WANTED!: USAF Air Combat Command/A3J / Personnel Recovery Division / OCP Patch
In December 2010, Air Combat Command's Personnel Recovery Division designated A3J and headquartered at Langley Air Force Base, Va., officially stood up and was created to ensure that the Air Force is prepared for the challenge of rescuing Airmen from hostile deployed environments. The division is charged with carrying out ACC's lead command responsibility of organizing, training and equipping dedicated Air Force rescue forces, commanders and staff members, and all service members at risk of isolation.
"Part of our job entails producing well-trained rescue forces to execute recovery operations, but there's another important piece," said Lt. Col. Todd Worms, the A3J chief. "Our focus is to ensure that anyone who is at risk of isolation is properly trained and prepared to handle those challenges, so that includes approximately 334,000 active-duty Airmen plus any Air Force civilians or contractors that deploy to the combat zone."
A3J provides a single focal point to work all personnel recovery issues revolving around rescue forces or training.
"My concern is with the Airman that is tasked with a 365-day joint expeditionary tasking to go work on convoys in Afghanistan," Colonel Worms said. "How do we make sure that Airman gets all the training he needs and is fully prepared when he deploys for potential isolation? How do we ensure his commander, prior to the Airman deploying, is knowledgeable of their responsibilities to make sure the Airman receives all their training? That's where this division will affect the Airmen the most. It will improve the knowledge of the command structure and also the training that Airmen receive before they deploy."
In August 2009, the secretary of Defense approved personnel recovery as an Air Force service core function. That September, the chief of staff of the Air Force signed the operational concept for personnel recovery in the Air Force.
"When we looked around to see who was going to execute the responsibility following the two designations, there really wasn't anyone there," Colonel Worms said. "Until March 2009, an ACC Personnel Recovery division existed only in a matrixed format. It consisted of four people, and shared other personnel who were spread throughout multiple divisions.
"We had to borrow personnel, so to speak," Colonel Worms said. "While this is doable for some functions, it wasn't a proper structure for a division responsible for an entire service core function that needs to be rapidly responsive and has a wide breadth of touch -- not really the organizational construct we need."
The development of the new division will fill in a gap by completing a chain between Headquarters Air Force, the major commands, the units and individual members at the wings, the colonel said.
"My main focus will be on training and equipping the Airmen to survive in an isolated environment," Colonel Worms said. "As for our rescue forces, we are very good right now at organizing and equipping our rescue team to go pick personnel up. The current, extreme operations tempo is causing training challenges due to a shortage of equipment and personnel, but we're working with our total force partners to ensure we continue to provide trained, combat-ready crews to the current fight."
"We have a unique opportunity to build this division correctly to fully execute the broad scope of duties that come underneath the ACC personnel recovery responsibility," Colonel Worms added. "I am confident that we will be able to continue to produce exceptional rescue forces and also expand our operational construct to include training every person at risk of isolation."
Between 2001 and 2009, the Air Force had two percent of all helicopters deployed in the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility but is credited with 45 percent of the saves.
"Our advanced equipment and high-end training provide a capability that is in very high demand with the warfighting commanders, and the accomplishments of our rescue forces over the last decade are legendary," Colonel Worms said. "Air Force rescue forces saved over 4,300 lives in New Orleans during the Hurricane Katrina response and have saved the lives of over 2,500 U.S., coalition and local national personnel in CENTCOM over the last 2 years."
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