Airmen provide tactical support from ground up Published Aug. 23, 2004 By Tech. Sgt. Brian Jones 332nd Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs BALAD AIR BASE, Iraq (AFPN) -- Coalition ground troops are engaged in a firefight with insurgents. The unit's tactical air controller calls for air support and soon an F-16 Fighting Falcon is screaming overhead providing cover.Scenarios similar to this play out nearly every day in the desert of Iraq. Getting tactical aircraft where they need to be is a team effort centered at the 332nd Expeditionary Air Control Squadron here.The squadron performs the same mission on the ground that the Airborne Warning and Control System provides from the air."We manage the execution of the daily air tasking order and bring reconnaissance information to decision makers, and air power to troops in contact," said Lt. Col. Steven Robinson, 332nd EACS commander."We are the command and control hub," said Capt. Rebecca Coffman, 332nd EACS senior director. "We pass information to the aircraft and the (Combined Air Operations Center) real time. Our radar system provides the big picture."While the operations and maintenance focal point of the squadron's mission are here, the unit has detachments at Kirkuk and Tallil air bases that provide radio and radar feeds back to the operations crews here.The squadron controls all tactical aircraft performing missions over Iraq, but diverting aircraft to support ground troops in need is when the unit really springs into action."It really takes cohesive teamwork (among) us, (radar approach control) and the (Air Support Operations Center)" Colonel Robinson said. "Together, we can focus air power where it's needed."On average, the squadron oversees three or four “troops-in-contact” situations per day. These situations may call for precision bombing, but sometimes all that is needed is a show of force."A lot of times just the presence of an aircraft will defuse a situation," Colonel Robinson said."The biggest sense of accomplishment and the biggest source of pride for us is helping troops on the ground," Captain Coffman said. "It's great to know when troops are facing enemies on the ground, we can bring the sound of freedom over their heads."One of the biggest challenges faced by the controllers is making sure all the tactical aircraft have the fuel necessary to accomplish their mission."Sometimes it's like a shell game, getting all the aircraft fuel," Colonel Robinson said."Tower controllers are working to keep the dots apart,” Captain Coffman said. “When we're trying to get aircraft fuel, our goal is to bring the dots together.”The squadron is a self-sufficient unit that brings together a wide range of Air Force specialties including air battle managers, aerospace control and warning, intelligence, communications, radar and vehicle maintenance, aerospace ground equipment and a medic. The unit depends heavily on all facets of the squadron to accomplish its mission."The 24-seven nature of the mission requires instantaneous support," Colonel Robinson said. "We need an immediate maintenance response to keep our equipment functioning.""We can have the best controllers, but if we don't have working equipment, we're dead in the water," Captain Coffman said.The harsh desert environment presents numerous obstacles for the squadron's maintainers. The maintenance workload has increased two-fold because of the dust and high temperatures here, Colonel Robinson said."Many of our [equipment] components are pre-Vietnam era and not designed to work in extreme desert weather conditions," said Tech. Sgt. Gene Jameson, assistant noncommissioned officer in charge of ground radar maintenance.Under normal operating conditions, maintainers are required to clean radar circuit cards every 168 days. Here, they clean the more than 300 circuit cards contained in the unit's radar system once a week."This environment forces you to come up with ways to keep equipment cooler and keep [it] cleaner," Sergeant Jameson said.At Hill Air Force Base, Utah, the members of the 332nd EACS are part of the 729th Air Control Squadron, which is one of five deployable, active-duty air control squadrons.Several smaller Air National Guard units integrate with active-duty units for some air and space expeditionary force deployments.