." Before 9/11, Reed had gone to McGuire AFB, ANG RC, Panama, Madrid Spain (Torrejon Air Base), Germany, TX ANG, and the WV ANG. During Operation Desert Storm, Reed to Turkey, Germany, and Spain. "We go everywhere there is a Command Post, and every Air Force base has a Command Post." Controller Jobes says, "We have a great mix of talent in the 166 AW, people with a variety of skills and experiences, we’ve seen many Air Force bases in the world and sat and worked in many Command Posts."

Senior Airman Marie Conway has matched her early 2001 technical school training with the hard reality of the post 9/11 world, and has regularly worked the Command Post as the solo Controller on duty during some challenging situations: "Our Operating Instructions are constantly updated. Everyone is ‘console qualified.’ We have drills to check on progress. And we meet as a group of 23-24 people once a month, and talk things through."

If you are a newcomer to the 166 AW, or an experienced hand, and ever wondered how the base handles communications and controls all matter of situations, now you know – the Command Post and their hard-working people are the first to know, and always in the eye of any storm. While the Command Post personnel do not pull outside hours in the heat or cold as many of our dedicated security forces do, no one has worked more time, with more intensity, or for a longer duration, than the CP people have since 9/11/01.