LANGLEY AIR FORCE BASE, Va. –
The Air Force trains and exercises to aid personnel in developing and honing professional skill sets. In the 15th Intelligence Squadron's Analysis & Reporting Flight (INA), analysts improve their skills daily through the creation of current and strategic intelligence products for the commander of Air Combat Command, his senior staff and 352 ACC units worldwide. However, very rarely do members of this team get the opportunity to participate in Air Force exercises.
That all changed Aug. 6 when Master Sgt. David Meistrich introduced the analytical exercise "Iron Catalyst." He challenged members from Langley's Air Force Targeting Center and the 15 IS/INA to weed through message traffic in a condensed time frame and provide a situational report with recommended courses of action to the "Joint Task Force commander," played by the 15 IS commander, Lt. Col. Michael McClung, mimicking real-world intelligence analysts' roles and responsibilities in today's expeditionary environment.
Colonel McClung emphasized the importance of airborne sensors and the ability to collect data continues to be a key focus area of Air Force intelligence.
"We must not forget the critical core competency of analysis," he said. "After all, the purpose of surveillance and reconnaissance is to collect data so it can be analyzed, and analytical skills must be honed and practiced."
Sergeant Meistrich followed that vision while designing Iron Catalyst.
The scenario involved three fictional countries, encompassing events such as humanitarian crises, civil war and acts of terrorism. "White Cell" members Capt. Mellisa Auers and Sergeant Meistrich not only disseminated message traffic at a challenging pace, but coached teams, answered requests for information and levied simulated National Agencies.
The exercise gave team leaders, 1st Lt. Michael Quinn and 2nd Lt. Jessica Rumore, an opportunity to manage groups of people with varying backgrounds and experiences as they delved through a preponderance of data in a mere five hours. They were tasked to not only understand the situation, but develop courses of action to stabilize the situation and brief the simulated JTF commander and a "U.S. Ambassador," portrayed by David Coffey, the squadron's assistant director of operations.
Lieutenant Quinn said the exercise "took us out of our comfort zone and kept us on our toes."
According to Captain Auers, the INA flight commander, the teams performed exceptionally, organizing complex relationships, leveraging previous deployment experiences and gaining a greater understanding of the analysts' role in the fight. The 15 IS hopes to build on the successes of Iron Catalyst by expanding and repeating the exercise in 2011, integrating other base agencies into the exercise.