There is far more at Naval Air Station Whidbey Island than what meets the eye. Sailors and officers had a chance to describe their work to a consortium of individuals who took a tour of the base last Thursday.

“The commitment of these young people to their military careers is very comforting to me as an American citizen,” said Nancy McLaughlin of the Association of Washington Cities, a private, non-profit group. She, along with CEO Mike McCarty and others, accompanied the Navy League and local business representatives on the tour.

NAS Whidbey Community Relations Director Tony Popp outlined a brief history of the base. He described NAS Whidbey to the group as a city within a city.

“You already know that most of our uniformed personnel are Navy by far. What you may not know is that we also host Marines, Air Force, a couple of Army folks out of Fort Lewis, and even some Canadian military here,” said Popp.

The sites visited by the group formed a snapshot of NAS Whidbey’s mission-at-large: Tour participants visited several air wings, Search-and-Rescue, and the air traffic control tower.

At Fleet Air Reconnaissance Squadron (VQ) 1, Lt. j.g. Larry Young explained their air wing’s operation using the acronym ISR (intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance), and introduced squadron commanding officer, Cmdr. J.P. Wissel. Regarding recent missions, Wissel mentioned anti-piracy operations over the horn of Africa, describing VQ-1 as being “very involved in that endeavor.”

Wissel told the group that events in the Middle East meant “a lot of cross-coordination with other service branches in operations and training.” He reserved some of his highest praise for sailors who were on individual augmentation orders.

“Some of them, especially the enlisted, are already away from their families for 70 percent of the time,” he said. “I have one sailor in our group that works for me whom I rarely see, (because he’s an IA).

“But he’s still serving his country, and serving our nation,” said Wissel. “And tonight, we’ll be hosting an appreciation dinner for all our IA’s.”

Lt. Eileen Crawford and AWS2 David Scott hosted the tour at the Search-and-Rescue hangar. Scott informed them that although their primary mission was to support the Navy, “we also answer search-and-rescue calls throughout western Washington.”

“We find ourselves in a strange situation – We wait for calls that we don’t really want – but on the other hand, that’s what we train for,” Crawford said.

Scott drew many questions from the group as he demonstrated some of the standard equipment the helicopter carries, including hoists, lifting vests, and a litter for parallel rescues.

There are only a couple of Navy Search-and-Rescue units that are training to carry rappelling gear, said Scott, “and we are one of them.” He said that the mountainous terrain of western Washington made such equipment a necessity.

Popp explained to tour members that it is the base commanding officer who makes the final decision on whether they go out on a civilian rescue.

“The rationale he bases that on is whether the danger presented could result in loss of life or limb for the victim,” said Popp.

Crawford said that each training run they make teaches them a valuable lesson.

“Every training scenario has unique characteristics — varying weather conditions, different types of wind gusts, even rappelling from a flat surface versus rappelling in a forested area. We strive to use all these pieces of information to inform the big decisions we must make in a rescue situation,” she said.

One of the group’s stops took them by Electronic Attack Squadron (VAQ) 132. There, they were joined by several members of the State of Washington Veterans’ affairs advisory committee.

Lt. j.g. Laura Combs, an electronic warfare officer, proudly showed the visitors a Growler aircraft parked in the hangar and explained that the Scorpions were the first squadron to get the Growlers. Combs answered several questions related to the aircraft’s weaponry and electronic attack capabilities.

“My dad flew Cessnas when I was young,” said Combs. She told the group that she first flew by herself at age 15, “and I’ve been hooked ever since.”

Air traffic control was the last stop of the tour. Air Traffic Controller First Class Orlando Alvarez conducted much of the tour for this segment. In the radar room, Alvarez pointed out screens with visual representations for aircraft altitude and direction.

In the control tower, Alvarez and Air Traffic Controller First Class Jeff Bruder described the equipment they work with daily, and the importance of their training.

“You have to know the aircraft, and the flight characteristics of that aircraft,” explained Bruder. The visitors were able to view planes on ascent and descent – an impressive sight.

From intelligence gathering, patrol, attack, search-and-rescue, and aircraft control, the tour ran the gamut.

“What an experience this has been,” said McLaughlin. “My hat’s off to these young people.”