White Cell keeps MACG-18 Marines on their toes
MARINE CORPS AIR STATION FUTENMA, OKINAWA, Japan(Feb. 23, 2007) -- The element of surprise can be a key factor in making a training scenario realistic. To maintain this element, members of Marine Air Control Group 18 established the White Cell to plot against participants in a Tactical Air Command Center drill at Marine Corps Air Station Futenma Feb. 8-9.
http://www.marines.mil/marinelink/mcn2000.nsf/0/CE1D86C376CB7C638525728A0024B677?opendocument
Submitted by: MCB Camp Butler
Story by: Computed Name: Lance Cpl. David Rogers
The White Cell was charged with developing threatening scenarios that members of MACG-18 had to react to during the exercise that simulated coordinating air combat operations in a foreign country.
Sections of personnel were setup in portable structures. These sections monitored and controlled separate sectors of airspace. Each element reported to the TACC, which kept everyone working together during the exercise.
But the White Cell was kept separate from the rest of the participants and introduced scenarios through radio and data transmissions.
"If (the exercise) was a role-playing game, we would be the dungeon master," said Capt. Stewart Downie, the officer-in-charge of the cell.
The trainees responded to the threats with simulated air and ground units. All units in the exercise's combat zone were simulated by a computer program. The program displayed a radar system that tracked these units.
Most communication between the elements was done through on-line chat rooms. Downie monitored the communications and customized the training based on how the trainees reacted to the situations.
"I just set off the radar of an enemy surface-to-air missile launcher. If no one mentions it in the next 20 minutes, I think it's going to start taking potshots at the KC-130 fuel tanker," Downie said while planning the next stage of the training.
During part of the training, Downie had a Marine air station chemically attacked, leaving it non-operational for an hour. This left the trainees without a place to land many of the simulated aircraft. They were also unable to launch new flight missions.
"It's almost like we're pawns in their game and they keep messing with us," said Cpl. Carleton Vanbuskirk, the crew chief of the Air Direction Facility. "But it's good training because everyone learns from it."
Cell members were selected for their understanding of how pilots and ground units react in real-life situations. Air support control and low altitude air defense officers played the role of aircraft pilots.
Artillery Marines from 12th Marine Regiment represented the ground component of the exercise. They played the role of ground units requesting fire support, which the trainees would assign artillery or aircraft to carry out.
Downie and his team set the pace of the exercise by judging the performance of the participants. Downie accelerated the training tempo when trainees began to handle the situations with proficiency.
"We just got 13 fire missions in the last three minutes," said 1st Lt. Bradley Witham, the senior air director of the Direct Air Support Center, during one scenario.
Downie tried to push the unit's capabilities by overwhelming them with the quantity of missions.
"The White Cell's job is to facilitate the creation of overwhelming scenarios you might see in combat," Witham said.