Motivating Airmen- Presidio of Monterey Airmen get first look at ISR ops

  • Published
  • By Master Sgt. Justin Needle
  • 314th Training Squadron
PRESIDIO OF MONTEREY,Calif. --  Ninety-five Airmen from the 517th Training Group caught a snapshot into their futures April 6, as they traveled to Travis Air Force Base, Calif. This "first look" into Air Force Intelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance operations offered a glimpse of what life will be like once they complete the Air Force's longest technical training pipeline.

This was the third trip to Travis for Air Force language students from the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center, and it was lauded by those who went
as an incredible experience.

According to one Airman, the trip was "a real eyeopener" because while their training is intense and sometimes overwhelming, they now understand how it prepares them to serve with those who are currently operational and deployed to austere locations.

The trip was the first chance for these students to utilize their security clearances and experience a taste of what their careers have in store for them. The Airmen were given a unique opportunity to receive up-to-date intelligence briefings for several areas of responsibility relating to their language studies.

In addition to an intelligence brief, the Airmen received a "classified" capabilities briefing for the EC-130 "Compass Call" airframe. The Compass Call's system disrupts enemy command and control communications and adversary limits coordination essential to enemy force management. The system also employs the offensive counter-information and electronic attack capabilities in support of U.S. and Coalition tactical air, surface and
special operations forces. Many Airmen on the trip will be assigned to either fly on-board these aircraft or support them from a ground site.

The students were also given a close-up look at a C-5 "Galaxy". They received presentations on the capabilities of the aircraft from both pilots and loadmasters. It was a great experience for the Airmen to have unlimited access to one of the Air Force's greatest and largest airframes.

Once they complete their six- to 18-month long training at DLIFLC, the students will travel to Goodfellow for four more months of training to hone their intelligence and language analysis skills. After Goodfellow, many Airmen will receive Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape training at Fairchild AFB, Wash., before moving on to cryptologic linguists operational assignments.