Joint search and rescue center coordinates search efforts

  • Published
  • By Capt. David Small
  • Central Air Forces Forward Public Affairs
SOUTHWEST ASIA (AFPN) --  The sole purpose of 28 people in the joint search and rescue center at the Combined Air Operations Center is to step in when operations go awry and people in U.S. Central Command area of responsibility need help.

Besides coordinating the efforts of seven main rescue coordination centers, the joint rescue center also coordinates efforts to rescue people in Afghanistan, Iraq, the Horn of Africa and throughout the theater.

“There is a huge, broad umbrella of personnel recovery, but it’s exactly that -- we bring people back,” said Maj. Mark Ahrens, joint center director.

There are many functions within personnel recovery including combat search and rescue; survival, evasion, resistance and escape; and medical evacuations, but what the rescue center officials do is track, support and recover people.

Although the rescue centers’ operations were designed to rescue pilots and crew members of downed aircraft, they are not purely aircraft-centric. Joint rescue center officials also coordinate and help Marines and Soldiers as part of the center’s joint role.

A successful mission is not always a positive experience for his team, Major Ahrens said. Recently, joint center officials directed the search efforts that found two pilots who were killed when their U.S. Marine Corps F/A-18 aircraft crashed May 2.

“Knowing that we found the Marines and did a good job in this case helps, but ultimately is not the end result we were all hoping and working toward,” Major Ahrens said.

Joint rescue center officials were responsible for the coordination of this search effort because the aircraft were supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom and were assigned to Combined Forces Air Component Commander at the time.

“We got notified of a possible event very (early) in this case and worked to confirm it through multiple avenues,” the major said.

The reporting of an incident is the first of five steps in personnel recovery, which also includes locating the people, supporting them in the field, recovering them and repatriating them.

“The first two steps, reporting and locating, are the most important and most time-consuming,” Major Ahrens said. “Ultimately, they become the lynchpin the entire rescue effort hinges on.”

The Combined Air Operations Center Space Cell is the joint centers’ conduit into space capabilities, which tipped them off on the initial area to look for the Marines, said Maj. Tom Single, one of the space duty officers on duty during the recovery operations.

“Space support was integral in both the confirmation and location of the Marines’ remains in this effort,” Major Ahrens said.

Joint center officials integrated all capabilities within their reach to accomplish this mission. Each rescue control center maintains different assets for the command they fall under, and are responsible for different geographic regions. In this search, numerous assets were used -- everything from tankers; fighters; helicopters; intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance assets; to the Soldiers attached to the Marine Expeditionary Forces on the ground and in the air.

“The ground guys are the ones who get the job done,” Major Ahrens said. “Without them and their unit’s support, these two pilots’ remains would never have been found, and if any appreciation should go out, it should be to those units.

“Even in the best situations, these things are very difficult,” he said. “We get busy when things go wrong for any number of reasons -- the circumstances surrounding each situation make it a difficult job. Everyone here did an outstanding job and worked their hearts out to find those Marines. Ultimately, it was not the result we were all hoping and working for, but we are happy we could help bring home two men to their families and to the nation.”