Air Mobile Ground Teams

A couple of months ago, my Ground Team was called up to assist in a Missing Person Search mission for a missing little girl in a neighboring Wing.

We were stood down after it became obvious that by the time we drove to the AO, we would have burned though so much or our duty day, that we really wouldn't be much help in the initial search.

That bugged me, and it started a conversation about the concept of Air Mobile Ground Teams... the idea ofcoordinating with ANG, Reserve, and Active Duty Air Force units to provide airlift to CAP Emergency Services Ground Teams.

Now after you're done dabbing the coffee off the front of your shirt.... hear me out...

At Oshkosh this year, I chatted with  a Controller from the AFRCC, about this wacky idea.

He confirmed my suspicion. AFRCC can coordinate the airlift of CAP Ground Teams to a theater of operations if the conditions warrant. All it takes is the IC asking the AFRCC for it.

I spoke to my unit's RAP Officer, who happens to be a former C-130 jock. We talked about how Ground Team vehicles could be airlifted along with our people. Again, the answer was... why not?

He even went as far as to speak with one of our state's ANG C-130 units about the idea. They thought it would work just fine. The only twist was that they could only fly CAP corporate vehicles, no POVs allowed. Sure, we could work with that.

All this would of course be subject to the availability of Air Force people and planes. So be it.

The bottom line is that CAP rescue assets and personnel can be deployed faster if we work with the AFRCC to make it happen. 

Comments

[JT]

Well... if we can get some C-130's... lets get a supply of T-10s and bring back Airborne Ground/Rescue Teams. (Sorry, no cadets allowed, for obvious regulatory and legal reasons.)

[MidwaySix]

What's a T-10?

...for those playing along at home?

[Hartley]

A T-10 is a military parachute. And I doubt the AF would be willing to have civilian volunteers jump out of it's airplanes into a disaster area...
I spent plenty of time under a T-10 myself, and I can't imagine a poorer delivery mechanism into the Gulf area right now.

[JT]

T-10? A poor delivery system?

Why would you say that?

(Yeah. The T-10 really stinks. I prefer the OVP-68 myself... but that's for another story.)

In all honesty, my general gist was that for the most part, airlifting a ground team isn't practical. (Neither is dropping one from the sky.)

For something we haven't done before, you can probably get a quasi-local team into an area by driving accross the state(s) faster than it would take you to arrange to get the C-130 trip, get to a location where the C-130 picks you up, load up, fly, and then unload.

Would it be cool? Yup. Practical. Probably not.

[MidwaySix]

When I say airlift, all I mean is having our Ground Team and their vehicle(s) roll onto the cargo plane, and have them flown down to a working airport near enough to the AO to be effective.

Sure, PJs will deploy via UH-60 for the toughest spots, but there are plenty of places that CAP Ground Team, with it's associated gear, training, and experience can be the very best (and safest) SAR resource you can put on the ground.

Our ANG contacts tell us that they can be ready to fly within hours of a call during an emergency. The next day would be typical, and often just fine with me.

If someone made a call to AFRCC this afternoon, my Ground Team could be in theater at dawn tomorrow.

[Hartley]

JT, I'm with ya 100% - I jumped into enuff swamps to EVER want to do it again.

I see the big problem right now for CAP GTs and anyone else in the same category - "unarmed SAR/recon personnel" is that no IC is going to dispatch ANYONE into those areas now without the ability to >completely< fend for themselves, including dealing with armed violence.

Folks from the other NGOs (like the Salvation Army, Red Cross, etc.) are being augmented with other forces for protection.

When things get back to where an unarmed recon team can operate, CAP teams WILL be there, I have no doubt.

[MidwaySix]

Good point.

I wouldn't put a unarmed Ground Team into certain parts of town...

But we often augment our Ground Teams with LEOs, even when we're on simple ELT hunts. I would expect to do the same thing here.

In this case, I see our GTs being the ones that could be augmenting regular forces.

Nothing in the regs precludes a couple of trigger pullers from being detailed to a CAP GT as force protection...

...or blending a couple CAP GTMs with a guard unit. I've done it. It works great.

How many guard units have handheld GPS, HTs, medically trained people, and know SAR skills?

- Untrained searcher Probability Of Detection (POD) = < 20%
- Trained SAR personnel POD = 80%
*NASAR stats.

They can bring the guns. I'll carry the stretcher.

[Lt. Michael Allen- PCR-CA-016]

I have GT's, Marin USAR persons, a CAP Cut-V ready to be transported, 6 persons ready to go to START with, and myself I'm an EMT. Someone get me a plane! We'll go to Travis AFB right now to fly out there. I can get you additional medical personnel if the plane will make a less then GPS direct flight into the area, such as Vegas.

It's a shame. We're ready to go for days but have no way to get out there.