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Success Here = Success There: Robins airmen support relief efforts after Ecuador quake

  • Published
  • By Jenny Gordon
  • Robins Public Affairs
ROBINS AIR FORCE BASE, Ga. --  It's what the 53rd Air Traffic Control Squadron trains for all year long.

It takes a true team effort to expeditiously deploy five airmen from the 461st Air Control Wing's 53rd ATCS, coordinate paperwork and travel plans with squadrons across Robins, welcome a C-17 Globemaster III from South Carolina, and load thousands of pounds of equipment bound for South America - all within 24 hours.   

Since a 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck Ecuador on April 16, in the three weeks since the disaster, reports continue to pour in of deaths reaching over 600, with thousands of people injured, thousands of buildings destroyed, and tens of thousands seeking safety in shelters across the country.  

Ecuador, located on South America's northwest coast, borders the Pacific Ocean, with Colombia and Peru as its neighbors. The country is about the size of Nevada. 

Less than 10 days after the earthquake, the call came to the squadron on April 25 to prepare and deploy a five-man team, an AN/MSN-7 mobile tower, and mobile and spare generators. The team is currently in-country providing humanitarian assistance to help increase the flow of aid entering Ecuador. 

Based in the city of Manta's Eloy Alfaro International Airport, the squadron brought its unique skillset that will assist with traffic control in the region over the next several weeks.

After all, this is what they do - and also happened to be the first real-world deployment since the squadron was redesignated in May 2015. Formerly the 53rd Combat Communications Squadron, the unit is now aligned with the 461st ACW, and includes airmen who specialize in air traffic control, radar maintenance and airfield maintenance. 

"On the cusp of our first birthday, we participated in our first humanitarian assistance mission," said Lt. Col. Robert Grimmett III, 53rd ATCS commander. "It was a total Team Robins effort that would not have happened without the amazing support network of our mission partners, to include the 78th Logistics Readiness Squadron and 78th Medical Group." 

The tasking came very early on the morning of April 25 for the 78th LRS Installation Deployment Readiness Cell. They're the facilitators of the entire deployment process, from making sure identification cards and passports are valid, to processing medical clearances and ensuring training requirements are met.  

Due to the nature of combat communications, the IDRC regularly sees deployments from these units, as well as from various squadrons with the Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System. 

"It was a true team effort," said Bill Haffner, 78th LRS installation deployment officer and Plans and Integration chief. "Many agencies across the installation comprise the team that ensures we and our mission partners can meet deployment taskings, from no-notice humanitarian responses such as this one, to standard Air & Space Expeditionary Forces rotations with six or more months' notice."  

While travel is simultaneously getting taken care of, there's still the final detail of getting an aircraft on station to transport you where you need to go. 

Staff Sgt. Taura Hoglan, a 461st Maintenance Group logistics planner, not only worked travel paperwork for the five active duty airmen, but also coordinated all the behind-the-scenes requirements in order to have a C-17 arrive from Joint Base Charleston, about a 30-minute flight from Warner Robins.  

The plane arrived that same day. Cargo processing took place and everything was loaded by the next morning, with wheels up and flying to its destination on April 26. 

"All the unit deployment managers and commanders came together, and we were all working together to get them down to Ecuador quickly," said Hoglan. "I think we kind of rocked it." 

Once in place, the squadron assisted with restoring an airport surveillance radar feed at Manta's airfield, which had sustained extreme damage as a result of the earthquake. Team members analyzed their damaged systems and engineered a solution by installing data transport for critical communications - in effect providing more than 11,000 square miles of Ecuadorian airspace coverage. 

As a result of their assistance, controllers were able to provide command and control servicing to an estimated 35 to 41 humanitarian, commercial, military and police department sorties per day. 

In response to the devastating earthquakes experienced in Ecuador, the 461st ACW was poised to immediately deploy equipment and personnel in support of U.S. Southern Command's Humanitarian Assistance/Disaster Relief mission, according to Col. John Cooper, 461st ACW commander. 

SOUTHCOM is one of the nation's six geographically-focused unified commands with responsibility for U.S. military operations in the Caribbean, Central America and South America.

"The ability of the 53rd Air Traffic Control Squadron to rapidly deploy its mobile air traffic control tower and maintainers will significantly enhance host nation ATC controllers' ability to conduct safe and effective flight operations in direct support to multinational relief efforts," said Cooper. "This humanitarian assistance mission and the 53rd ATCS' capability are tremendously important for the people of Ecuador, the Air Force and Team Robins."     

Editor's note: The five airmen from Robins were part of a 12-person team sent by the Air Force following the earthquake. According to SOUTHCOM, it directed the deployment at the request of the U.S. Agency for International Development's Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance, the lead federal agency coordinating U.S. foreign disaster response efforts in Ecuador.