47th Fighter Squadron pilots train with JTAC

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Jeff Walston
  • 917 Wing
BARKSDALE AFB, LA. --  Imagine being pinned down in a narrow passageway of an Afghan mountain range while Taliban fighters perched high above in the rocky ledges pour murderous fire down on the Army convoy you're riding in. An Airman clad in an Army uniform, with only his rank insignia distinguishing him from the Soldiers he serves so closely with, crawls forward through a hail of bullets to get his bearings as he prepares to call in close air support. Minutes later, during the height of battle, two A-10 Thunderbolts bank the mountain peaks delivering their payload in a thunderous roar only to silence enemy guns.

These are not crafted words from a screen writer for his latest action movie. These types of events are now common place in both Afghanistan and Iraq. Airmen who keep these situations from going south for American and Coalition Forces are Joint Terminal Attack Controllers. JTACs are considered throughout the U.S. military as experts in air-to-ground operations.

Members of the 47th Fighter Squadron from Barksdale Air Force Base will participate in Patriot Dixie at Fort Stewart, Ga., near Savannah, next month to assist JTACs maintain their expertise in the field.

From beginning to end the training for these special operations Airmen is intense. They are embedded with Army units and live as their Army counterparts do.

"Our pilots will use this opportunity as a continuation training in CAS verses our normal schoolhouse student upgrade training," said Lt. Col. John H. Lipps, 47th FS, assistant director of operations. "For this operation on training munitions will be used. No live fire, but it is essential for our instructor pilots to get off station for training in a different environment."

The 47th FS is sending six jets with maintainers to Fort Stewart for 13 days to make a difference for the boots on the ground in a war on the other side of the world. They will be working closely with the 6th Combat Training Squadron from Fort Sill, Okla., and the 15th Air Support Operations Squadron from Fort Stewart.

"This combined training with a dedicated premier air-to-ground platform such as the A-10 enhances our training effectiveness," said Maj. Francis Scolaro, 15th ASOS, director of operations. "Training with CAS experts (A-10) greatly enhances the JTACs tactics, techniques and procedures when engaging the enemy in support of the ground commander's scheme of maneuver."

"(The 47th FS) will support JTACs training on two separate ranges while in Georgia," said Colonel Lipps. "We'll be using both the BDU 33 training ordinance to simulate actual bombs and TP (training) rockets to get the job done for us and the JTACs. I'm sure there will be good times for all."

The 47th FS is a training unit, and as such, is not tasked to deploy in combat. This is all scheduled to change in 2010 when the unit will become combat coded. Four highly experienced and technically proficient A-10 instructor pilots volunteered last year to go to the combat theater to fly the A-10. One commented on the ability to use their training to support the ground forces and be there for them when they call; the JTAC training is what this is all about.