Liaison Officers are eyes and ears at major commands
SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, ILL. (USTCNS)---When the second hijacked airliner slammed into the already-inflamed World Trade Center, Col. Lyn Sherlock found herself in the center of the war against terrorism.
A 20-year veteran Air Force pilot, Sherlock was immediately in the Crisis Action Center at Central Command in MacDill Air Force Base, Fla.- the military's operational headquarters for the war- helping plan a response to the horror she had seen just moments ago on the television monitors.
"We have been in 24-hour operations ever since," she said. "The tempo has never slowed."
The response was immediate. Fighter planes took to the sky, their vapor trails visible over every major American city. Humanitarian missions began into New York. Shortly, the nation's fighting men and women and supplies were airlifted to Afghanistan as an emphatic answer to al-Qaida and Taliban who had financed and directed the attacks.
In the middle of it all, Sherlock's job, and indeed her life, changed dramatically.
A C-141 pilot with more than 3,000 hours of flight time, Sherlock is one of seven officers who serve as liaison to major military commands for the U.S. Transportation Command, with headquarters at Scott Air Force Base. As liaison, she and the other officers are subject-matter experts as well as conduits to arrange the often-complex and sometimes seemingly impossible task of transporting supplies and personnel anywhere on the planet the Department of Defense needs them.
Air Force Maj. Gen. William Welser, Director, Operations and Logistics Directorate for USTRANSCOM, said the liaisons are the eyes and ears of the command.
"They are the link between us and our global customers," Welser said. "They are our mobility experts at the regional unified commands and help USTRANSCOM stay ahead of the power curve on fast moving contingencies."
Other liaison officers work out of U.S. European Command, Vaihingen, Germany; U.S. Pacific Command, Honolulu; U.S. Joint Forces Command, Norfolk, Va.; U.S. Southern Command, Miami , and U.S. Forces Korea, Seoul.
The 9/11 attacks were a wake up signal that the liaisons'job was going to be more than a simple challenge.
Col. Ralph Bush, liaison to the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the Pentagon, got a firsthand view of just how much of a challenge and how fast contingencies could change when he came to work amid the rubble at the Pentagon on Sept. 12.
"I got to the building that morning and the image I will never forget is seeing the glow of fires and floodlights," Bush said. "When I got into the building, there was the Secretary of Defense telling everybody, hey, we're at work and we're ready for business."
Bush cannot talk about his discussions with the staff of the JCS about the plans that were implemented against the terrorists, but he can talk about the results.
"The logistics of getting into Afghanistan were enormous," he said. "We had to take everything into Afghanistan-water, concrete, fuel, food, clothing. In effect we took the whole house with us.
"One thing that was critical and remains critical is information technology. It is an area where USTRANSCOM has made great strides and it allowed us to do what we had to do-get vital and correct information to our leaders in the White House and the Pentagon. That was crucial."
Such technology undoubtedly saved lives because it allowed the military to move things more quickly-almost as soon as decisions were made in Washington and CENTCOM.
"Imagine if we had to call each person involved by phone," he explained. "It would have taken hours to coordinate things that way. The system we have in place allowed us to do it all at once with everyone involved."
For Sherlock, amidst the swirl of activity at CENTCOM, once the decisions were made and plan of attack approved, her job and that of USTRANSCOM had only begun.
"We would very much have liked to call on our great fleet of ships to get people and supplies to Afghanistan and flush out the terrorists," she said. "But Afghanistan is landlocked-there are no ports. This war forced us into an air-centric response. We did everything by air. There was not even any availability of gasoline on the ground. We had to fit C-17s with giant bladders and fill them with fuel so we'd have it available on the ground when our planes landed.
"It is not as simple as saying, hey, we need to get to Afghanistan. The logistics were enormous."
As representatives of the Transportation Command, the liaison officers are the midst of all key planning decisions made at the major commands.
"You really cannot do anything in this environment without USTRANSCOM," Bush said. "It is involved in some form or fashion with everything we do in the Department of Defense. How we respond can make the difference between success and failure."
In such crises as the war against terror, USTRANSCOM brings together the transportation assets of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard and the Merchant Marine fleet in a unified attack on the problem.
"This has been a joint endeavor," Bush said. "I doubt there will ever be another major operation without joint involvement. Every branch of the armed forces participated big time in this."
As the war continues, the liaison officers are continuously called on by the war planners and national leaders to help them arrange for one thing that is fundamental to every mission the military has: transportation. It is not always a technical solution. During the early days of Operation Enduring Freedom, target spotters on the ground were provided with low-tech horses so they could take their high-tech global positioning system to the battle areas and call in air strikes by B-52s.
They also arranged the use of modern C-17 Globemaster III airlifters piloted by crews using night-vision goggles for nighttime operations. Reporters who flew along were dumbfounded at how such operations could be done in pitch black darkness, Bush said.
"It's scary if you're not wearing the goggles," he added.
The transportation logistics to fight America's new war have been unprecedented. In terms of manhours flown, it is the third largest in military history only nine months after 9/11. Pilots have flown more than 98,600 hours worth of missions so far in the war on terrorism.
Sherlock, who will soon begin training as a group commander for C-17s, said that number will continue to increase.
A 20-year veteran Air Force pilot, Sherlock was immediately in the Crisis Action Center at Central Command in MacDill Air Force Base, Fla.- the military's operational headquarters for the war- helping plan a response to the horror she had seen just moments ago on the television monitors.
"We have been in 24-hour operations ever since," she said. "The tempo has never slowed."
The response was immediate. Fighter planes took to the sky, their vapor trails visible over every major American city. Humanitarian missions began into New York. Shortly, the nation's fighting men and women and supplies were airlifted to Afghanistan as an emphatic answer to al-Qaida and Taliban who had financed and directed the attacks.
In the middle of it all, Sherlock's job, and indeed her life, changed dramatically.
A C-141 pilot with more than 3,000 hours of flight time, Sherlock is one of seven officers who serve as liaison to major military commands for the U.S. Transportation Command, with headquarters at Scott Air Force Base. As liaison, she and the other officers are subject-matter experts as well as conduits to arrange the often-complex and sometimes seemingly impossible task of transporting supplies and personnel anywhere on the planet the Department of Defense needs them.
Air Force Maj. Gen. William Welser, Director, Operations and Logistics Directorate for USTRANSCOM, said the liaisons are the eyes and ears of the command.
"They are the link between us and our global customers," Welser said. "They are our mobility experts at the regional unified commands and help USTRANSCOM stay ahead of the power curve on fast moving contingencies."
Other liaison officers work out of U.S. European Command, Vaihingen, Germany; U.S. Pacific Command, Honolulu; U.S. Joint Forces Command, Norfolk, Va.; U.S. Southern Command, Miami , and U.S. Forces Korea, Seoul.
The 9/11 attacks were a wake up signal that the liaisons'job was going to be more than a simple challenge.
Col. Ralph Bush, liaison to the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the Pentagon, got a firsthand view of just how much of a challenge and how fast contingencies could change when he came to work amid the rubble at the Pentagon on Sept. 12.
"I got to the building that morning and the image I will never forget is seeing the glow of fires and floodlights," Bush said. "When I got into the building, there was the Secretary of Defense telling everybody, hey, we're at work and we're ready for business."
Bush cannot talk about his discussions with the staff of the JCS about the plans that were implemented against the terrorists, but he can talk about the results.
"The logistics of getting into Afghanistan were enormous," he said. "We had to take everything into Afghanistan-water, concrete, fuel, food, clothing. In effect we took the whole house with us.
"One thing that was critical and remains critical is information technology. It is an area where USTRANSCOM has made great strides and it allowed us to do what we had to do-get vital and correct information to our leaders in the White House and the Pentagon. That was crucial."
Such technology undoubtedly saved lives because it allowed the military to move things more quickly-almost as soon as decisions were made in Washington and CENTCOM.
"Imagine if we had to call each person involved by phone," he explained. "It would have taken hours to coordinate things that way. The system we have in place allowed us to do it all at once with everyone involved."
For Sherlock, amidst the swirl of activity at CENTCOM, once the decisions were made and plan of attack approved, her job and that of USTRANSCOM had only begun.
"We would very much have liked to call on our great fleet of ships to get people and supplies to Afghanistan and flush out the terrorists," she said. "But Afghanistan is landlocked-there are no ports. This war forced us into an air-centric response. We did everything by air. There was not even any availability of gasoline on the ground. We had to fit C-17s with giant bladders and fill them with fuel so we'd have it available on the ground when our planes landed.
"It is not as simple as saying, hey, we need to get to Afghanistan. The logistics were enormous."
As representatives of the Transportation Command, the liaison officers are the midst of all key planning decisions made at the major commands.
"You really cannot do anything in this environment without USTRANSCOM," Bush said. "It is involved in some form or fashion with everything we do in the Department of Defense. How we respond can make the difference between success and failure."
In such crises as the war against terror, USTRANSCOM brings together the transportation assets of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard and the Merchant Marine fleet in a unified attack on the problem.
"This has been a joint endeavor," Bush said. "I doubt there will ever be another major operation without joint involvement. Every branch of the armed forces participated big time in this."
As the war continues, the liaison officers are continuously called on by the war planners and national leaders to help them arrange for one thing that is fundamental to every mission the military has: transportation. It is not always a technical solution. During the early days of Operation Enduring Freedom, target spotters on the ground were provided with low-tech horses so they could take their high-tech global positioning system to the battle areas and call in air strikes by B-52s.
They also arranged the use of modern C-17 Globemaster III airlifters piloted by crews using night-vision goggles for nighttime operations. Reporters who flew along were dumbfounded at how such operations could be done in pitch black darkness, Bush said.
"It's scary if you're not wearing the goggles," he added.
The transportation logistics to fight America's new war have been unprecedented. In terms of manhours flown, it is the third largest in military history only nine months after 9/11. Pilots have flown more than 98,600 hours worth of missions so far in the war on terrorism.
Sherlock, who will soon begin training as a group commander for C-17s, said that number will continue to increase.
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