The 388th Electronic Combat Squadron based at NAS Whidbey Island is home to 24 Air Force Electronic Counter Measure Officers (ECMOs) who are attached to one of the three EA-6B Prowler Expeditionary Squadrons at the air station. Each expeditionary squadron averages about three to five Air Force members at a time.

Electronic Attack Squadron (VAQ) 142 is one of those squadrons and when the Arlington High School Air Force JROTC called requesting a tour, the Gray Wolves volunteered to host the unit.

The Air Force ECMO’s of VAQ-142 welcomed 27 cadets, Nov. 5, from Arlington in Snohomish County near Everett.

The tour consisted of videos, space tours, a look at flight gear, sitting in static ejection seats, and a flight line tour.

Each student got up close to an EA-6B Prowler on the flight line and peeked into the cockpit from a boarding platform.

While the tour was Navy specific, the aircrew was able to answer many Air Force related questions as well.

Air Force Capt. Matt Kelley spoke of his AC-130 Gunship experience prior to becoming a Prowler ECMO.

In VAQ-142s Ready Room, Lt. Col. William Young, commander, 388th Electronic Combat Squadron, informed the cadets he had once been in their shoes.

“I participated in Air Force JROTC during high school,” he said. “On one of our field trips, I met some aircrew and they really helped sell me on being an Air Force officer. I’d like to pay that forward to these young folks!”

The tour did not end there. The students were also given a look at a MH-60S Knighthawk by search and rescue pilot, Lt. Scott Zenner. The tour also included looks at the Aviation Survival Training Center’s ejection seat trainer, and a state-of-the-art water survival pool complex.

“The tour showed them that different branches of service can work together,” said retired Air Force Maj. Jon Blue, the school’s senior aerospace science instructor. “The emphasis on constant training to survive (in an aviation environment) was good for them to see.”