Chief Master Sgt. of the Air Force JoAnne S. Bass traveled to Alaska and met with the command group and Air National Guard Airmen of the 176th Wing, Jan. 10.
Bass, the 19th CMSAF, visited Total Force Airmen during her trip to Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Eielson Air Force Base and Point Barrow on the Arctic coast of Alaska.
Brig. Gen. Anthony Stratton, 176th Wing commander, and Chief Master Sgt. Peter Pratt, 176th Wing command chief, met Bass at the wing headquarters before a wing capabilities presentation.
Stratton briefed the wing's missions of air defense, combat search and rescue, strategic airlift and tactical airlift.
The commander explained the composition of the wing's Rescue Triad comprising HH-60G Pave Hawk Airmen of the 210th Rescue Squadron, HC-130J Combat King II Airmen of the 211th Rescue Squadron, and Guardian Angels of the 212th Rescue Squadron.
Stratton said the Rescue Triad supports the air sovereignty mission carried out by F-22 Raptor fighters of the 11th Air Force.
"We sit search-and-rescue alert 24/7 because it goes along with the air sovereignty mission," he said.
Guardsmen of the Alaska Rescue Coordination Center provide search and rescue command and control in support of the 11th AF. Stratton said they also control rescue missions for the U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Army Alaska, the Alaska Army National Guard, the Alaska State Troopers, the National Park Service, the Civil Air Patrol and other agencies.
Providing the 11th AF with radar search and tracking as well as air battle management of the F-22s, are Airmen of the 176th Air Defense Squadron who stand alert 24/7/365 in the Region Air Operations Center.
In the RAOC, plaques overlooking the radar screens operated by 176th ADS Airmen signify decades of air sovereignty missions controlled by the unit.
"On the wall, they have several hundred red stars, which are all of the intercepts they have done since the Air National Guard has owned that mission set," Stratton said. "If you take the Eastern, Western and the Pacific Air Defense Sectors together, they have about 15 total."
Airmen of the 144th Airlift Squadron also operate eight C-17 Globemaster IIIs and provide tactical and strategic airlift worldwide.
"We give two of those jets every single day to the United States Transportation Command," Stratton said. "One gets used here in the Pacific, and one gets used by Air Mobility Command."
The 144th AS provided C-17s in support of Operation Allies Refuge, evacuating hundreds of Afghans and allied personnel.
While the Rescue Triad stands alert in support of 11th AF, they are also available to rescue Alaskans in distress. With highways covering a tiny fraction of the state's 663,000 square miles, all-weather military aviation is often the only means of rescue.
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