AEF Center division chief explains rotation process

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  • By Staff Sgt. Amanda Mills
  • Public Affairs
Vance Air Force Base, Okla. --  Team Vance members were given insight into Aerospace Expeditionary Force rotation sourcing during a briefing Sept. 16 in the auditorium.
Lt. Col. Robert Lala, AEF Center plans division chief and former 71st Operations Support Squadron commander, spoke on how billets are filled and Airman roles in the AEF.
"The AEF is ... an organization and a construct to present forces and people to a combatant commander," he said. "The commander says 'I need this,' so he or she gets it, and when there's competing priorities it's situated by the joint staff."
Everyone in the Air Force is in the AEF to provide more taskings, Colonel Lala said. People and assets are then combined with specialized enablers such as the Mobility Air Forces and combat communications and spread out across an AEF cycle.
"There are 103 forward-operating locations Airmen are sent to today," Colonel Lala said. The AEF tries to evenly divide Airmen and aircraft into the cycle's five pairs to share filling billets at those locations. Capabilities are then entered into an AEF cycle's "battle rhythm," the colonel said.
Functions and specialties are on different rhythms during each 20-month AEF cycle. For example, the expeditionary combat support rhythm includes most of the combat support capabilities - civil engineering, communications, operations groups, mission support groups, mission support squadrons and more, he said. In the ECS rhythm, deployment is four months, with two months of preparation and one month of recovery. The other 13 months are spent at home station for normal duty, training and exercises. Other rhythms include three Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System groups, which deploy, train and prepare for three months each; three contingency response groups, which deploy, train and prepare for four months each; and the specialty operations forces and Air Mobility Command rhythms, which each have two groups that deploy for two months then are on call for two months. The final rhythm, Air Force Space Command, is much like the ECS, but with 15 months to train between preparation, deployment and recovery.
Impact to personnel tempo begins when there are operation surges, Colonel Lala said. This also affects AEF battle rhythms. Normally, during an AEF pair's time frame, a number of capabilities are selected depending on what is postured and needed and a proportionate share of enablers are added. "During a surge, when things ramp up and we don't have enough (capabilities,) we move to the next pair," he said. "We grab (the next pair's capabilities,) bring them forward, strip out what we need and keep leapfrogging forward. That's what happened during Operation Iraqi Freedom." The AEF has also been supporting Army deployed needs, Colonel Lala said.
Security forces, which 1,154 Airmen support, are their biggest need. Civil engineer, transportation and medical Airmen also support Army needs.
Because of this leapfrogging and joint or Army requirements, Airmen from as far as AEF Cycle 6, which begins May 2006, are being deployed now. Vance Airmen are postured to deploy during AEF pairs 5/6, 7/8 and 9/10, with the majority during 6 and 10's rotations.
Airmen, supporting and combatant commanders all have responsibilities to keep AEF cycles on track, Colonel Lala said. Airmen are assigned to AEF pairs up front, and should not move from pair to pair. Supporting commanders should send all their requested capabilities on time, and follow up with their deployed Airmen. Finally, combatant commanders receive the capability, ensure accountability of the Airmen and ensure continuity plans or books are prepared.
Colonel Lala concluded the briefing and by offering a Web site for more AEF information. The AEF Center Web site is https://aefcenter.acc.af.mil/.