WMD shield keeps Airmen safe

SOUTHWEST ASIA (AFPN) -- Hunched in front of a computer monitor inside a room the size of a shipping crate, two men stare, eyebrows raised, at something that looks like a map from Google Earth.

"Well," Staff Sgt. William Stevens asked, "is it a positive?"

"Could be," answered William Boyd, staring intently at the small red box on the screen.

The red box is a representation of one of several sensors scattered around this deployed location, part of the Portal Shield system. Portal Shield -- used Defense Department wide since 1998 -- is a network of sensors to defend air bases against the threat of weapons of mass destruction.

The network is under control of a central computer -- located and operated in the 380th Expeditionary Civil Engineer Squadron's Readiness Flight -- that monitors and operates the sensors. To establish and maintain data collected by the sensors, Portal Shield software interfaces with a database plugged into that monitor.

Using Portal Shield, the duo provides the American presence here with its first line of WMD defense. Sergeant Stevens, the operator, said the system can't predict the future, but it helps.

"It's not going to tell us when it's coming, but it will tell us when we got hit," he said. "That will allow us to institute the appropriate measures for medical treatment and more."

To determine if "we got hit," Sergeant Stevens strokes a few keys on a keyboard. Then, the air intake valves on the Portal Shield sensors run a check of the air by sucking it in like a vacuum.

The Portal Shield counts particles in the air, and depending on the results, it will trigger an alarm. If something is detected (the red box earlier turned out to be false), that triggers a response based on local and theater-wide instructions, Sergeant Stevens said.

"If it looks like a positive, we'll have to throw on our respirators and everything else then go out there and take a sample. Then, we make notifications to security forces and other agencies."

Some might argue that if you're already hit, what good is it to know? Sergeant Stevens, deployed from Yokota Air Base, Japan, emphasized the importance of knowing and specifying how the base has been attacked.

"The biggest thing is first treatment," he said. "Most things that anybody can use as a biological agent are treatable."

He brought up the anthrax attacks of October 2001. "There were a lot of people exposed, but not too many casualties. Once they identified the anthrax, people were put on medications and they were able to fight the bacteria," he said. He added if Portal Shield detects a communicable disease, detection and prevention is crucial.

"With the amount of airlift and the way people travel here, we need to know when it went off, what time and who left. We don't want someone taking something that may have been spread here and taking it elsewhere in theater."

Mr. Boyd, the contracted technician, said the system is manageable and, save the usual computer headaches, easy to maintain. He said lessons learned from systems fielded in South Korea and elsewhere about climate and humidity have helped tailor the local system.

Lt. Col. Greg Williams, 380th ECES commander, said Airmen operating systems like these are the way of the future.

"The Portal Shield system is one of the many ways the wing takes care of our Airmen. Our readiness flight Airmen are doing a great job working with this cutting edge technology," the colonel said.

Ultimately, the duo's roles are about deterrence and the defense of better than 1,500 Airmen assigned to the 380th Air Expeditionary Wing, with the largest air refueling fleet in theater, according to Sergeant Stevens.

"It's like insurance. It's pretty boring to be an insurance salesman, but everybody really likes him after that flood," he concluded.