Why does the Marine Corps have its own "Air Force"?

[widow_34]

Hey Hey Hey, Its has to be the 1980's white rap guy lookalike(with a nice waxed tash) Missed you on check-in so guess you were RTB, congrats on the promotion GLO told me at KAF when I was flying out. I am posted to JFACTSU so I will pop down often to see my favorite GR-9 pilot(complete with Hollywood London accent).I have the footage of your SoF when you and your wingman we getting brassed up,SQINTO has a copy as well. Take it easy and chat soon.

 

[m0tbaillie]

I, for one, am grateful to have the British as the one european member of NATO that is truly supporting the mission in Afghanistan - and, I recognize that Great Britain is an island nation not attached to Europe geographically speaking.

 

[TheBubba]

widow... I think I may have talked to you a few times. Glad you're back home safe with friends & family.

 

[gaijin6423]

Widow and I were a stone's throw away from one another while the MEU was deployed last year. The fight was definitely on where he was at, that's for sure. When able, we'd send birds their way, either on a pre-planned or immediate basis. There was more than one occasion when a certain tiny, bow-legged Irish comrade of his would condense a 9-line into, "EVERYTHING TO THE SOUTH IS BAD! KILL IT ALL! RIGHT BLOODY NOW!!!"

I'll stand by my statements about the Brits in other threads: Good pieces of kit to have in a pinch. And they took the posting of multiple dozens of copies of the Declaration of Independence across their FOB on July 4th pretty well, too. I guess it didn't hurt that we invited them to the cookout.

 

[gtxc2001]

EVERYTHING TO THE SOUTH IS BAD! KILL IT ALL! RIGHT BLOODY NOW!!!"

HA! I went in to KAF/Bastion towards the end of your time out there with the skid det that came in to support 2/7. The 24 MEU skid det's best story was about the day they went out and got a talk on that consisted of:
"Do you see the smoke?"
"Contact red smoke"
"EVERYTHING TO THE SOUTH IS BAAAAAAAAD!!!!!"

That is priceless, along with one of the Cobra pilots killing a guy with covert illum rockets......that's just badass.

I always enjoyed working for Widow 54, you'd hear shots in the background, but he'd be as cool as could be on the radio, like nothing was happening "Roger, my callsign located 50 meters south of the footbridge...."

 

[gaijin6423]

Yeah, Opie likes to tell the story of that guy. I think Sketch was the one who shot the guy with the illum rockets, and if you've seen their Battle of Garmsir video, you hear him laugh and say, "Those were illumination rounds." Bad ass deployment those guys made, by the way. I have it, but I don't want to steal anyone's thunder.

 

[HeyJoe]

. If [the American Indian callsign squadron pilots] are ever over in the UK I would buy the entire SQN a beer,they got me and my buddies out of the brown stuff on 2 following days with a load of 20mike mike and a GBU-12. Nice one gents. Great to have the USN in support.

Cheers Widow 34.

They are there now...best get over to Portsmouth before they weigh anchor!

090405-N-3218H-001 PORTSMOUTH, England (April 5, 2009) The aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71) is anchored in the English Channel as a ferry prepares to transport Sailors to Portsmouth Harbor. Theodore Roosevelt and Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 8 Sailors visited Portsmouth, England, on their way home from a seven-month deployment supporting Operation Enduring Freedom. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Christopher Hall/Released)

 

[Semper Jump Jet]

My favorite line from WW34 (with gunfire on the net): "When we get stopped I'm going to grab my company commander by the scruff of the neck and I'll get you a 9-line so we can OBLITERATE THESE FUCKING TALIBAN!!!"

 

[DanMa1156]

FYI, this thread is awesome hearing your guys' stories. You all sound like BAMF's and what you and your comrades appear to be doing seems nothing short of amazing.

Thank you from a humble observer.

 

[widow_34]

Let me set the scene that Semper JJ was talking about. We are a three unit group pushing way south in the Helmand Valley. All 3 units are on the east of the green zone. My buddy WW43 is about to enter the green zone of foot from the east,I am acting as ''anchor JTAC'' slightly further north and operating from a ''Jackal'' vehical.Anyway WW43 pushes into the green zone and they instantly come under sporadic SA/RPG/PKM fire,nothing too much but enough to keep you busy and warrent an ''airtic'' call. Bone arrives and eventually drops a GBU-38 followed by a GMLRS (we have to keep the brit arty happy) Bone then has to check out and is ripped by a pair of Brit harriers,good news for us as I had just spent a week or so with the Harrier det in Kaf,anyway on check in the lead pilot had an american accent,obviously after check-in and AO update a slightly less formal hey is that N___a how are you doing buddy, your brit accent is getting worse by the day etc etc from myself. WW43 and myself had started to operate as buddy/buddy Jtac's with who ever was in the best position to control working the jet whilst the other is moving or fighting for his life so to speak. Semper then his wing both put SoF's along the green zone on a NtoS or S to N. On both occasions the jets were fired upon by PKM and SA. Anyway. I had passed the jets to ww43 as my unit were about to hook around way south to get eyes and some fire onto a known Taliban firing point/compound. I we crested the ridge line the green zone erupted with SA/RPG/PKM fire aimed at my group. I passed to the jets '' look mate no chance of a nine line here help me out please'' or a slightly stronger version.We lasted a minute in to before we had to withdrawl, this was hindered by ww43 screaming down UHF to me that we were engaging innocents.(this turned out not to be the case however fog of war etc).Semper and his buddy managed to get a nice paveway4 on the target area after tracking them to the west and allah had 7 more guests to be furnished by his ever decreasing number of virgins.

In short a bloody scary episode for me,highlighting the lack of air awareness at coy commander level,and no matter what happens in the war films in real life its not all fun.And having pilots/aviators that will fly that bit harder,that bit lower and that bit faster makes all the difference( even he does wax his tash)

 

[eddie]

Who are JTACs, MOS/rate-wise, on either side of the Atlantic?

Also, thanks for the stories. Incredible stuff. Glad you made it home safe.

 

[skidkid]

A JTAC is a Joint Terminal Attack Controller responsible for controlling Close Air Support mission in support of a ground unit.
It depends on the branch of service. In the USMC an infantry battalion will have 3 winged officers (NAs or NFOs) ideally one F/W one Skid and one Assault Support but it doesnt always work that way. All FACs are JTACs but not all JTACs are FACs. Additionally a battalion might have some JTACs who have done all the requisite courses and are fully qualed to control air. Theses may be Os SNCOs and every once in a while Sergeants of varying combat arms MOSs. The required course is extensive and takes a while to complete.

In US Army units the artillery FOs and if available Air Force enlisted JTACs handle control of CAS primarily.

I believe the Brits run it similar to the US Army with artillery FOs being the first trained as JTACs.

Bottomline anyone under fire can talk to and get Close Air Support if it is available, it just takes a little more time to pull the info from those not trained to give it in aviationese.

 

[stalk]

Widow, I have to tell you that nothing would get me more pumped on a CAS mission than getting feedback from the guys on the ground. I flew many many missions that were strategic in nature taking out structuces and facilities that supported the bad guy war effort. Though a rush in their own way there was nothing like putting ordnance on target, either eliminating or detering the bad guys and then hearing the excitement and sometimes relief in the BDA report.

Thanks for your service and great work over there!

 

[gtxc2001]

I think Sketch was the one who shot the guy with the illum rockets,

Yep, it was. For my 25th birthday I got to fly with him for my first red ink entry into my logbook.

Best. Birthday. Present. Ever.

 

[widow_34]

In the British armed forces we are qualified as FAC's first,due to the vast majority of our supporting A/C being from the good ole US of A we have signed for to the US agreement on procedures. Hence whilst on Ops in Afghanistan we are called JTAC's. Arty FOO's are not JTAC's or FAC's however within the FOO's FST(Fire support Team) he will have a JTAC attached to that team. Arty and JTAC's/FAC's do clash at times and as I am sure Semper jump jet will agree, the arty are big on GMLRS which(without going into too much detail) causes a lot of problems for other airspace users.The good thing for JTACs is that we are qualified to fire GMLRS as well as CAS/AH however arty cannot do the JTAC job. Just remember as our tour t-shirt says.''Arty for show,Fast Air for a pro''.Brit FAC's spend a lot of time in the USA training although usually with the USAF,hopefully we can get a little more work with the USN/USMC,there are a few subtle differences (from the JTAC POV) depending on what arm of the US forces are flying for you. Even different SQN's on the same carrier vary,of course you can tell who are the more expirenced air crew within a few seconds of check. A younger USN hornet pilot can be very formal,when you have an old sweat you ending up chatting about everything. However its all good stuff.