J-STARS is a family affair for airman and his parents

ROBINS AIR FORCE BASE -- An airman in the Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System unit is following in the footsteps of his parents.

Airman First Class Mike Horne didn't know that when he was assigned to J-STARS four months ago.

He was just a kid when his parents, who were both sergeants first class in the Army, served in the unit, so he didn't remember its name.

An Army unit is attached to J-STARS because the soldiers on the J-STARS planes communicate information about enemy movements to troops on the ground.

His parents, Chris Horne and Lorilee Cuvillier, are now divorced, and both are retired from the Army. But they still live in the area and work as civilians at Robins. Chris Horne works as a contractor in the J-STARS area.

Mike Horne, 20, remembered his parents taking him on the base where they worked when he was young, but it wasn't until he told them he had been assigned to J-STARS that he found out the connection.

"It's cool," he said. "It's a family tradition."

He wasn't just talking about J-STARS. Both of his grandfathers also served in the military, he added.

Unlike his parents' past military work, Mike Horne doesn't fly on the planes. He maintains the ground equipment, particularly the unit that powers the planes on the ground.

Chris Horne said the mechanics who work on the decades-old aircraft probably are the most important people in the unit these days.

Chris Horne and Cuvillier both flew on the planes in Iraq and Afghanistan and are big believers in the system.

"It's kind of a novelty that he's starting his career in the unit where I finished my career," Cuvillier said. "It's a neat thing."

When Chris Horne flew, he was relaying information to ground troops whom he had personally trained.

J-STARS uses radar to track enemy movements on the ground and relays that data to combat commanders.

"What you are looking at is basically a big computer with wings," said Chris Horne, standing by one of the planes.

Mike Horne serves in the Georgia Air National Guard and currently is working full-time in J-STARS as part of his initial training. He plans to attend college this fall and eventually become active duty in the Air Force as a commissioned officer.

To contact writer Wayne Crenshaw, call 256-9725.

This story was originally published January 24, 2016 at 8:55 PM with the headline "J-STARS is a family affair for airman and his parents ."