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Thread: Aerial Reconnaissance

  1. #1
    Council Member MikeF's Avatar
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    Default Aerial Reconnaissance

    I hope this is helpful for others...

    I've beaten up Ken White a bunch about how METT-TC is only practical and relative to one's experience. Sometimes, we must see to understand. I've started writing again. Here's my take on Aerial Recon. For the pilots, let me know if I got anything technically wrong, on specific note, I can't seem to remember if Blackhawk door gunners have .240's or .50's.

    v/r

    Mike


    Aerial Reconnaissance
    Forward Operating Base (FOB) Warhorse, Iraq, August 2006

    The birds arrive on time. The churning blades of the two Blackhawk helicopters bounces the exhaust fumes and sand melting off the concrete tarmac into a whirlwind of rotor wash blurring my sight. The turbine engines squelch a high-pitched whine deafening communication. The late summer sun stokes with temperatures peaking at 120 degrees scaring my exposed skin. The black haze of burning trash chokes my breath leaving a lingering taste of decomposing excrement. I return back to my second home. This is my Iraq, a hot, bright, sweaty, loud, bleak, dark suck.

    Major Diambatista taps my shoulder and points towards the birds. It is time.

    I motion towards my key leaders to move out along the flight line and board the aircraft. While seemingly a monotonous, routine task, the hazards of taking the wrong path can be deadly. In order not to have one’s head removed by the dipping of the blades in rotation, one learns to enter the aircraft either at a 45 degree or 90 degree approach in relationship to the direct view of the pilot. Thankfully, pilots and flight crew have a crew chief to guide you safely into the bird.

    Awkward superseeds graceful. We stumble into our seats. When moving in full kit, sixty pounds of body armor, helmet, rifle, pistol, bullets, water, radios, night vision goggles, first aid pouches, batteries, maps, and food, I bumble into my seat. Weapon placed muzzle down, round chambered, selector switch on safe, I fasten my quick release safety belt, take off my helmet replacing it with the internal headset of the helicopter, The loud pitch of the helicopter’s rotors succumbs to the vacuum of the headphones seal quickly replaced by the intermittent chatter of the pilots’ pre-flight checks and bull#### talk of their post-mission adventure to salsa night and Green Beans, the Starbucks of Iraq. First Sergeant Timothy Metheny gives me the thumbs up signaling that everyone was accounted for and ready. Within the gap of the pilot’s conversation, I intervene with a comms check to let them know that we are settled in.

    I have always had a deep love and respect for the aviators. While Special Forces are deemed the quiet professionals, the pilots are best considered the casual professionals. Both groups preferring dude to sir, the true depth of a good aviator is never quite known until you really need him.

    The pilots respond to prepare for takeoff. I reach into my pocket and pull out my map ready to absorb and try to relate the sights that we are about to see. The crew chief takes his seat, and the flight crews assume their positions as door gunners, pulling the .240 caliber machine guns into the ready, locking and loading their ammunition, and alerting the pilots that they are ready.

    I look around. Sergeant First Class Byron Bates smiles at me. Staff Sergeant Clint Keeley pulls out his camera ready to record still photo and video of our adventure. Sergeant First Class Mitchell Gonzales, Grumpy Bear, chuckles in his perpetual ways. The others stare intently with maps drawn focused considering the unknown of where we’re about to enter. The boys are ready.

    In my ear, I hear the pilots preparing for take-off. The rotors rotation picks up pace, the mechanical beast shakes, in a fight to escape and defy gravity, the engine spews greater effort. The stress and energy and physics collide. Gravity, in a last effort, refuses to adjust. To this day, I still stand in awe and wonder over our capability to transcend land. More throttle applied, fuel to the spark to turn the rotors, we lurch forward ascending into the air.

    Looking down, scaling quickly up and out, the tarmac is but a memory minimized as the world changes within my sight. Mesmerized as we climb upwards, the tarmac is now observed in relation to brigade and battalion headquarters, the dining facility, the barracks, and the walls of defense of the forward operating base, FOB. We move past American territory.

    We see the world from a different perspective. Time is no longer quantified by measure of outside the wire.

    The pilot surges forward gaining speed. We lean to the left as we escape the FOB, and I observe an Iraqi woman drying clothes on the roof of her home in the clustered sea of stacked residence garnering towards a major city.

    “To your left, you’ll see the Diyala River. To the south, you’ll see the city of Baqubah. As we move a bit further, to your right, you’ll see the small village where we killed Abu Musab al-Zarqawi back in June,” Major Diambatista, our tour guide, messages squawked into my headset.

    Arched high in the sky, I sit transfixed observing the lush palm groves, the intermittent canals, the ink spots of hamlets and villages coalescing within the constraints of the natural habitat. From the air, the topography, the terrain, seem so peaceful, yet impermissible to the foreigner. The people wave as the door gunners point their weapons towards their location.

    Deep inside, it was one of the most volatile places in the world.

    "How the #### are we going to penetrate that?" I wonder.

    The flight continues for another hour and a half, showing us the physical landscape of Diyala Province, and my men and I received a glimpse of the geography that we would soon endeavor.

    Military doctrine defines an aerial reconnaissance as denoting a preliminary survey conducted to gain, or collect information. And so it was, this adventure would be our final attempt to observe from the periphery before we plunged into the depths. We are now blessed with a little bit more of knowledge- peering behind the curtain to gain some understanding.

    Now, I have to come up with some semblance of a plan.

  2. #2
    Council Member Starbuck's Avatar
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    Sir:

    Generally, M-240Gs.

  3. #3
    Council Member Starbuck's Avatar
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    Additionally, an interesting intro to what should be a great story. We flew in and out of FOB Warhorse all the time, though Baqubah had settled down considerably by the time I got there. (We used to take BG Nixon, the ADC-O for 25th ID to Warhorse all the time. It was worth it for the DFAC)

    That's one thing ground troops love about the UH-60. The OH-58, AH-64 and UAVs have sophisticated cameras, but NOTHING equals letting leaders see the terrain with their own two eyes out the large cargo doors of a UH-60, particularly when you go "doors-open" in the summertime.

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    Council Member MikeF's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Starbuck View Post
    Additionally, an interesting intro to what should be a great story. We flew in and out of FOB Warhorse all the time, though Baqubah had settled down considerably by the time I got there. (We used to take BG Nixon, the ADC-O for 25th ID to Warhorse all the time. It was worth it for the DFAC)

    That's one thing ground troops love about the UH-60. The OH-58, AH-64 and UAVs have sophisticated cameras, but NOTHING equals letting leaders see the terrain with their own two eyes out the large cargo doors of a UH-60, particularly when you go "doors-open" in the summertime.
    Thanks Starbuck.

    I guess that I should expand on your comments. Riding in the Pave Lowe and Chinook was similar to riding in the back of a Bradley. You might as well close your eyes until the ride is over. I'm assuming the Osprey is the same.

    If I were king for a day, doors open and seats out would be the norm. Particularly if we're talking reconnaissance. On a similar note, as you question what the pilots should do on your blog, it's simple. Do the reverse of us and get on the ground and see what's going on.

  5. #5
    Council Member Ken White's Avatar
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    Default Huh? I missed that...

    Quote Originally Posted by MikeF View Post
    I've beaten up Ken White a bunch about how METT-TC is only practical and relative to one's experience.
    Truly missed it. I'm sure if you say it, you did it but I'm old and senile, I miss a lot. And forget a lot...

    Had I not missed it, I would have disagreed with you. I submit that can be true on bad days that we all have, if one is in a funk over home and hearth, if one is just exhausted or if one has too large an ego.

    We've all had those kinds of days but lacking those and similar distractions, while I have seen examples of that experience driven approach to limiting the value of considerations of METT-TC, I contend that most of us most of the time can transcend that limitation by simply reading, studying, looking and listening and working at it. I've also found that employing the experience of others can broaden the horizon a great deal. Joe can provide some good insight, usually. That's not sluffing, one is still the decider -- but one can benefit a great deal from the inputs of collective wisdom.

    Most people can successfully bypass, regas and overcome that undue constriction. Further, I think one MUST try do that at all times-- even on the bad days. ...

    On other topics; good essay on the Recon...

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    Council Member Starbuck's Avatar
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    Doors open? You bet. Seats out? That one takes a 2-star's approval for each flight (as per AR 95-1...although we can debate specifics and exceptions). Long story short, seats out is a huge safety hazard, especially in a crash sequence.

    Well, that's the short version. There are risk mitigation measures (restraints), but I can kind of see the Army's reluctance to allow seats-out on a regular basis.

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    Council Member MikeF's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ken White View Post
    Truly missed it. I'm sure if you say it, you did it but I'm old and senile, I miss a lot. And forget a lot...
    You are right. I mistated that. What I meant to say was METT-TC is relative to experience. Terrain to PFC Ken or Cadet Mike is much different than that of CSM Ken or Major Mike. You might be a bit older than me, but I've had a bunch of concussions .

    On other topics; good essay on the Recon...
    I usually write towards telling a story that my brothers can understand, but I thought this may be helpful for some right now trying to figure out what we're talking about with recon and surveillance. I wanted to see if it made sense for others.

    Anyways, I figure I better go ahead and finish a book before the historical record claims that the surge was merely us going out and giving hugs and flowers to the Iraqis .

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    Council Member MikeF's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Starbuck View Post
    Doors open? You bet. Seats out? That one takes a 2-star's approval for each flight (as per AR 95-1...although we can debate specifics and exceptions). Long story short, seats out is a huge safety hazard, especially in a crash sequence.

    Well, that's the short version. There are risk mitigation measures (restraints), but I can kind of see the Army's reluctance to allow seats-out on a regular basis.
    Seats Out- I should have expanded on when it is appropriate. I've done several. A lot of it depends on the mission. Yes to deep infil and air assaults. Keep the seats in for the other joy rides (recon, transport, etc).

    But, when you're carrying a big pack, the seats out is preferred and the boys can hook in the same way the flight crews can. IMO, this decision is not a 2 stars. It is up to what the head pilot and the ground commander are comfortable with. Yes, I know I'm living in a pipe dream.

  9. #9
    Council Member Ken White's Avatar
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    Default Yes, yes, yes and yes.

    Quote Originally Posted by MikeF View Post
    But, when you're carrying a big pack, the seats out is preferred and the boys can hook in the same way the flight crews can. IMO, this decision is not a 2 stars. It is up to what the head pilot and the ground commander are comfortable with. Yes, I know I'm living in a pipe dream.
    Sigh. Plus, in Veet Nam, only the Colonels rode with seat in. Candy, candy...

  10. #10
    Council Member MikeF's Avatar
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    Default Planning Considerations for the Aerial Reconnaissance

    I'll try to expand this thread past my own little war story. Please continue to add anything that I'm missing or dispute anything that I got wrong.

    Here's some planning considerations for Aerial Reconnaissance.

    1. Rehearsals. Prior to the aircrafts arrival, chalk leaders should have boys rehearse enter/exit of the aircraft. If possible, ground commander should not be a chalk leader. In my example, I was the ground commander and my 1SGT was the chalk leader responsible to get everyone in and out of the aircraft. We rehearsed approach, order of march, entering the aircraft, seating arrangement, and exit PRIOR to the the aviators arrival.

    2. Actions on Contact. For the most part, that is up to the flight crew. No ground guy should be shooting while the aircraft is in flight; however, if the bird goes down, you have to have a go to hell plan. It should be understood between the air and ground guys that once the bird touches the ground, the ground commander is in charge. If the bird is shot down, immediate actions are security of site, accountability of personnel, communications with higher headquarters to coordinate evac and extraction, and if necessary, recovery or destruction of sensitive equipment.

    3. CCIR. What is the purpose of the reconnaissance? What are you looking for? If you noticed, in my story, I specifically stated we pulled out maps not Garmins and GPS. What do you want your boys to see?
    Last edited by MikeF; 05-10-2010 at 02:32 AM.

  11. #11
    Council Member Starbuck's Avatar
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    I will agree--for an air assault, this is key. A unit can really make some good money by practicing entering and exiting a parked aircraft a few times before the mission. Entering a helicopter in a hurry, throwing in the bag and buckling the seat belts isn't like hopping in your minivan for a road trip. You have got to get used to the motions.

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    Council Member William F. Owen's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by MikeF View Post

    1. Rehearsals. Prior to the aircrafts arrival, chalk leaders should have boys rehearse enter/exit of the aircraft. If possible, ground commander should not be a chalk leader. In my example, I was the ground commander and my 1SGT was the chalk leader responsible to get everyone in and out of the aircraft. We rehearsed approach, order of march, entering the aircraft, seating arrangement, and exit PRIOR to the the aviators arrival.
    Quote Originally Posted by Starbuck View Post
    I will agree--for an air assault, this is key. A unit can really make some good money by practicing entering and exiting a parked aircraft a few times before the mission. Entering a helicopter in a hurry, throwing in the bag and buckling the seat belts isn't like hopping in your minivan for a road trip. You have got to get used to the motions.
    I concur, and the simplest possible drill should be used. My Bn lost a guy walking into the disk of a Scout, partly because this hadn't been addressed - and some very bad luck- be safe, simple and quick trumps sexy and slick.
    Infinity Journal "I don't care if this works in practice. I want to see it work in theory!"

    - The job of the British Army out here is to kill or capture Communist Terrorists in Malaya.
    - If we can double the ratio of kills per contact, we will soon put an end to the shooting in Malaya.
    Sir Gerald Templer, foreword to the "Conduct of Anti-Terrorist Operations in Malaya," 1958 Edition

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