Ground to Air: The unseen link

Published May 3, 2016
By By Army Spc. Travis Terreo
Air Forces Central Command Public Affairs

AL UDEID AIR BASE, Qatar -- Air Forces Central Command, and the 19 nation air coalition, has expended more than 41,000 weapons in support of Operation Inherent Resolve, the effort to disrupt Da’esh’s ability to advance throughout the region, since airstrikes began August 2014.

Those weapons were expended over the course of 14,698 sorties, nearly half of the 33,784 total close air support, escort and interdiction sorties flown.

This show of force is testament to Lt. Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr, Combined Air Force Component Command and AFCENT commanding general’s, commitment to deliver full-spectrum Air Component capabilities in air, space and cyber space.

“In a proactive and responsive manner, we will employ airpower in the right place, at the right time to promote security and stability in the region, to degrade and defeat violent extremist, to counter malign state influences, and to address any contingency in the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility,” said Brown.

To ensure these weapons are used as efficiently as possible, the air and ground components communicate with each other via the Ground Liaison Officers of the 4th Battle Field Coordination Detachment.

“We are all on the same team, but each branch has its own way of speaking, operating and fighting that makes it hard for them to understand one another,” said Army Capt. Tristan Hotsinpiller, a GLO with the 4th BCD. “The job of a GLO is to translate and interpret the situation on the ground into a product the aircrew can understand.”

Army Capt. Felicity Sparks, a 4th BCD GLO to the U.S. Navy, explained how utilization of GLOs by the various branches enhances the Service member’s understanding of their contribution to the overall OIR mission, not just the flight crew’s.

“I act as the link between the pilots and the Joint Tactical Air Controllers on the ground by briefing the flight crews before each OIR mission that the Air Wing supports,” said Sparks. “The clearer I can paint the ground picture for the pilots, the less time they have to spend getting details when they check in while in the air. That makes the mission more efficient.”

Maj. Damond Davis, the 4th BCD Operations Officer, discussed how GLOs are a bridge between the U.S. Air Force and the other military components, which uniquely positions them to gain a better understanding of how the branches can realistically interact,.
Increasing operational efficiency is always a major consideration, explained Davis, but it is not the only impact the GLOs have on the mission.

“We are the eyes and ears on the ground,” said Davis. “We maintain almost constantly open lines of communication that allow us to see and hear operations and movements on the ground that the pilots in the air simply can’t. This results in a severely decreased rate of fratricide and civilian casualties because we can tell the air component where the friendly forces, civilians, and enemies are and what they are doing.”

Utilizing daily Air Tasking Orders, GLOs gain a basic understanding of each mission and coordinate with JTACs on the ground to produce reports, which they brief to the aircrews. These reports are also integrated into portable kneeboard products the crews can reference on missions.

“We are conducting the most precise air campaign in history,” said Hotsinpiller. “If I do my job right, the aircrews will be more comfortable delivering weapons when and where they need to. These aircrews come to trust and know we do as much as we can to keep our forces, and civilians, safe.”