Air traffic controller: orchestrating aerial and ground movements.

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An airfield in a war zone is like an orchestra of aerial and ground activity.

That's the case at Sather Air Base, Iraq, located next to Baghdad International Airport. It's one busy place.

There are planes constantly landing, taking off and taxiing to and from their parking spots. Airmen are working on aircraft, loading them with munitions or filling their fuel tanks. Others unload cargo from huge airlifters or drive the vehicles that move the cargo.

Of course, there's always the threat of terrorist attacks. And Airmen must also deal with civilian air traffic.

Needless to say, there's a lot of activity. The potential for accidents is high.

In the middle of all this activity, conducting the symphony, are air traffic controllers like Staff Sgt. Mark Carter. One wrong direction could result in people dying or the loss of millions of dollars worth of equipment.

"It's a complex job," he said. "We must make sure aircraft make it to the field so the mission can be performed."

To do the lob well requires great communication skills, he said.

So it's hardly surprising he feels the biggest challenge to performing his duties at Sather is communicating with his Iraqis counterparts.

"Initially, I was challenged by the language barrier," he said. "But I soon learned to be more patient. And I was able to figure out what was being said, so we could complete our mission."

That's a tall order at Sather. The base boasts one of Iraq's busiest airfields. An average of 320 transient aircraft and 6,200 passengers pass through the base each week. In addition, ground crews unload more than 1,700 tons of cargo each week.

One major difference for controllers in a war zone is that they have to deal with things they don't normally deal with at their home bases. At Sather, it's the helicopter traffic, the sergeant said.

"It seems like there are helicopters swarming everywhere in this country," Sergeant Carter said.

Soon after arriving at the base, the sergeant had to educate himself about how to control helicopters. After a brief adjustment period to doing his mission in a war zone, he now feels comfortable with his new setting.

The sergeant admits feeling nervous when he first found out he was deploying to Iraq because of the media attention on terrorist attacks. But, to his surprise, his tour has been relatively calm.

When he first arrived at Sather in October 2007, the sergeant would often reflect at the end of each work day on the role he was playing in helping the warfighters. He was well aware of his important role of keeping the ballad of flight in tune.

"But after a few months it started to feel like lust a normal day of work in the states," Sergeant Carter said.

The sergeant said his Sather tour has been an experience and, despite his earlier misgivings, "It has been extremely rewarding. I can't wait to get back home and tell my family about this deployment."

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STAFF SGT. MARK CARTER

DEPLOYED UNIT: 447th Aerospace Expeditionary Group

HOME UNIT AND BASE: 27th Special Operations Support Squadron, Cannon Air Force Base, N.M

HOMETOWN: San Antonio

DEPLOYMENTS: Two

BY STAFF SGT. JEREMY LARLEE AND PHOTOS BY TECH. SGT. JEFF ALLEN