Members of the 552nd Air Control Wing were in Argentina through Nov. 7th to provide airborne surveillance for the Summit of the Americas attended by President George W. Bush. Thirty-three North and South American leaders convened at the summit to discuss solutions to common political, economic and social problems.

For one week the wing from Tinker Air Force Base, Okla., assisted in command, control and communication operations from here, flying sorties in the E-3 Sentry airborne warning and control system to ensure the safety of the president and other senior leaders.

“Protection of the president is the most important mission entrusted to our wing,” said Lt. Col. Gregory D. Roberts, 960th Airborne Air Control Squadron commander. He was also the 960th Expeditionary Squadron commander. “This was the largest E-3 deployment since Operation Iraqi Freedom.”

The colonel said, “This deployment has proven the expeditionary force concept using reach-back through Langley AFB (Va.) for (secure communications), and 12th Air Force and local Argentinean support for aviation weather. We even worked one medevac, not to mention the great support from the tanker airlift control center at Scott AFB (Ill.) for deployment and redeployment.”

The wing flew nine AWACS sorties and 11 refueling missions, but the hours spent flying only scratched the surface of the hard work put forth to accomplish the mission.

A vital part of the mission was when host nation military personnel flew onboard the AWACS as liaisons between the AWACS crew and Argentinean ground control. Master Sgt. A.J. Coneti was the liaison between the host nation riders and the AWACS crews.

“It was the Argentinean fighters protecting the air space while AWACS provided the communication,” Sergeant Coneti said.

“The host nation riders would radio down and say ‘these guys feel uncomfortable about this, can we check it out?’”

He said having the host nation riders onboard cut back on delays that would have set the mission back an hour or more, by clarifying different radio and aviation terminology.

“They got on the radio and coordinated with their agencies to get the flight plans we requested issued,” he said.

Ground troops were also working side-by-side with the Argentinean troops. Staff Sgt. Jesus Osuna, a maintainer, spent much of his time building relationships with the Argentinean military members. He translated conversations between Argentinean security forces troops and U.S. Airman and ended up playing two vital roles on the flightline.

“I’m excited that something I just happen to know helps the mission and my country,” he said.

Sergeant Osuna said the translating came in handy many times, but the E-3 arrivals stuck out in his mind. He said shortly after the third one landed, two Argentinean fighters landed and parked on the ramp. Space on the flightline and ramp was extremely limited and the E-3 could not taxi in without disturbing the fighters. Communication needed to happen fast and Sergeant Osuna was their guy.

“We are all learning from each other. Practicing languages and learning each other’s cultures,” he said. “The people are so nice. They’ll do anything for you, whatever they can to help.”

When all was said and done, President Bush’s arrival into and departure out of Argentina was safe as the AWACS crew members tracked the process from 30,000 feet in the air, while ground crews made and kept the communication possible. [ANN Salutes 1st Lt. Corinna M. Jones, 552nd Air Control Wing Public Affairs]

FMI: www.af.mil