Presidio Airmen visit Travis, tour RIVET JOINT

  • Published
  • By Lt. Col. Paul Issler
  • 311th Training Squadron commander
PRESIDIO OF MONTEREY, Calif. --  The 225 Airmen of the 311th and 314th Training Squadrons traveled to Travis Air Force Base, Calif., Monday to tour an RC-135 V/W RIVET JOINT.

The Airmen, all students at the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center in Monterey, are candidates to become airborne cryptologic linguists. The visit marks the first-time DLIFLC students have had the opportunity to see a RIVET JOINT and speak with its aircrew.

Operated by the 55th Wing, Offutt Air Force Base, Neb., the RC-135 is the Air Force's premier manned reconnaissance platform. Its mission is to collect, process, analyze, and disseminate information of value to theater and national level decision makers.

"Nearly 95% of all airborne cryptologic linguists will begin their careers as aircrew members on the RC-135," said Senior Master Sgt. Leo Chang, 311 TRS superintendent. Sergeant Chang, a Spanish airborne cryptologic linguist with more than 5,000 flight hours, was instrumental in making the trip a reality. Extensive coordination was required to secure one of the Air Force's low density/high demand aircraft as they are nearly constantly deployed.

The 343rd Reconnaissance Squadron and 97th Intelligence Squadron, subordinate units of the 55th, were tapped to make the mission happen. Capt. Eric Frahm, aircraft commander, Maj. Tyler Morton, information integration officer, and Senior Master Sgt. Jeff Johnson, airborne mission supervisor, led the crew of 23 which included eight fully qualified cryptologic operators.

Several were recent graduates of the 1A8 airborne cryptologic operator course which is considered one of the longest, most difficult training pipelines in Air Education and Training Command. The newly minted aircrew members explained what lay ahead for the students. All had recently completed deployments in support of Operations IRAQI FREEDOM and ENDURING FREEDOM and vividly described how the students will apply their skills as linguists.

Joining the students on their tour of the RIVET JOINT was U.S. Army Col. Sue Ann Sandusky, DLIFLC commandant, Chief Master Sergeant Phil Kristoff, DLIFLC military language chief instructor, and several military language instructors of the Air Force Element, at the Presidio of Monterey.

As commandant, Colonel Sandusky, leads more than 1,700 civilian and military instructors training members of all four services in twenty-four different languages. It was Colonel Sandusky's first opportunity to tour an RC-135. She described the day-long event as "fantastic" and invaluable in educating Airmen on their future roles.

Retired Chief Master Sgt. Joe Federation, a civilian technical advisor to HAF/A2 on manned/unmanned airborne reconnaissance systems and a former Russian airborne cryptologic linguist with more than 10,000 flight hours, traveled from Washington, D.C. to spend the day with the students. Chief Federation provided the students a unique first-hand account of the rewards that lay ahead of them as career enlisted aviators.

As one Airman said, "Chief Federation's enthusiasm for the mission and expertise on RC-135 employment were inspirational."

Colonel Mark Dillon, 60th Air Mobility Wing commander at Travis Air Force Base, rolled out the red-carpet for the visiting 17th Training Wing Airmen. His staff provided a mission brief at wing headquarters followed by tours of the Travis Air Museum and a C-17 GLOBEMASTER III. GLOBEMASTER crews gave the students a close-up look at the Air Force's newest airlifter and explained how intelligence supported them in their mission.

Master Sgt. Brian Hudson, 311 TRS European and Latin Language Flight chief and a Russian airborne cryptologic linguist with more than 1,500 flight hours, planned the Airmen's day-long visit to Travis with the assistance of Lt. Devon Messecar, 60th Operational Support Squadron. Following the planned events, Airmen used their limited free time to explore the Travis Base Exchange, Food Court and Military Clothing Sales store.

This is the third in a series of mission orientations undertaken by the 311th and 314th Training Squadrons to educate students on the Air Force intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance enterprise. Defense Language Institute Foriegn Language Center students have previously made trips to Beale Air Force Base, Calif., to see the U-2S DRAGON LADY, RQ-4 GLOBAL HAWK, and the Distributed Common Ground Station.

RIVET JOINT requirements

Airmen must complete the following blocks of instruction to achieve mission-ready status on the RC-135:
- Basic military training, Lackland Air Force Base, Texas (8 weeks)
- Enlisted Aircrew Undergraduate Course, Medina Annex, Lackland Air Force Base, Texas (2 weeks)
- Basic language instruction, Presidio of Monterey Calif., (26 - 64 weeks dependent upon language)
- Combat Survival, Water Survival, Special Survival, Fairchild Air Force Base, Wa. (4 weeks)
- 1A8 Airborne Cryptologic Linguist, Goodfellow Air Force Base, Texas (16 weeks)
- Initial/Mission Qualification Training, Offutt Air Force Base, Neb. (24 weeks)