Combat controllers bring order during chaotic times

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman David Salanitri
  • Air Force Special Operations Command Public Affairs
HURLBURT FIELD, Fla. (AFNS) --  It was 1:30 in the morning Jan. 13 when Tech. Sgt. Chris Grove answered the phone call that shaped the next two weeks of his life.

Just hours after taking that call, Sergeant Grove and his nine-person team of combat controllers from the 23rd Special Tactics Squadron here were deploying to Port-au-Prince, Haiti, in response to the earthquake.

Living up to their motto, "first there," the Air Force Special Operations Command combat controllers arrived at the Toussaint L'Ouverture International Airport around 6 p.m. Jan. 13 with much work ahead of them.

One of the first tasks at hand for the team was to conduct a runway assessment.

"We had to determine the extent of damage to the runway as well as the control tower," said Tech. Sgt. Joseph Hepler, on the 23rd STS combat controller team.

The runway was safe. The tower was damaged and unsafe for use. The runway lights were operational, so the ramp was capable of 24-hour operations, but there was little movement at the airport. The parking ramp, designed to safely accommodate eight to 12 aircraft, was now gridlocked with 42 aircraft of varying sizes, parked nose-to-nose and under each other's wings.

Within 28 minutes of landing in Haiti, the team of combat controllers took full control of air operations in the theater.

"We set up the air traffic control point in a field with our equipment propped up on our ATV," said Sergeant Grove, the airfield team leader. "For the first two days we had no tables, no chairs, just our ATV and the ground to conduct air traffic control from."

With an overpacked airport, the combat controllers had to figure out a way to adapt and overcome this challenge.

"We developed a rotation called the Haitian maneuver," Sergeant Grove said. "When an aircraft landed we would have it continue on to pass the taxiway then bring it in just as another aircraft was departing, creating a one-for-one swap."

From total congestion and nose-to-nose parking upon arrival, the team of combat controllers turned chaos into order.

"This isn't the first time we've shown up somewhere with nothing but our radios and had to bring order and control to a chaotic situation," said Sergeant Grove. "We've had to do this several times in Afghanistan and throughout the area of responsibility.

In total, the 23rd STS team brought in 1,675 aircraft and 830 helicopters in the 12 days they were there.

"I have been fortunate to have been the 'first in' on several occasions," said Chief Master Sgt. Antonio Travis, the special tactics team lead. "I have had the honor to work with the finest men and organizations in the world. Nothing has been as rewarding as the two weeks controlling the Port-au-Prince airfield in support of Operation Unified Response."

"There's a sense of helping somebody out when doing an operation like this, and I think you get more self-satisfaction out of it," Sergeant Grove said. "The caliber of the guys going down there was what made this happen."

"I have never been more proud of what I do and the decisions I have made over my career than watching the bar raised in Haiti by the special tactics Airmen and 1st Special Operations Wing," Chief Travis said. "I have thought how to put into words how I feel as a leader. Every angle I look at leads to a single one word answer: humbled."