Infantry And CAS Pilots Bonding For Effect

[slapout9]

120mm. I found this article in Air Chronicles. It is a story about the bond between Infantry and CAS. I wasn't sure where to put this so if it should be moved to another thread it is ok with me. The link to article is posted below.




http://www.airpower.maxwell.af.mil/airchronicles/cc/allison.html

[Culpeper]

Even though this article is geared toward Marine CAS for the most part I do have a little practical experience in this field. Except back in my day it was an Air Force fighter pilot on the ground, with someone like me as his assistant using such tools as a stop watch and a map to direct in a CAS mission. Nevertheless, the Air Force field, TACP, gets little attention in this area. Today, Air Force ETACs are trained to take the place of the grounded fighter pilot. These guys have done a hell of job. During my tenure we were known as ROMADs. They have come a long way and now can be found at every level of the Army, including Special Forces. The FEBA has changed since the end of the Cold War. These Air Force guys are, in effect, virtually calling in CAS for their own preservation as well as for the individual Army personnel they are supporting. It has gotten that close. Just thought I would shine a little light on the Air Force/Army CAS role.

http://www.romad.com/description.htm

[jcustis]

When I attended the 2003 Emerald Express session in Quantico, there was a very intelligent ETAC who briefed the attendees on his role in supporting CAS. The JTAC program is up and running, but as with all things air-centric, it takes a lot of support to accomplish the training and it is tough to funnel sufficient numbers through.

I'd love to have all of the NCOs around me JTAC qual'd.

[120mm]

Sorry for taking so long to respond, as I was in Slovakia. This article describes why the USMC should be The Model for Air Force/Army cooperation. As a CAV guy, we really appreciated knowing and working with our "air half". I was in two different units that initially treated the air and ground half of the squadron as separate entities and transitioned into working as a team. The "mutual contempt" issue melted away rather quickly.

The problem I have with our current Air Force brothers, is that their paradigm does not mesh with our paradigm and imho does not contribute to, and probably works against our current COIN model.

[Culpeper]

Sorry for taking so long to respond, as I was in Slovakia. This article describes why the USMC should be The Model for Air Force/Army cooperation. As a CAV guy, we really appreciated knowing and working with our "air half". I was in two different units that initially treated the air and ground half of the squadron as separate entities and transitioned into working as a team. The "mutual contempt" issue melted away rather quickly.

The problem I have with our current Air Force brothers, is that their paradigm does not mesh with our paradigm and imho does not contribute to, and probably works against our current COIN model.

I'm sorry to hear that the company language between the Navy/Marine and Air Force/Army hasn't jointly improved as much as I would like to see with CAS. When I was in the Air Force there was no such thing as directing a CAS mission with Navy or Marine pilots and we never trained with Marine FACs. Even if we did I doubt we would have understood each others' lingo. USMC practically wrote the book on CAS and it wouldn't be a bad idea if the Air Force and Army would humble themselves a little more in that direction. Nevertheless, CAS is never an easy mission no matter if the FAC is on the ground, in the air, in the USMC, or the USAF.