Airborne Pentagon E-4B Alert Crews Ready to Jump into Action at the Sound of a Horn

The familiar sound of a horn ends early afternoon rountines in several areas on base. A radio operator immediately stops his workout in the fitness center. A flight attendant leaves her groceries behind on the commissary checkout counter. Two maintainers start the engines on the E-4B National Airborne Operations Center aircraft and wait for the rest of the crew. The crewmembers don't know if the horn signaled an exercise alert or a real-world emergency, so they react as they reat as they were trained.

"With each alert, you don't know if it's a practice horn or a real horn," said Master Sgt. Harry Menard, the lead production superintendent with the 55th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron at Offutt Air Force Base, Neb., where 4B crews continue to pull alert duty that has been a requirement for 35 years. "But after you've done this for a long time like I have, it's kind of like riding a bike. You get used to it and you know what's going to happen, so it becomes a reaction instead of just anticipation. The horn will go off and you just react to it because you know what you have to do and you get it done."

The converted Boeing 747 is the airborne operations center for the president, secretary of defense and members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The airplane also serves as a survivable command, control and communications center to direct forces and execute war orders it an attack were to destroy command control centers on the ground.

One of the 1st Airborne Command Control Squadron's four E-4B aircraft remains on alert at all times with a fully manned battle staff, whether at Offutt or at one of many bases elsewhere in the world. The other three aircraft are either at the Boeing Depot in Wichita, Kan., for maintenance, with the squadron trainer or getting washed and lubed. Because the airplane is a 24-hour command center, its external power source is always running and it's ready for takeoff with three maintainers on board who are certified to start the engines.

Former Presidents Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan called the E-4B "the doomsday airplane" when they were passengers. But the flying command center is more commonly known by its project name, "Nightwatch," a nickname inspired by the Rembrandt painting that shows townspeople protecting their town in the dark. A print of the painting hangs on a wall in the NAOC head-quarters, located on Nightwatch Street. The E-4B's nickname goes hand-in-hand with the crewmembers' philosophy of always being alert and prepared for action.

"It's really a sense of what we're here for. When everybody else is asleep, we're still watching," said Col. Marty Doebel, NAOC commander. Colonel Doebel has worked with the E-4B through more than half of the three and a half decades its crews have remained on alert.

The 747 airplane looks like Air Force One from a distance as it lands on a flightline, with its long blue line and the words "United States of America" visible on both sides of its white surface. Like Air Force One, the airplane has enhanced nuclear, thermal and electromagnetic pulse protection and a variety of new communications and other technical systems. But up close you can see there's no presidential seal.

Air Force One "is the five-star hotel and we're the motel," Colonel Doebel said. "But, man, we have a lot of capability packed into this motel. The lights are on 24/7. We've really focused on what you would expect to see inside a modern office and what the secretary of defense has access to in his office."

The E-4B's main deck is divided into compartments, including work areas, a conference room, briefing room, and operations and rest areas. The plane normally carries a crew of about 60, but could hold as many as 112 people

However, while Air Force One has the sole mission of transporting the president, the E-4B is intended to be an airborne command center and gives the secretary of defense and staff members an aircraft with offices that can function as if they were in their own offices. The secretary has the plane available for overseas travel so he can communicate securely with senior government and military officials. He also can speak to his office staff and subject-matter experts at the Pentagon through video-teleconferences from the plane.

It is a fully-equipped communications platform and can serve as an airborne command center for all military forces in a crisis. The plane's electronics system covers frequencies from very low to extremely high. This capability enables the secretary of defense to communicate with all military commands worldwide, including tactical and strategic forces, naval ships, planes, nuclear-armed missile facilities and submarines.

"The difference between a fixed command center and ours is this one has wings, so it can fly away from a threat," Colonel Doebel said. "We operate the aircraft whether it's flying or on the ground as an active backup to the National Military Command Center at the Pentagon."

Three battle staffs with members from all four services work on a three-week cycle. While one battle staff is on alert, another is preparing for their week on alert and the other has time off to take care of personal and military business.

Battle staff members pass decisions made by the president, secretary of defense and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to the forces. Everyone in one of the battle staff positions has to satisfy requirements of the Personal Reliability Program, which helps to ensure that each member can be trusted with the important responsibilities of the job. The program is similar to a security clearance investigation, but more of "a day-to-day, 24-7 check," Colonel Doebel said.

"You absolutely cannot make a mistake with (these decisions)," he said. "You can't have a mistake from the standpoint of not accurately conveying a decision the president has made, or something being transmitted that the president didn't decide. There is zero tolerance for messing that up. So we train on that on a regular basis, and we are stringent with our criteria, whether it's an exercise or an actual decision."

Marine Corps Maj. Matt Stover, a battle staff emergency action officer, is no stranger to responding with urgency. He has worked in search and rescue, as well as a C-130 Hercules and H-46 Sea Knight helicopter pilot. Most people feel nervous when they hear the horn; the answer is to make yourself as competent in your job as possible, according to Major Stover.

"You never get used to hearing it," he said. "You basically go from zero to 60 in nothing flat. Even if you're ready for it, your heart's pounding. All you can do is be confident in your abilities to do your job. The rest is going to take care of itself."

Crewmembers live in a small compound at the NAOC headquarters while on alert. They are limited to certain parts of the base that are equipped with notification sirens so they can hear the horn and respond quickly. Each crewmember learns from experience tricks that speed response time, whether sleeping, showering or studying. E-4B officials don't say how long it usually takes from sounding the alert to takeoff, but will say it's quick.

"Let's just say it's amazing how fast it happens," said Lt. Col. David B. Gaskill, 1st ACCS commander. "It's an amazingly, impressive and fast response."

Staff Sgt. Elena Alonzo knew she wanted to fly on a large airplane with an important mission when she studied radio operations in technical school. She received both parts of her wish with her assignment as an E-4B radio operator.

"When we were hearing about all of the different platforms, I knew I really wanted a large airframe," she said. "I said, 'I want to go to Offutt. I want to fly in the big plane.' It definitely sounded like a cool mission to me. How many Airmen get to fly secretary of defense and presidential missions?"

The first time Sergeant Alonzo heard the horn for an alert, she was eating lunch with friends at the Fairchild AFB, Wash., golf course. The bases where the E-4B lands are equipped with the Klaxon alert response system, so the crew checks it after landing. As soon as Sergeant Alonzo and the other crewmembers heard the horn, they jumped into a van and ran to the airplane as quickly as possible for the flight back to Offutt.

"We found out later in the day that we didn't have to go anywhere, but it was quite the experience, an adrenaline rush," Sergeant Alonzo said. "My instructors tried to prepare me for the first time I had to respond to the horn, but I don't know if you can ever be really prepared for the first couple of times you hear it."

When Staff Sgt. Krystal Lerohl joined the E-4B crew as a flight attendant, she faced a lot of new challenges that were different from anything she'd seen in her Air Force career. Everything was new, from the size of the plane and the duties of a flight attendant to responding to the horn. Two years later, preparation and training has training has replaced the panic.

"It's always a surprise because you never know when it's going to go off," said Sergeant Lerohl. "But I think I've gotten better because I know what to do now. I'm not sleeping in my uniforms anymore like I did in my first three alerts. I still have my things bunched and ready, though."

In 2005, Department of Defense officials made the decision to retire the entire E-4B fleet, beginning in 2009 and ending in 2011. However, that decision was ultimately reversed following additional studies and risk assessments, with the entire E-4B fleet now programmed to remain in service and continue its mission for at least another decade.

"I think a version of this aircraft will go on until they can find a better way to do what it does," Colonel Doebel said. "The deputy secretary of defense directed that an analysis of alternatives be conducted to explore suitable alternatives to the aircraft. But even if a decision is made soon, we wouldn't see a replacement aircraft until at least the early 2020s. We're anticipating the E-4B will be supporting the NAOC mission until at least 2020."

So E-4B crews will continue to keep their travel bags packed and ready to respond whenever they hear the alert horn. The flight attendant, communications specialists and mechanics can go back to the grocery store and the gym. This time, the alert wasn't a real crisis. But they know any time they hear the horn, it could be.