KORAT ROYAL THAI AIR FORCE BASE, Thailand -- Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni based air traffic controllers are helping to keep U.S. and Thai aircraft flying safely.
Detachment B, Marine Air Control Squadron 4, Marine Air Control Group 18, 1st Marine Aircraft Wing, III Marine Expeditionary Force, out of Iwakuni, Japan, is currently deployed to Korat Royal Thai Air Force Base, Thailand, in support of Cobra Gold 2011.
Cobra Gold 2011 is a regularly scheduled joint and combined exercise in the continuing series of U.S.-Thai military exercises designed to ensure regional peace by strengthening the bonds between the seven participating nations: Thailand, Republic of Singapore, Japan, Republic of Indonesia, Republic of Korea, Malaysia, and the U.S. The multi-national operation includes a staff exercise, field training exercise events and humanitarian civic assistance programs.
While deployed to Thailand, the detachment’s purpose is to provide air surveillance and control aircraft and surface-to-air weapons for anti-air warfare, continuous allweather radar and non-radar air traffic control service and air space management.
“We work with the Thai to safely communicate with aircraft from Iwakuni, Okinawa and Thailand,” said Capt. Dominic Kimzey, the detachment commander.
The relationship the detachment has with Marine Aircraft Group 12 provides them with the ability to assist in exercises such as Cobra Gold, because while there are air traffic controllers attached to the station in Iwakuni, Detachment B is the deployable side of air traffic control.
The detachment has five sections that contribute to air traffic control services to keep aircraft in the air. T
he operations section covers everything required to conduct day-to-day operations and training exercises.
The radar shop ensures radars are up and running.
“When we’re in garrison, we rotate operations with the station and do a lot of preventative maintenance,” said Sgt. Antonio Villalobos, an air traffic control radar technician. “But when we’re deployed is really the only time we get to see all of our gear fully operational.”
Villalobos added, while deployed the radar technicians get more hands-on experience with the equipment than they would in Iwakuni.
The detachment also has a communications section, which keeps all assets ready for use, so air traffic controllers have the ability to communicate with aircraft and other agencies; a navigation section that puts out distance signals, which allows aircraft to navigate to and from fields; and a utilities shop that maintains equipment such as generators and air conditioners.
With only about 60 Marines in the detachment, every Marine’s efforts is important to make sure the mission is accomplished, said Lance Cpl. Wade Armstrong, a MAG-12 aviation supply specialist.
“We rely on each other a lot,” said Armstrong. “If one shop can’t do their job, none of us can.”
The detachment also provides weather center support to Korat and all other locations with aircraft while deployed to Thailand.
The weather center provides aircraft with meteorological and oceanographic conditions that may be encountered and the impact they may have on military operations during the exercise.
“A lot of people think our job consists of going on the Internet and looking at weather.com to give a weather forecast,” said Chief Warrant Officer Duane Gumbs, the detachment’s METOC officer.
“But there’s a lot more to it than that. A pilot could ask, ‘What are the winds going to be like at 1,500 feet at 7 p.m.?,’ and we have to be able to answer those questions.”
Gumbs also added that it’s important Detachment B Marines have the chance to be deployed here to show they are capable of operating in an expeditionary environment and also to work with other agencies with whom they wouldn’t normally interact.