JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska -- Airmen from the 962nd Airborne Air Control Squadron (AACS) welcomed their Reserve partners with the 970th AACS from Tinker Air Force Base, for a total-force training mission on the E-3 Sentry Airborne Warning and Control aircraft.

Participants from the 970th AACS received and shared valuable training on surveillance, detection, and identification, with the 962nd AACS during their nine-day trip to Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson (FBER), Alaska.

One of the training opportunities was a local sortie and a training surveillance mission, which includes flying above an area searching for aircraft that fit certain criteria, said Air Force Lt. Col Elaine Paige, 970th AACS mission crew commander.

“[The training] was great; the 962nd run their operations and day-to-day flying very similar to the way we do and it was almost seamless integrating with them,” Paige said.

Both squadrons filled the many roles aboard the aircraft and every Airman involved was an integral part of the mission’s success.

“Up in the front we have the flight deck, which is two pilots, a navigator, and an engineer, and they’re responsible for taking care of the airframe and getting us flying,” Paige said. “The next section is the communication section which handles all the radios speaking internally and externally.”

The following section is a computer display technician who is in charge of trouble shooting the computers the console operators use.

Next would be the senior director and weapons officers who run the battle and speak with fighters or tankers to send out vital information.

“You’re then going to have an air surveillance officer who is in charge of tweaking the radar and getting the big surveillance picture opened up to find targets,” Paige said. “Working with them is the senior surveillance technician, who takes care of all the links if we want to get the air picture from us to the ground or fighters.”

The back row includes the air surveillance technicians who search for air tracks that meet certain criteria. Once the tracks are found, they are passed up the chain for a decision to investigate further or not.

“Then you’re going to have the airborne radar technician who performs maintenance on the radar and keeps it going,” Paige said. “Lastly, the mission crew commander forms the battle plan for the mission, keeps everything on track, and coordinates with the flight deck for the airframe as far as timing and equipment.”

With so many pieces and partners coming together during the flight, cohesion was fundamental.

“Everything flowed smoothly and went well,” said Air Force Lt. Col. Donnie Hodges, 3rd Operations Group mission crew commander. “It’s important for [the 970th AACS] to see how operations here in Alaska are different from those in the Lower 48 and to see the mission sets that we support here in our local combat flying training.”

As the only AWACS Reserve unit in the Air Force, the training was a huge educational opportunity on how the Reserves can better integrate with active duty, Paige said.

“Sometimes other units don’t realize what the Reserve can bring to the fight and how they can utilize us,” Paige said. “A lot of times these active duty units are high demand and low density, so they’re extremely busy. It’s a good feeling knowing we can come in and help and also get more training.”

Situations like these are essential in the event that Reserve units are needed to augment JBER units during deployments and permanent change-of-station seasons, Hodges said.

“To us, total force integration means the ability to plug and play our Reserve and National Guard partners into combat and training situation so that we can get the business of the Air Force done.”