MARINE CORPS AIR STATION YUMA, Ariz. -- Lance Cpl. Lauro Vera is an air traffic controller, but at the same time, is not.
Most military occupational specialties in the Marine Corps require the successful completion of the MOS school in order to be qualified in any particular job field. But for air traffic controllers, completing the school doesn’t guarantee them their job.
For a little over a year, Vera, a native of Pasadena, Calif., has trained in the radar room of the air traffic control facility as a precision approach controller, guiding aircraft to a safe landing. December 10 Vera was recommended for qualification as a precision approach controller.
“It’s not something I worry about now, but I did before,” said Vera.
Vera was recommended by Lance Cpl. Christopher E. Cole, Headquarters and Headquarters Squadron air traffic controller and native of Merrimack, N.H.
“I believe he’s ready to control the position on his own,” said Cole, who was Vera’s primary position instructor.
This recommendation came despite various interruptions in his training, including crisis management force duty.
“He picked up fairly quickly considering he had a lot of breaks in his training,” said Cole.
Those breaks meant that other Marines became the primary student while Vera was worked to accomplish what he could.
The MOS school for air traffic controllers lasts 15 weeks, teaching Marines the basics they need to know to guide aircraft safely, such as communications protocol and safety regulations. The Marines are then assigned a permanent duty station where they begin to operate as an air traffic controller under the supervision of an experienced controller who has gone through the qualification process themselves.
There are eight different areas in which an air traffic controller can attain proficiency, each one having its own difficulties.
Qualification in one area does not even guarantee the position of air traffic controller, said Vera. Marines actually need to qualify in two separate areas in order to earn their MOS, but can pick up more as the progress through their career.
Vera said the next area he will be trained in is clearance delivery, where he will control the route of the flight from takeoff until landing.
Recently, about 25 percent of the air traffic control students on station have “washed out” and been reassigned to whatever MOS the Marine Corps has chosen, said Sgt. Michael Trejo, H&HS air traffic controller and native of Los Angeles.
Once qualified on a position, air traffic controllers must wait for 90 days before being able to train other students, as well as making it through another qualification process, said Cole.
“As soon as he is qualified in that position, he’ll wait ninety days, do approaches by himself in that time period, and train with another person who is already qualified to listen to other students,” said Cole. “He’ll actually listen to a student while a qualified controller listens to him.”
This is the way air traffic controllers pass on their experience here, at one of the busiest air stations in the Marine Corps.
And experience is one of the things that count at the ATC facility. Baby-faced lance corporals can be found training older sergeants who’ve lateral moved into the MOS, because with every instruction given, anywhere from one to 100 lives may be at stake.