CAMP BLUE DIAMOND, AR RAMADI, Iraq -- Infantry Marines are renowned for being the world’s 911 force, but when the troops in Iraq’s sandy reaches need help themselves there’s only one team to call – the Marine Air Support Squadron 1 Direct Air Support Center.
Sergeant Kevin Williams, a 23-year-old Baltimore, Md. native is a DASC crew chief, carrying the weight of providing immediate air support to the Marines on the ground who are either in a firefight or who may need a medical evacuation.
When the ground troops make the call for air support, the DASC is their direct link to aircraft to support a mission. Joint Tactical Air Strike requests and helicopter-borne evacuations are routed through the DASC Marines here at the combat operations center through DASC air support elements or liaison teams which are with the infantry at the regimental and battalion unit level.
“The mindset that we’ve developed focuses on supporting the guys on the ground,” said Williams. “And if we can streamline our tactics, techniques and procedures we can provide better support to them.”
Traditionally, infantry Marines can send radio transmissions directly to aircraft to request for fire support, but with the myriad of operations in the province, it’s important for DASC to relay the request to ensure it’s timeliness and safety.
In essence, they ensure the fastest and safest possible method to get the ground troops the air support they need to stay in the fight – or get out of it.
“Here, it’s done a little bit differently,” said 1st Lt. Dianna Budrejko, DASC senior air director. “We have a liaison at the regimental level listening to radio transmissions and sending them here. If Marine air is occupied with another task or if the aircraft need maintenance -- you name it – we make sure the Marines on the ground have the support they need.”
“Once we get a request, it’s our priority to ensure the safety of the supporting aircraft,” said Williams, a 1999 North County High School graduate. “We alert the pilots of potential enemy threats in an area they may be flying through. And we may even pass them an enemy grid location if we have it.”
It’s the DASC Marines’ jobs to know everything happening in the entire area of operations for the 2nd Marine Division, which is the ground force in the total Marine [s1]Air Ground Task Force maneuver of combat. As the area is roughly the size of North Carolina, one could imagine it’s taxing to keep up on what friendly artillery units may be firing in a certain area or what enemy forces might be emplaced in another area. But if DASC didn’t keep tabs, the danger is that they might direct air support in harm’s way.
“We process all requests that come in through the ground side, pushing close air support to convoys that might need support,” said Budrejko. “We keep track of (artillery) counter fires to make sure aircraft don’t fly in that area. We advise (aircrews) and let them know about enemy in their area, making sure airplanes are not going to fall out of sky.”
The DASC uses integrated computer technology to track ground troops and convoy movements in the area of operations. The systems save time and it allows for a more efficient way to support the troops. Working hand-in-hand with the Patient Evacuation Team here, which specifically handles medical evacuations – the DASC is kept abreast of how many patients or what type of life-saving equipment is in what facility in the province.
“The PET is in charge of getting Marines to the appropriate level of care, and we take that information and send it to the Tactical Air Command Center,” said Budrejko. “They’re the ones who actually tell the birds (helicopters) to launch for an evacuation.”
Despite what might seem like a lot of coordination, the process runs quick and smoothly, according to Budrejko.
“We usually keep track of how long it takes to do a request – getting a patient to the appropriate level of medical care,” she said.
“The other day we had an ‘urgent in’ (medical evacuation request),” she added. “It was 27 minutes from time the Marines landed[s2] to the time they actually arrived at the care facility.”
Similar to air traffic controllers in an airport tower, the DASC monitors and communicates with aircraft traveling across the entire Al Anbar Province of Iraq. Using a map with detailed information about enemy and friendly activity in the area, Williams uses his training as a weapons and tactics instructor and a DASC crew chief to alert aircrews of obstacles they might encounter.
“I used to want to work as an air traffic controller, but this is much better,” said Williams. “In a tower, you have control of the aircraft you can see that use your runway; here, we control the entire province.
“This is what we trained for; and supporting the ground guys effectively and to the best of my ability is what it’s all about. If we can save lives and kill the enemy, then it’s rewarding.”