FORT SILL, Okla. -- In today's increasingly complex battle space, the Fires and Aviation centers of excellence developed a course to train teams of airspace command and control experts ready to inform brigade combat team commanders when called upon.
Twenty-four officers, warrant officers and enlisted Soldiers graduated from the three-week Air Defense Airspace Management, Brigade Aviation Element course Nov. 4 at Fort Sill, preparing them for duties in Afghanistan.
Chief Warrant Officer 3 Jacob Moore, lead trainer for the course, said the ADAM/BAE cell provides situational awareness that encompasses the entire aspect of military operations and nonmilitary activities such as those of the host nation or humanitarian organizations. In a round-the-clock tactical operations center, the cell is but one area of expertise in many the BCT commander draws on to make decisions.
Moore said while the training focused on Army personnel, they would work with liaison officers from other U.S. services and coalition partners depending on the aviation platforms or ground assets being used.
"An ADAM/BAE cell manages airspace so various components can operate as they need to while providing the BCT commander feedback when he needs it," he said.
Moore added, even compared to 10 years ago, airspace in a battle zone is much more congested. As war fighting commanders employ Army aviation to move troops, they diminish the threat of improvise explosive devices on convoys.
However, they do so entering an airspace that teems with unmanned aircraft systems, field artillery surface-to-surface fires, Air Force cargo deliveries, electronic warfare aircraft and medical evacuation flights. What may already seem like busy skies is further compounded with host nation flight requirements, high-altitude reconnaissance platforms, contractor air requirements and aviation fires.
With more than 10 years and three combat tours experience flying Black Hawk helicopters, Maj. Scott Evelyn may have been a customer of battle space controllers, something he said is transparent to combat pilots.
As this is his initial introduction into duties he will perform on his next deployment, Evelyn said he gained an appreciation for all the work that goes on behind the scenes to allow all these terrestrial and aviation assets to operate as needed.
With three weeks training behind him, he said this will make him much more effective in theater. Even better, his other unit ADAM/BAE team members joined him for the training.
"I believe when we get back to our home station we can walk into our war fighter exercise and conduct operations at a level that will actually assist the brigade in being successful," said Evelyn, 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division brigade aviation officer at Fort Riley, Kan. "If we started at the level we were at when we arrived at this course, we would be a detriment, not an asset to our brigade commander."
For an ADAM/BAE cell to be effective, Moore said cross-training is essential. Whether its aviation personnel gaining an understanding of air defense assets or vice versa, each cell member becomes more valuable to the BCT commander should he or she be called upon to give a situational report.
The training also includes all three divisions of rank in the Army with enlisted Soldiers serving as the primary operators of systems such as the tactical airspace integration system, air and missile defense workstation and the forward area air defense engagement operation workstation. Warrant officers ensure the integrity and quality of tactical data coming into the brigade. They would also make sure all the operators can maintain the integrity of the data they are looking at and that they know how to operate the systems. Officers would be fully integrated into the battle staff taking any airspace considerations outside the brigade's specific concept of operations and then integrating them together to satisfy various requirements.
As Capt. Darius Randolph prepares for his deployment to Afghanistan, he stepped away from his duties as an assignments officer at Human Resources Command at Fort Knox, Ky. He said the training and assignment will definitely make him a more effective air defense artillery officer.
"The ADAM/BAE cell is dynamic and it works, and I believe it's going to be around a while," he said.
For officers coming out of the Captains Career Course and moving on in the ADA career field, Randolph said the school is great because captains will no longer be expected to learn at their deployed location.
"The capstone project has been great because I am doing what I what will do in theater. Here, I'm leading a team of three to four Soldiers, whereas in a deployed cell that may be 10-12 people, but regardless we will be providing BCT commanders the 360-degree situational awareness they need."
Stationed with Evelyn with the 4th Infantry BCT, Staff Sgt. Bryan Nagle said he's the first air traffic controller assigned to his unit. With 18 years experience in his career field, Nagle said a lot of the jargon and acronyms in the FA and ADA communities are new to him. However, as part of a cell that teaches each other their duties, he brings a wealth of experience designing air corridors, managing control zones around air fields or deconflicting aircraft operating in close proximity.
"Coming here gave me a firsthand view of what we're going to be doing, and that's been great," said Nagle. "Now I can go into this deployment with a better understanding of the kinds of thing that commanders are going to look to me to provide."
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