In the cockpit [of the AWACS] sits Chuck, guiding the airborne radar center through the skies. He's Canadian. Behind him, in the windowless cabin, Rosario, the weapons controller, is talking to the crew of a fighter jet. He's from Naples. Bernd, a German major and the mission's tactical director, stares at his radar screen, which displays nearby planes as flashing green dots. And Markos, who is Greek, makes sure all communications systems are operating smoothly.

Together, with 13 other men from a total of nine NATO nations, they are doing something they never contemplated in their long military careers -- protecting the United States from terrorists.

...

"I never, ever imagined that we'd be here," said Chuck, the pilot. "This place in the world that we're now trying to defend has always been the biggest boy in town. It has always been the U.S. protecting everyone else."

Added Victor, a Belgian radar operator whose last high-profile mission was the war in Kosovo, "The U.S. is the great superpower of the world. It's the last place I thought I would be sent."

Someone's trying for a feel-good piece about NATO AWACS patrolling the skies over the US. But there's a lot they aren't telling us, or only just hinting at, in this piece. For instance, does the US actually not have enough AWACS to protect US airspace? No, actually we have plenty. But a lot of ours are overseas. First, quite a few are involved in monitoring the airspace over Iraq to enforce the no-fly zones there. Also, there are several involved in controlling the skies over Afghanistan.

The Airborne Warning and Control System is an essential part of modern western air operations. It's an American design, and each one has the ability to detect hostile aircraft and to control friendly aircraft in a very wide area. Right now over Afghanistan there are no hostiles, but there are many friendlies, and the AWACS working there are among the many invisible men who are serving to make others effective. If we were not fighting a war and patrolling Iraq, we'd have plenty of AWACS available to cover our own skies. But we are doing that, so what the NATO AWACS are doing is to fill in here, comfortably away from the zone of conflict, so that our own AWACS can go where they're really needed.

It isn't quite accurate to say that the NATO AWACS are "protecting America." What they're doing is to free up American AWACS so that they can do the protecting. (discussion in progress)

The obvious question which isn't asked in this article is: why aren't the NATO AWACS serving at Iraq or Afghanistan?