Becoming better Airmen by making every word count

Published June 23, 2007
By Capt. Teresa Sullivan
379th Air Expeditionary Wing

SOUTHWEST ASIA -- From several miles in the sky to a volatile combat engagement on the battlefield - aircrew and ground controllers practice effective communication because lives depend on it.

The relationship between air and ground forces is crucial in Iraq and Afghanistan where the majority of combat air operations consist of close air support.

In theater, more goes into the collaboration between aircrews and Joint Terminal Attack
Controllers on the ground than meets the eye, according to a pilot with the 379th Air Expeditionary Wing.

"The JTACs give us the information on where the bombs need to go," said Capt. James Hayes, 34th Expeditionary Bomb Squadron B-1 co-pilot. "When we get called to provide CAS to the guys on the ground it's extremely important that we understand exactly where they are on the ground, where the enemy is and where we need to target."

To help get the air and ground forces on the same page, B-1 pilots use high-resolution ground images of the target area to use as a point of reference while the JTACs provide a clear and concise "talk-on," using terrain and landmarks to verbally walk the pilot into the target. However, it's usually not as easy as unfettered two-way conversations.

"The JTAC could be telling us what he sees from the ground while taking cover behind a barrier and we're several miles up in the air seeing what they're seeing from a bird's eye view," said Captain Hayes, from Ellsworth Air Force Base, N.D. "Close air support has been around since the beginning of air power and may be one of the hardest things we do."

When pilots get alerted to respond to enemy engagements on the ground, the JTACs are already urgently plotting target coordinates, determining their weapon of choice and creating a ground picture for the pilots. At the same time the pilots are calculating the amount of fuel they have for support, navigating to the vicinity and establishing communications with their JTACs. The object being that both the pilot and the JTAC come to an agreement on the target - and they use word of mouth to reach that goal.

During one recent combat sortie over Afghanistan, Capt. Chris Fields, 34th EBS weapon system officer's crew received an immediate request from command and control for CAS. The captain's first move was to get the JTAC's call sign to contact him via radio, get to the fight and exchange air and ground situation updates with his liaison.

At this time the JTAC officially becomes the designated spokesman for the employment of air power.

"We were called in to support some Army special forces who were being ambushed by small arms fire and rocket propelled grenades," said Captain Fields, from Ellsworth AFB and native of Ocean Springs, Miss. "When the JTAC called us up we could hear gunfire in the background. Within a few minutes we were successfully talked-on to our target and they cleared us hot to release weapons."

Upon impact the hostile fire ceased and the ground forces were able to carry out the rest of their mission safely - appreciative of the top cover their brothers in arms provided. Not only is it the flyer's mission to protect the forces on the ground - it's a sense of obligation they feel where every life is important and every life is at stake.

"My brother is a special operations Marine and every time I fly I wonder if he's out there," said Captain Hayes. "We've talked about it and he's called in air strikes before. The fact that he's on the ground drives home the fact that you have got to get it right - you can't mess up."

Extensive efforts are made by many in an effort to help them get it right. Every day the 379th Expeditionary Operations Support Squadron mission planning cell is hard at work processing as many as 80 air support requests. To support the requests they create standardized, color grid-maps for pilots and JTACs to reference as a common platform from which they can begin their communications. These grid maps are sent to flying squadrons throughout the area of responsibility for their use in future mission planning.

"We plan for tomorrow's Air Tasking Order," said 1st Lt. Roxy MacLean, 379th EOSS mission planning cell day officer in charge. "It's vital to have ongoing communication between the mission planning cell and the JTACs to make sure both customers (pilots and JTACs) are receiving the most accurate mission data."

The grid-making job is a meticulous, yet important process according to the lieutenant from Langley Air Force Base, Va., and a Rockville, Md. native.

"It's a very detail-oriented job," she said. "The grids provide a common operating picture creating a shorter talk-on time for targets and faster communication."

Another key player in the effort for effective air to ground communication is the 704th Expeditionary Support Squadron.

The 704th ESPTS, serves as a hub, in-processing all JTACs coming into theater, provides top off training, maintains their communications equipment and handles other necessary logistics.

One of the most important stops the JTACs make while at the 704th is to see Senior Airman Matthew Madsen, 704th ESPTS maintenance operations controller from Ft. Hood, Texas and native of Lemars, Iowa. He is responsible for maintaining, troubleshooting, and providing all Remotely Operated Video Enhanced Receivers to JTACs in the area of responsibility. ROVER kits include antennas that feed real-time full-motion video from an aircraft to the ground forces and radios for them to exchange information. ROVERs increase the communication ability by reducing talk-time required to get the aircrew's eyes on target.

"The ROVER is truly an asset in theater," said Airman Madsen, who oversees 200 ROVER kits for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. "With ROVERs, JTACs can see what the pilots see. They can tell the pilots what to bomb and whether they need to move their target two buildings to the right or left to avoid collateral damage and fratricide."
Once JTACs are equipped they make one last stop for top off training with Master Sgt. Dwight Falconer, 704th ESPTS JTAC instructor from Ft. Carson, Colo. and native of New York City.

"As the JTACs move through here into theater we provide them with just-in-time training to get them spun up and to provide them with the big picture on what's happening in the AOR," said the sergeant who has deployed as a JTAC five times. "What we do is important because the ultimate goal is to get the bombs on target with no collateral damage or civilian casualties."

From training to creating common grid-maps to radios and sharing imagery - it all comes down to fast and effective communication.

For Captain Fields in Afghanistan, it was all in a day's work.

"They let us know the target was hit and the mission was a success," he said of the special forces in Afghanistan. "You can always hear the stress in their voices, but they're able to focus and get us where they need us to be. It's great to know we're doing our part to keep the guys on the ground safe."

During the course of a single combat sortie Captain Hayes has been alerted to respond to as many as four hostile ground engagements and Captain Fields three - during every one of them communication was their key to mission accomplishment.