Aerial Port joins the Navy

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Charlie Miller
  • 445th Airlift Wing
Naval Station Norfolk, Norfolk, Va. --  A number of Air Force Reserve Aerial Port Squadrons take part in Patriot Partner, an annual exercise held at various air force bases around the country, but just a few get the unique experience of deploying to a U.S. Naval Station and work directly with Navy personnel. It's something fairly unusual for the average Air Force Reserve member.

2008 Patriot Partner Naval Station, Norfolk, Va. hosted three APS's, one Air Guard squadron from Pennsylvania a Navy Reserve Operational Support Center, from Minnesota. A total of 146 participated in the 24/7 exercise from July 11-26.

Major Jason Ortiz, 87th APS, served as the commander of the exercise.

"The key goal was to facilitate cohesion and teamwork among seven different units comprised of three USAFR, an Air Guard Squadron and three Navy Reserve units, to come together as a team to attain specific objectives," the major said. "In today's operational environment we regularly deploy together and to do so effectively leaders must understand how to enable teamwork."

"As a result of exercises like Patriot Partner '08 personnel now have a mental picture of what 'joint' looks like, how it equates to dynamic teamwork. Then when our troops are deployed into a joint environment they have the mental picture and awareness of how the operation needs to be run to achieve success as a joint unit. The team must understand they are no longer Air Force, Navy, Army or Marine Corps; they are a team."

32 members of the 87th Aerial Port Squadron, part of the 445th Airlift Wing, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, OH, participated. Some of the areas they worked in included the passenger terminal, the cargo terminal, ramp services and the air terminal operations center.

Senior Master Sgt Rob Haye, 87th APS superintendant of cargo, served as the USAF first sergeant for the 424th Consolidated Aerial Port Squadron.

"Even though we are at a Naval Station, we are doing business the Air Force way, as we have trained," the sergeant said. "I could not believe how well, from day one, we were able to integrate into the work sections and take over for the active duty Navy staff. There are Navy ranks that take a bit to get used to, like Chief in the Navy is an E-7 and a Master is an E-9 while it's just the opposite in the Air Force. But all the equipment we are using is the same as Air Force."

"The great thing is that here in one section you have Navy reservists supervising Air Force Reservists and in a different section you have Air Force Reservists supervising Navy Reservists," Sergeant Haye said.

Navy Reserve Lieutenant Commander Hai Nguyen, one of the senior leaders at Patriot Partner, said he learned quite a bit working with Air Force Reservists.

"Now I know how an aerial port works," the lieutenant commander. said. "This has been a great opportunity to work with our sister service in a Navy/Air Mobility Command environment. I learned a lot about management issues, the responsibilities of officers. I've learned some Air Force lingo and the rank structure, too."

Major Ortiz said that he had to make sure that the environment he and the senior staff created was conducive to teamwork. "The bottom line is that you have to have good people otherwise your planning and execution ends up being that much more difficult. We've been very fortunate to have such a great group of people with great attitudes and work ethic from the participating units to work with. This exercise provides leaders at all levels the opportunity to practice what they have learned. You can see the whole picture."

"Leadership sets the tone for dynamic teamwork and that dynamic teamwork equals successful mission accomplishment," Major Ortiz said. "That's what we have here at Patriot Partner and what we can have in a deployed environment. For these two weeks, we are all the 424th Consolidated Aerial Port Squadron."

Major Ortiz's hard work, coupled with the hard work of the senior staff, paid off as Patriot Partner concluded without a hitch.

"We had to have effective coordination and communication to build teamwork," the major said. "It's always about coordination and communication; get them information and resources to get the job done, that's the theme."

Ms. Ora Whitt, Director of Passenger Service at Naval Station Norfolk has seen many Patriot Partners come and go during her tenure, but this year's exercise really stood out.

"There were 3,290 passengers processed with no delays and no customer complaints. The reservists came in ready to take over and it was evident that they indeed were ready."

Mixing the services was a great thing Ms. Whitt said, adding that she loved the way the exercise came together.

"Usually, we train them for a week then they take over the operation the second week. We did not have to do that this time," Ms. Whitt said.

Aside from the large number of passengers processed, the cargo section and ramp services moved 487.1 tons of freight. Not bad for two weeks work.

Air Force Reserve units participating included the 36th Aerial Port Squadron, part of the 446th Airlift Wing, McChord, AFB, Wa,, the 80th Aerial Port Squadron, part of the 94th Airlift Wing, Dobbins Air Reserve Base, Ga. The 111th Logistics Readiness Squadron, Pennsylvania Air National Guard, is from Willow Grove Air Reserve Station, Pa.