Combat operations director: protection is still his games

Airman, May-June, 2008 by Joel Langton

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Protecting people is his business, and Lt. Col. Walter Manwill takes it personally.

The former Brigham Young University offensive lineman once protected his quarterback Jim McMahon, who later went on to the Chicago Bears and 1985 Super Bowl fame.

Today the colonel protects hundreds of American and coalition warriors, sending in overwhelming, integrated airpower to block the enemy's every move.

Colonel Manwill is director of the combat operations division at U.S. Air Forces Central's combined air and space operations center at a base in Southwest Asia. He leads a team of military professionals that ensures airpower is overhead, especially for ground forces in Afghanistan and Iraq who come in contact with the enemy.

Today, there are no cheering crowds, and the young people the colonel helps protect don't even know his name. But they do know about his team and count on the lob it does.

"I know for a fact that if I've got troops in contact [with the enemy], the U.S. Air Force will be there," said Army Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch, commander of the Multinational Division-Center, Iraq.

"These are my Soldiers who were in danger of insurgents overrunning them, and the Air Force came in and took care of the problem, more than 250 times," the general said.

It's an impressive statistic.

But Colonel Manwill recognizes it's not about numbers. It's about the patriots on the ground surviving life-or-death enemy engagements because of the effective application of airpower, he said.

"You hear about 18- and 19-year-old kids getting blown up, and then you see how we're stopping that from here," he said, pointing to the giant screen that helps him monitor the ongoing air war. "It makes a difference."

Since arriving in July 2007, the colonel's combat operations team has contributed to the execution of more than 20,000 combat sorties over Iraq and Afghanistan. The team's responsibilities also include the direction of airpower for U.S. Central Command's theater of operation. This area encompasses 27 nations, from Sudan to Kazakhstan and all points in between.

The colonel's team may not plan every mission--that's the combat plans division's job--but the combat operations team is intimately involved in the execution of every sortie.

"I make sure the plans we develop are executable," Colonel Manwill said, sounding more like a football coach than the lineman he once was.

When battlespace conditions change, center Airmen adapt immediately. They often use the phrase "the enemy gets a vote."

That means if the enemy engages coalition forces, or a high-level individual target emerges, then the center must realign aircraft to protect the troops in contact with the enemy or to take advantage of a vulnerable, high-level target.

In Afghanistan, for example, more than 50 Coalition Soldiers battled Taliban forces for 19 straight hours.

Throughout the fight, Colonel Manwili's team kept the components of airpower overhead--everything from attack aircraft to tankers for refueling. This created an advantage the enemy couldn't deal with. A mixture of precision air strikes, strafing runs and shows of force led to a coalition victory.

Fortunately for coalition forces, Colonel Manwill is no rookie.

"People will die if you don't do your job," the colonel said.

The colonel joined the Air Force because he missed being part of a team, and the excitement of game day. And though his job titles have changed from one deployment to the next, his primary duty remains the same--protecting teammates.

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LT. COL. WALTER MANWILL

DEPLOYED UNIT: U.S. Air Forces Central combined air and space operations center, Southwest Asia

HOME UNIT AND BASE: Will get new assignment after present tour.

HOMETOWN: Boise, Idaho

DEPLOYMENTS: 14

BY TECH. SGT. JOEL LANGTON AND PHOTOS BY STAFF SGT, CHRISTINA M.