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Posted 7/3/2012
by Capt. Jared Scott
601st AOC Public Affairs
7/3/2012 - TYNDALL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. -- The 601st Air and Space Operations
Center, often referred to as America's AOC, recently benchmarked a new
first as students of Collinsville Middle School in Collinsville, Okla.,
got a first-hand look at the AOC's operations floor by way of a live
virtual video tour over the internet.
"The live video tour with Collinsville Middle School was a not
only a first for America's AOC, but for any AOC in the world,"
said Col. Randy Spear, 601st AOC commander. "We are living in an
age where QR codes and social media sites like Facebook and Twitter
are a part of our everyday vernacular. Virtual tours via the internet
just seemed like a natural progression and a very effective way to tell
our story."
Kathy Prickett and students of her sixth grade class first viewed an
America's AOC welcome video introducing the class to the AOC's mission.
The video was followed with a live video tour, during which students
were shown the AOC's operations floor and spoke with members of America's
AOC.
"It was an awesome experience," said Prickett. "My students
in Oklahoma were able to see and hear how the AOC operates and how they
protect our skies without us having to leave our classroom. We were
able to go right to the source for our information. I look forward to
the possibility of setting up another video tour with the AOC next year
during our unit on aviation."
Col. David Garner, 601st AOC Combat Operations Division chief, explained
some of the issues the AOC faced in launching these video tours.
"Anytime you start a new process or program for the first time
it's going to present challenges," said Colonel Garner. "For
us, the issue was that our AOC's operations floor normally operates
in a classified environment. We can sanitize the area for tours, but
we also need to have the ability to go back to full up operations at
a moment's notice."
Solutions to issues like that took some creative thinking but the AOC
has developed the proper technical solutions and procedures to deal
with these issues.
"We treat these
tours like we would if the people on the other side of the camera were
actually here," said Colonel Garner.
"By utilizing
video tour capabilities, we are able to greatly expand who and how we
share our mission," said Colonel Garner. "We can literally
show off our AOC to someone half way around the world, now that's a
tool that should be utilized."
For schools interested in participating in a virtual video tour with
member of America's AOC, please contact the 601st AOC Public Affairs
Officer, Capt. Jared Scott, at andrew.scott@tyndall.af.mil for further
information.
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