625th STOS maintains strategic watch

by 1st Lt. Christopher J. Mesnard
Air Force Global Strike Public Affairs

10/7/2014 - BARKSDALE AIR FORCE BASE -- Most Air Force missileers spend their days in secure facilities, deep under the earth's surface, entrusted with the nation's most powerful strategic weapons. But for those selected to operate with the 625th Strategic Operations Squadron, their domain ranges from three stories below the ground to 36,000 feet in the air.

"There's no other organization like us in the Air Force," said Lt. Col. Grayson Higby, 625th STOS commander. "We have three distinct and diverse mission sets that span airborne launch operations, intercontinental ballistic missile targeting and nuclear command, control and communication."

Located at Offutt AFB, Nebraska, the 625th STOS mission is unique to the ICBM community in that it provides the commander of United States Strategic Command with a secondary Minuteman III launch capability through the Airborne Launch Control System. Housed aboard the Navy's E-6B aircraft, the ALCS serves as a vital backup to  Minuteman launch control centers.

This joint interoperability is one of the highlights the crews enjoy most about working in the 625th STOS.

"Working with other services broadens your perspective and it gives you that big picture," said Capt. Cory Kuehn, a 625th STOS ALCS operator. "When we're at the missile wings we only get an Air Force perspective, but here we're working as part of a joint battle staff with Air Force, Navy, Marines and Army to help the mission be successful."

The day-to-day work of the STOS directly supports USSTRATCOM for planning and strategic targeting purposes. But, when members of the ALCS flight conduct air operations, directly interfacing with the ICBMs, they function as a component of Task Force 214. Task Force 214 is the ICBM Task Force to USSTRATCOM.

Lt. Col. Pat Matak, 625th STOS director of operations, says the mission is both challenging and rewarding, and that the missileers who make the cut to join the STOS must bring a certain mindset and credibility with them.

"We pick our people based on their expertise, leadership skills and their ability to carry out the day-to-day interactions they will have with USSTRATCOM and the general officers they will work with," Matak said.

The 625th STOS also incorporates vital ground components that include ICBM targeting operations and supporting the time critical communication system known as the Strategic Automated Command and Control System or more frequently as just SACCS.

The Airmen serving in the squadron's Weapons, Tactics and Analysis flight are Task Force 214's primary targeteers and process over 1,500 Minuteman III ICBM targeting actions for USSTRATCOM a year. The flight also provides targeting support for Air Force Global Strike Command's Minuteman III operational test launches conducted at Vandenberg AFB in California.

In addition, the SACCS flight ensures the critical nuclear command, control and communication system meets warfighter requirements by serving as the primary interface between Air Force Global Strike Command, the system program office and operational units fielded world-wide. The office also maintains and operates a SACCS training lab that is used to conduct technical training for over 200 DoD communication support personnel each year.

The level of responsibility that comes from working with the nation's nuclear force is immense.

"Before I came into the STOS all I assumed they did here was launch missiles from the air," said Capt. Aaron Linton, a 625th STOS targeting officer. "I had no idea the depth of the mission they did here and the additional training and perspective I would gain here, to include the ICBM targeting mission we provide STRATCOM."

Because of the incredible amount of responsibility levied on the members of the 625th STOS, Higby places a high priority on keeping the squadron focused on the mission and taking care of his people and their families. Without these two pillars in the organization, the 625th STOS would not function as well as it does between the Joint Forces and the Air Force missile wings.

"The men and women of the 625th STOS are dedicated professionals that provide rapid and flexible nuclear combat capability for our nation 365 days a year," Higby said.