When Master Sgt. Letitia Whitaker landed at Kirkuk Air Base during the U.S. invasion of Iraq in March 2003, it all had a horror-flick feel.

It was the middle of the night. She could see bright lights coming from burning oil fields. The bark of wild dogs and gunfire surrounded her.

But she knew her mission: get air-control service up and running there as soon as possible.

Whitaker, an air traffic controller with the Missouri Air National Guard, was one of the first 40 Air Force personnel to arrive at the base to help set up air-control service in northern Iraq. She was assistant tower chief controller.

She showed this mission was far from impossible, coming through in a day.

"It was definitely a group effort," Whitaker, 35, said modestly. "We worked well together."

Actually, Whitaker played a key role in that effort, says Debra Lynne Nelson. As tower chief air controller, Nelson supervised and worked closely with Whitaker in Iraq.

When Nelson and Whitaker first landed there, they were "scared to death," said Nelson, a retired Air Force master sergeant. "I mean, we were flying into a war zone. But we donned our gear, got into the airfield and started working right away. And she and I opened the skies for service within 24 hours."

For her service while deployed in Iraq from March 27 to July 10, 2003, Whitaker was awarded the Bronze Star, one of the military's highest meritorious service awards.

Whitaker was cited as being instrumental in helping set up the first air-control service in northern Iraq since 1990. The service supported 4,800 actions, including covert operations, humanitarian airlifts and medical evacuations.

Whitaker was a woman on a mission. She developed explosive-ordinance disposal procedures for the base. She also co-authored airfield procedures for aero-medical evacuation of coalition forces that resulted in lifting 86 critically wounded soldiers and airmen to safety.

Whitaker, who was promoted to senior master sergeant in April, serves as an air controller with the 241st Air Traffic Control Squadron at Rosecrans Air National Guard Base in St. Joseph, Mo.

She also works as a civilian controller for the Defense Department.

During her time in Iraq, Whitaker showed her creative side. Covert operations in the dark? Not a problem. She used tactical radios and night-vision goggles.

"There was a flow of aircraft that would come in at night," she said. "They wouldn't use any lights, so we had to control them with night vision."

Whitaker used classified signals and phraseology to guide the aircraft to the ground.

She also assisted Nelson in developing base operating procedures. These were instructions pilots used to help them take off and land safely.

Like setting up the air control service, she used the talent around her.

"I've always believed in making everything a group effort," Whitaker said. "If there's an important decision to be made, I discuss it with people who work for me and others. I value other people's opinions. That's my leadership style. I discuss stuff with the people I work with."

As for the airfield diagram, Whitaker designed it. She developed a PowerPoint picture of the base that showed the location of the runways and other spots. She plugged away on the project during her off-duty time — and was done in a month.

As for her medical evacuation plans, they detailed taxi routes and patient transfer directions. "We constantly had injured soldiers coming (to the base)," she said. "We had to develop procedures where we could get patients loaded and out of there as quick as possible."

With Whitaker assisting, northern Iraq's air-control service ran smoothly. That wasn't all.

"We were so busy all the time," she said. "When we weren't working in the mobile tower, we were busy doing other stuff" — such as helping spread essential information and boosting morale.

"There wasn't a lot of time to think about myself," she said.

One major morale booster was mail from home. Whitaker quickly volunteered to be the squadron mail courier. She donated 152 hours to sorting and delivering packages.

"Letitia was very motivated and an extremely hard worker," said Nelson, who also received a Bronze Star. "She would do things like volunteer to get everyone's mail from home, which was a tedious job because of the conditions. But she did it anyway because she knew that once she brought mail from home to our troops, that would put a huge smile on their faces."

Whitaker rarely rested. After hours, she gave out much-needed hygiene items. And when food was flown in for the Fourth of July, she volunteered to serve it in the 118-degree heat. The troops filled up.

Through it all, Whitaker was can-do. "When you're higher ranking and a manager, you must maintain a positive attitude," she said. "All of your troops look up to you for answers and depend on you to answer questions. We had some young soldiers, and that was their first deployment and they were scared. We had to be there for them and keep them upbeat."

Whitaker became a master of all trades in the war zone. In addition to her post as assistant tower chief controller, she ran air traffic control training.

When a controller lands at an airfield, he or she receives training material to learn the field's layout, airspace and frequencies. Whitaker developed that material, plus certified controllers to work in the tower. That was a challenge, she says.

Whitaker ensured the process went fast. The war couldn't wait.

Whitaker was "great" at training, said Nelson. "She had the patience, the tenacity, the ability."

Whitaker has spent 18 years in the military. A native of Bethany, Mo., she joined the military because she didn't have the money to go to college. And she wanted to travel — out of her home state. She liked the Air Force, but didn't want to fly. So she became an air traffic controller.

She served in the Air Force from 1989 to 1998, then transferred to the Air National Guard.

BY MARILYN MUCH