Eyes in the sky

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Lonnie Wiram
  • 181st Intelligence Wing
MUSCATATUCK URBAN TRAINING CENTER, Ind. - --  The 181st Intelligence Wing, Indiana Air National Guard Incident Awareness and Assessment (IAA) team, Indiana Army National Guard, and the Civil Air Patrol (CAP) teamed to conduct a training exercise June 15, 2015, at Muscatatuck Urban Training Center.

Partnering with federal, civil, state, and local authorities provides an opportunity for the 181 IW to train on serving the community and state during domestic operations, such as a natural disaster.

In the event of a natural disaster, the 181 IW IAA team has the capability to conduct aerial assessments of disaster areas and provide the information to federal, civil, state, and local leaders in order to save lives, reduce human suffering, and protect property.

The IAA team participated in the simulated hurricane disaster exercise by conducting aerial assessments to aid in route clearance and search and rescue operations.

"We analyze imagery taken from aircraft that's supporting the mission to assist the incident commander," said an IAA imagery mission supervisor.

During a natural disaster, Indiana has a joint team that can respond to the mission in support of the community, state, and nation.

"I believe this exercise was phenomenal for all parties involved, but especially for me in the intelligence squadron. I think that this exercise has really opened up my eyes as to what the capabilities the intelligence career field really has," said a Senior Airman assigned to the 181st Intelligence Squadron, Terre Haute, Indiana.

"Typically, we are operating OCONUS [outside contiguous United States] and you always consider intelligence as providing over watch and protection for boots on the ground, but I think this exercise really illustrated just how important we can be, and what a vital asset we actually can provide to the state of Indiana."