A 62nd Airlift Wing C-17 Globemaster III aircrew found itself away from the rainy climate of Joint Base Lewis-McChord, and in the sunshine of Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, participating in an Air Mobility Command flare effectiveness test, that started Feb. 29.

The C-17 crew along with a C-5 crew from Travis AFB, California, made the journey from the West Coast to the Gulf Coast to put their aircraft countermeasures to the test.

The aircraft-dispensed flares are used as infrared countermeasures designed to defeat "heat-seeking" surface-to-air missiles.

Headquarters Air Mobility Command A3D requested the flare testing from AMC Test and Evaluation Squadron. With help from AMC TES, the 46th TS, the C-17 and C-5 crew and support from Eglin AFB, the AMC TES made it happen.

Master Sgt. Justin Hudson, AMC TES command senior test director, manages and directs operational tests to provide leadership with unbiased feedback in order for them to make well-informed decisions to provide war-fighter proven solutions.

"We are overseeing the flare effectiveness test and ensuring flares are operating the way they should be," said Hudson. "This test is very important because we are constantly trying to outsmart our enemies. These tests ensure our operators are flying with the most up-to-date countermeasure system."

Not every aircraft in the Air Force has the flares as a defense countermeasure.

"Typically, cargo-carrying aircrafts such as the C-130, C-5 and C-17 carry the flares as a defense countermeasure," said Hudson. "The flares are vital and enhance mission capabilities by defending the aircraft operators."

U.S. Air Force Maj. Mike Motschman, 7th Airlift Squadron C-17 pilot and deputy chief McChord Field command post, has had the flares on his aircraft deploy down range but stressed more goes into a successful mission than the aircraft countermeasures.

"Part of being aircrew includes knowing all the aircraft systems and how they operate including the flare systems," said Motschman.

Motschman said there's a lot that goes into evading an enemy.

"It's not just the flares and it's not just the way the aircraft is flown," said Motschman. "Training is probably the most important part, but they all have to come together."

After about a month's worth of testing, Hudson and his team determined the results of the test and composed a report to deliver to AMC.

"We identify risks and improvements and determine whether the test was successful or unsuccessful and explain why," Hudson said.

The team will likely be out here again next year with the same intentions for their mission: to keep the aircrew safe and to stay ahead of the enemy.

Whether rain or shine, she's part of the assembly line. She's making history, working for victory ... "

Long before he learned the role his grandmother played in history, Elinor Otto was John Alexander Perry's role model. Whenever he had a decision to make, he asked himself one question: "What would Grandma do?"

Aside from being the inspiration for her son and grandson, there have been two constants in Otto's life. She simply cannot sit still for long, and she loves working on airplanes.

"If she had an outlet you could plug into her, you would never sleep again," Perry said. "There's nothing about her that's normal. She just goes and goes and goes and doesn't stop. She is truly the Energizer Bunny."

Throughout her career, Elinor Otto worked on airplanes for almost 50 years until she was laid off in 2014. By the end of 2014, when the Air Force ended its relationship with the Boeing Long Beach plant, Otto had worked on every Boeing C-17 Globemaster III they had. Photo credit: Staff Sgt. Andrew Lee
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Otto was one of the original Riveters, the thousands of women who took on jobs for men deployed overseas during World War II. She worked on airplanes for almost 50 years until she was laid off in 2014 at the age of 95 from the Boeing Company plant in Long Beach, California, where she shares a house with her grandson.

"Everything with me is an adventure," said Otto, who's now 96 years old. "That's what life is - one big adventure."

Perry then pointed to a photograph of his grandmother as a young woman and smiled wistfully.

"See, she was beautiful," he said. "People wanted Grandma to be an actress."

But Otto had no interest in an acting career because she had a destiny - an important one for not only her life, but also for the then-fledgling Air Force and Nation.

"I had to work on airplanes," she said. "They used to ask me, ‘Why do you want to do a man's job?' I said, ‘Because you get a lot of exercise, you're on your feet and move around.' That's what I like. I just don't like jobs where you just sit still all the time."

Co-workers and visitors would marvel at the sight of Otto at work, moving her hands and stomping her feet along with the vibrations of the riveting gun. But not everyone initially accepted women in jobs usually reserved for men.

"Of course, the men resented hearing that women were going to be working with them, at first," Otto said. "But after we proved ourselves and proved to them that we were able to keep the schedules up and get the jobs done right, they started respecting us, and we all cooperated together.

"Some of the guys would say, ‘You're working too hard. You're making us look bad.' But I would say, ‘Well, go to work then!'"

Eventually, the men saw that the women worked as hard and as effectively as they did. In fact, the women were often selected to handle the rivet guns because their work was more precise, Otto said.

"They told us, ‘You women handle the rivet gun. Don't let the men do it,'" she said. "They wouldn't let the men do that because we were more careful. With the sets we had to make, it was so easy to make a ding on the skin, and they would have a hard time fixing it.

"Things were smaller then - smaller parts and rivets. Now we need guns that are so heavy. But I could do that, too. I would say, ‘I'm not as frill as I look,' because I'd been doing it for a long time. I had to tell some of them that I'd been doing this work since before you were born. You had to fight your way sometimes with the men."

During the war, Otto made 65 cents an hour, which didn't go far, since she paid $20 a week to board her son while she worked. To motivate themselves before heading to work, Otto and her female co-workers would sometimes sing along with the song, "Rosie the Riveter" by the Four Vagabonds on a .78 rpm phonograph. She still knows the words today: "Whether rain or shine, she's part of the assembly line. She's making history, working for victory..."

After the war, Otto worked as a car hop and other equally unsatisfying jobs before she returned to factory work in 1951. She worked for Ryan Aeronautical Corporation in San Diego for 14 years until she was laid off. Almost a year later, Otto moved to Long Beach to work for Douglas Aircraft Company, which merged with McDonnell Aircraft and later with Boeing.

By the end of 2014, when the Air Force ended its relationship with the Long Beach plant, Otto had worked on every Boeing C-17 Globemaster III they had. Throughout her half century working on planes, whether on the C-17, KC-135 Stratotanker, or the Douglas DC-8, McDonnell Douglas D-9 and D-10, Otto's fast-paced style never changed, mostly because it was the way she worked since childhood. But she admits there was also another reason.

"When I would sit down, they were about ready to call the paramedics," she said. "They thought that maybe something was wrong with me."

Interest in the Rosies peaked a couple of decades later, with the renewed popularity in the "We Can Do It" poster during the women's rights movement in the 1970s and ‘80s.

"We didn't know we were doing anything important," Otto said. "We thought we were just working people, working together for a purpose. We had no idea that this was ever going to happen, that we'd get all of this attention about it. Otherwise, I think I would have taken more pictures."

At the age of 12, Otto's grandson learned about her role during World War II only after he was given a history project on the Rosie the Riveters in junior high school. His father Ronald Arthur Perry told him to write about his grandma.

"Everyone at that point wanted to meet her and talk to her," John Perry said. "I kind of got swept to the side and grandma was famous."

The forced retirement, especially so close to reaching the 50-year milestone of working on airplanes, hurt Otto deeply. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she watched the last C-17 tip its wing goodbye before it left the Long Beach plant for a four-hour flight to Joint Base Charleston, South Carolina.

The Western Air Defense Sector's (WADS) annual Top Scope competition was held Feb. 16-18, testing operations crew members in their ability to detect, identify, and defend against air-breathing threats in difficult simulated scenarios.

Three teams of five members competed in the local competition with individual top performers advancing to the NORAD Top Scope at Tyndall AFB, Florida in April where they will compete against teams from the Eastern Air Defense Sector, Canadian Air Defense Sector, Alaska NORAD Region 176th Air Defense Squadron, Hawaii Regional Air Operations Center 169th Air Defense Squadron, and the 552nd Air Control Wing.

The individual top performers from each duty position are: Capt. John Dalrymple, senior director; Staff Sgt. Brian Kulp, weapons director; Tech. Sgt. Joseph Carey, identification technician; Staff Sgt. Anthony Milton, air surveillance technician; and Senior Airman Matthew Stephens, tracking technician.

The winning team with the top combined score is "Big Buffaloes" from Barbarian Flight. Team members included: Capt. John Dalrymple, senior director; Staff Sgt. Nathan Lucas, weapons director; Tech. Sgt. Joseph Carey, identification technician; Staff Sgt. Anthony Milton, air surveillance technician; and Senior Airman Matthew Stephens, tracking technician.

The WADS Top Scope competition is made up of a written test and two simulated scenarios. In order to provide challenging simulations, Tech. Sgt. Ryc Cyr, Top Scope planner and non-commissioned officer in charge of contingency plans in Weapons and Tactics shop, spent nearly six months planning with DMO (Distributed Mission Operations) contractors and subject matter experts to ensure the competition covered all desired top learning objectives.

"There was an extremely difficult fifty question in-depth written test tailored specifically to each specialty where any information contained in the supporting guidance was fair game," explained Major Antony Braun, chief of Weapons and Tactics.

The simulated scenario execution phase is comprised of two vulnerability periods per team. One replicates a standard peacetime scenario similar to Operation Noble Eagle, which is the prime mission focus of WADS. Operation Noble Eagle was named for the military response to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. The mission has been ongoing since the attacks, serving to provide air sovereignty of North American airspace.

The wartime scenario simulated an enemy deliberately attacking an island with cruise missiles. The teams were responsible for defending 10 high priority targets on the island with only the assets already pre-positioned there. The scenario was designed so teams had to prioritize the centers of gravity and the assets needed to protect those targets. "The intent of this exercise was to test the decision making ability of the team by making it nearly impossible to successfully protect all ten high priority targets," according to Master Sgt. Bryan Villanueva, Weapons and Tactics superintendent.

"DMO is a system we have in operations that simulates virtual combat," explained Villanueva. "Real pilots from Iowa Air National Guard's 132nd Wing - Detachment 1, Distributed Training Operations Center (DTOC) run the simulation for us."

DTOC electronically connects pilots from across the country in realistic simulation training opportunities all over the world. DTOC is able to create enhanced virtual battlefields that challenge pilots with realistic and demanding scenarios. The end result is that pilots and command and control operators from all over the United States can participate and collaborate in high fidelity mission training events in the virtual environment without ever leaving their home bases.

"To be successful in this competition the participants had to think outside the box - at a graduate level," said Braun. "The scenario required competitors to be able to prioritize and quickly make decisions when faced with multiple targets at the same time to include other possible issues such as in-flight emergencies or refueling issues. An error in decision making at the onset of a scenario could possible lead into a very challenging and nearly impossible winning outcome. The decision making process and managing the air picture is the heart and soul of what we do."

Each five member team was made up of one tracking technician, air surveillance technician, identification technician, senior director, and air weapons officer/weapons director.

The tracking technician is responsible for determining whether data is a potential threat based on its heading, speed and altitude and has to account for weather and radar background noise. The air surveillance technician assesses the information from the tracking technician and determines the validity of the object. The identification technician is responsible for running an ID matrix on the data which is based on the object's position, altitude, speed, origin and heading. If the object stays "unknown" the senior director will determine which air asset to launch to intercept. The weapons director is responsible for talking to the air assets and gives direction to the pilot to complete the intercept.

During each scenario, there were critical areas of evaluation for all team members which included checklist adherence, crew coordination and situational awareness. Specifically, the air surveillance technician and tracking technician positions had special emphasis on air picture management and accurate track initiation. The senior director /weapons director position critical areas were rules of engagement, treat evaluation and tactical decisions. Finally, the identification technician position critical area was adherence to the ID matrix.

"I am extremely proud of our team members," said Col. William Krueger, Western Air Defense Sector vice commander. "The Top Scope competition encompasses the most challenging scenarios that continue to sharpen our air defender's skills for the real world 24/7 mission we conduct at WADS on a daily basis. I know our team will represent us well at the NORAD Top Scope competition."

The 2016 JBLM Air Show & Warrior Expo is a "GO" for August 27-28 at McChord Field. The all-day event will feature the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds as the marquee act, along with the U.S. Army's "Golden Knights."

"After a four-year hiatus, we're extremely pleased to bring this magnificent event back to the South Sound," said Col. Daniel S. Morgan, JBLM Garrison Commander. "We're thrilled to have the Thunderbirds and the Golden Knights here again, just as they were in 2012," Morgan added.

The 2016 JBLM Air Show & Warrior Expo is more than an air show.  In addition to the Thunderbirds and Golden Knights, hundreds of JBLM soldiers and airmen will be on hand with airframes and vehicles from JBLM as part of dozens of ground displays. This will showcase the equipment our airmen and soldiers use right here at the base every day, and it's our way to thank the people around the Puget Sound area for their support of servicemembers and military families. In most cases, people will be able to go inside the planes, helicopters and vehicles on display, and speak directly with the crews who operate them.

The 2016 JBLM Air Show & Warrior Expo is free and open to the general public.

More information about the 2016 JBLM Air Show & Warrior Expo will be available in the coming months through news releases and social media.

THUNDERBIRDS:  The U.S. Air Force Air Demonstration Squadron, better known as the Thunderbirds, is an Air Combat Command unit, based out of Nellis AFB, Nevada, composed of eight pilots (including six demonstration pilots), support officers, civilians, and about 110 enlisted people performing in more than 29 Air Force specialties.

GOLDEN KNIGHTS:  The U.S. Army Parachute Team, nicknamed "The Golden Knights," is the Army's official aerial demonstration team. The team includes more than 90 people, including jumpers, pilots, parachute technicians, and media relations and supply specialists. The Golden Knights perform more than 100 demonstrations a year.

More than 20 volunteers from the 627th Civil Engineer Squadron gathered to cleanup Morey Pond on McChord Field, Feb. 27, on Joint Base Lewis-McChord.

The volunteers spent the day clearing out more than one-and-a-half acres of overgrown invasive species of plants growing along the banks of the pond.

"I was very excited that all the volunteers showed up," said Senior Airman Austin Knight, 627th CES structural journeyman. "This was a pretty big project, and I am very appreciative for all the support we received."

Knight said he first noticed the problem back in November when he had to repair a fence near the pond.

"We noticed that the pond was completely dry and overgrown with plants," said Knight. "We knew that without proper care-taking, the area would only get worse as time goes by."

Knight teamed up with Senior Airman Cullen Davis, 627th CES structural journeyman, and planned and executed this morale, welfare and recreation improvement project.

"Over the last year, it has become so overgrown with invasive species that it was overwhelming for the fish to survive and nearly impossible to fish from the banks," said Davis.

The main purpose for the Morey Pond cleanup is to eradicate the invasive species of plants growing along the banks.

"By removing the plant from the banks, this will create a better habitat for any fish that may be in the pond or any that may be stocked in the years to come," said Davis.

Morey Pond is located on McChord Field near Holiday Park, so JBLM servicemembers and their families are allowed to go fishing in the pond.

"More importantly, when fish become a surplus here, the cleared banks will allow fishermen easier access to fish," said Knight. "The easier access will allow the fishermen access to the banks, which in turn controls the fish population."

Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James revealed the first rendering of the Long Range Strike Bomber, designated the B-21, at the Air Force Association's Air Warfare Symposium Feb. 26 in Orlando, Florida, and announced the Air Force will be taking suggestions from airmen to help decide the name of the bomber.

"This aircraft represents the future for our airmen, and (their) voice is important to this process," James said. "The airman who submits the selected name will help me announce it at the (Air Force Association) conference this fall."

While there are no existing prototypes of the aircraft, the artist rendering is based on the initial design concept. The designation B-21 recognizes the LRS-B as the first bomber of the 21st century.

The reveal comes just weeks after both James and Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Mark A. Welsh, III delivered the fiscal year 2017 posture statement before the Senate Appropriations Committee, making it clear modernization is a top priority for the Air Force.

"The platforms and systems that made us great over the last fifty years will not make us great over the next fifty," Welsh said during his testimony on Capitol Hill, Feb. 10. "There are many other systems we need to either upgrade or recapitalize to ensure viability against current and emerging threats ... the only way to do that is to divest old capability to build the new."

James said the B-21 will allow the Air Force to operate in tomorrow's high-end threat environment, and give the Air Force the flexibility and the capability to launch from the continental United States and deliver airstrikes on any location in the world.

James also explained why the B-21 shares some resemblance to the B-2.

"The B-21 has been designed from the beginning based on a set of requirements that allows the use of existing and mature technology," James said.

The program recently entered into the Engineering and Manufacturing Development phase and the Air Force plans to field the initial capability of the aircraft in mid-2020s.

Airmen - Active, Guard, Reserve and civilian - should stay tuned to AF.mil and Air Force social media accounts for more information on how to submit their ideas. 

More than 15 civic leaders and community partners from the Puget Sound took an oath to support the men and women of Team McChord and the United States Air Force during an Honorary Commander change-of-command ceremony at the McChord Chapel Support Center Feb. 22., Joint Base Lewis-McChord.

The Honorary Commander program is an Air Force public affairs initiative to educate community partners with limited knowledge about the Air Force by teaming them up with commanders at Air Force bases.

This program enables an inside view to life in the Air Force with key leaders, an opportunity which otherwise would not occur.

"It's a very special day and a very meaningful ceremony," said Col. Leonard Kosinski, 62nd Airlift Wing commander. "It's an honor to have you here today. We are full of appreciation for our community partners who have served and bettered the lives of our airmen and their families."

Kosinksi emphasized the significance of the program and the vitality of it.

"You (honorary commanders) have enabled worldwide mobility airlift and made our military stronger through your efforts," Kosinski said. "It's crucial to have an open and cooperative relationship with our community, which is why Team McChord's Honorary Commanders Program is very important to us."

The last time an honorary commander's change of command was conducted on McChord was 2013, when eight new commanders were welcomed in.

An inevitable part of flying any aircraft is that they will need maintenance at some point or another. One particular C-17 Globemaster III assigned to the 62nd Airlift Wing needed that maintenance, when it broke down at North Island Naval Station, California, Feb. 16.

A four-person Maintenance Recovery Team from McChord Field consisting of two crew chiefs and two hydraulic systems specialists left Feb. 18, with little notice and had one objective, get the aircraft back on its mission.

"The only thing we had on our mind was getting the aircraft fixed as quickly as possible, by the book and on time," said Staff Sgt. Nathan Kuhn, 62nd Maintenance Squadron hydraulic systems craftsman and MRT lead. "We knew it was a problem with the hydraulic reservoir, so we did everything we could to prepare before we landed, so we could get to work as fast as possible."

This particular issue is not a common one, and that was the first time for either of the hydraulic specialists to replace this part.

"This is something that doesn't go bad often, but our best guess at this time was an over pressurization issue," said Senior Airman Jacob Remstrom, 62nd Maintenance Squadron hydraulic systems specialist.

There was no questioning the four airmen's resolve to getting the tasks accomplished. They all went to work as soon as their plane landed at North Island, which was at 8 p.m., and worked until the aircraft was fixed.

"This is my third MRT and it's always a team effort," said Remstrom. "We wouldn't have been able to get it done without the help from the (62nd Aircraft Maintenance Squadron) guys."

The 62nd AMXS airmen were Staff Sgt. Jeremy Aiumo and Staff Sgt. Tanner Evjene, both are McChord C-17 crew chiefs and were assigned to this MRT to help unload the flare system off the C-17, so the jet could safely be worked on.

"This is when we get to see the real purpose of our mission," said Evjene. "We came down here to get this jet back in the air as quickly as possible so it can get back to its mission doing something that is going to affect a lot of people."

North Island Naval Station may have room to accommodate C-17s on their runway, but they do not have facilitates or properly trained maintenance teams on station to help repair one. The McChord MRT had only the tools and parts they carried with them to fix any problems they would face.

"When you are at a remote location, parts and equipment are not readily available," said Kuhn. "When something doesn't go right you have to adapt and figure it out while still keeping it in the regulations for safety."

"It's about getting the job done quickly, but it's also about getting it done correctly," said Remstrom. "People are going to be flying on this aircraft, it has to be safe. One day I could be on it or my family could be on it, I have to do everything the best I can."

The four airmen for Joint Base Lewis-McChord, went to work as soon as they could and didn't stop until the job was complete. The C-17 was ready to take off in the next day's morning's hours back on its mission with few people even knowing the MRT had been there.

The Julius A. Kolb Airman Leadership School instructors at Joint Base Lewis-McChord spend more than 172 hours in the classroom per class and with more than two-dozen students per class, and classes starting every six weeks, they have done more for the U.S. Air Force than teach thousands of students coursework, they have shaped the future of our non-commissioned officer corps.

There are three 62nd Airlift Wing ALS instructors, Tech. Sgt. James Lee, Tech. Sgt. Justine Doyle and Staff Sgt. Jessica Raab each have unique backgrounds and experiences and give more to their students than an eight-to-four-hour duty day.

The team devotes countless hours to each and every student who walks through their doors with one objective, to give them the tools they need to become great leaders.

The desire to be the change he wanted to see is what led Tech. Sgt. Lee to become an ALS instructor.

"I wanted stronger NCOs," said Lee. "I wanted NCOs to have the courage to give honest feedback and who weren't too scared to make difficult decisions."

Lee said he felt a need for a stronger NCO corps that worked together and lifted each other up.

"I feel like I do my best to emulate exactly how an NCO should be and act to my students," Lee said. "I have spoken with confidence; I've given direction and I did everything the little brown book tells you to do."

The biggest impact he said he has had is one-on-one with his students.

"(This job) made me a better listener," said Lee. "It gave me the ability to step back and empower others."

Lee said this opportunity in his career has become much more to him than a job.

"It's now about finishing something," Lee said. "Our ideology is changing as a force, and as an instructor, I have first-hand experience of this change."

Raab said her motivation to be an instructor was the perspective it offered her, but it became much more personal.

"I didn't think I would care as much as I do," said Raab. "I want my students to succeed."

Raab said being an NCO is not that hard if you try.

"If you're being a good airman, thexn you are being a good NCO," said Raab.

She said being an instructor made her more accountable.

"We have to be what we teach," Raab said. "If not, I will lose my credibility."

Doyle said this job by far has been the best job she has ever had.

"I love the students. I've picked up people skills and I've learned to be a better NCO," said Doyle. "But, the best moments I have had are with the students and the staff.

"We work really well together as a team. If someone needs something, we help each other out. It would be detrimental to the team if we didn't."

Doyle, who has instructed at ALS for almost four years, said her gratification comes from students, who she helped cross the stage, come back and say they've used lessons she taught them.

"ALS is the foundation for being a good supervisor," Doyle said.

Doyle's tenure at ALS is almost up, but she said she is excited to get back to her original career field.

"I want to see how I can give back now," said Doyle. "I've gained this experience and now I want to go back and see what I can do with it. That's the point of it all."

The instructors have learned more than knowledge in professional military education in the U.S. Air Force, they have gained wisdom.

"Because of this job, I have a new outlook on my whole life now," said Lee. "The students have impacted me just as much as I have impacted them."

Members of the 225th Air Defense Squadron (ADS) welcomed their new commander during a change of command ceremony, Jan. 29, at the Western Air Defense Sector (WADS) at McChord Field.

Lt. Col. Brett Bosselmann took command of the 225th ADS from Col. Paige Abbott, who assumed command of the 225th Support Squadron. Col. William Krueger, 225th Air Defense Group commander, officiated over the ceremony and emphasized that Bosselmann "is absolutely the right choice to take charge of the critical Air Defense operations force."

In his first address as the new commander, Bosselmann outlined the five ingredients that he feels makes the 225th Air Defense Squadron excel.

"We have a mission that our people believe in, and we are resourced to train and equip our people to do that mission," said Bosselmann. "We recruit innovative and motivated people, we foster an environment that respects and values people's good ideas, and we invest time in mentoring and developing our people so they will one day be the leaders standing up here talking about this building and this mission and how it has been on watch continuously since 1958."

"We have a very important mission, guarding America's skies - 24 hours a day, seven days a week continuously for nearly sixty years with our Canadian partners," said Bosselmann. "In order to maintain national air sovereignty, we are on continuous watch to detect, identify, track and prosecute airborne threats. The stakes are high when defending the airspace over our country."

The 225th Air Defense Squadron is a subordinate unit of the 225th Air Defense Group. The 225th ADS conducts the mission of the Western Air Defense Sector. WADS is headquartered on Joint Base Lewis-McChord and is staffed primarily by full-time Washington Air National Guardsmen and a Canadian Forces detachment. The unit supports NORAD's integrated warning and attack assessment missions and the U.S. Northern Command's homeland defense mission. WADS is responsible for air sovereignty and counter-air operations over the western United States and directs a variety of assets to defend 2.2 million square miles of land and sea.

Bosselmann is specifically responsible for maintaining North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) air sovereignty and aerospace control over 73 percent of the western United States, as well as providing leadership and management of 215 Air National Guard, Canadian Air Force, contractors and civilian personnel. He oversees the conduct and mission execution for command and control operations of seven NORAD aerospace control alert detachments, 14 alert aircraft, refueling tankers, airborne early warning aircraft, and Army air and missile defense assets in the National Capital Region. He is an active operational liaison for multiple Department of Defense, higher headquarters agencies, and Department of Homeland Security partners.