Lots Of Flying In 6-Month Afghanistan Tour
More than 10,000 flight hours and 2,500 sorties marked the
closing stages of a six-month tour for the members of the 354th
Expeditionary Fighter Squadron in Afghanistan on New Year's
Day.
The A-10 Thunderbolt II squadron Airmen were able to save
countless ground forces' lives because of faster reaction times as
the unit is based in southern Afghanistan. "Because a lot of the
focus is Regional Command-South -- towns in Helmand -- it gives you
an airplane that is designed for close-air support, it does CAS
better than any other airplane in the world, and it puts us much
closer to the fight than if we were at Bagram (Airfield in
Afghanistan)," said Lt. Col. Michael Millen, the 354th EFS
commander. "We are much closer to our work, and it allows us more
time actually doing the job than traveling to and from it. "Even if
we're not able to employ or provide the fire power to engage the
enemy, they will stop shooting while we're there. It doesn't sound
like much, but if our presence enables guys to take off their body
armor and eat lunch, then that's what we do."
The squadron from Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, AZ, which
deployed in July, flew sorties while spearheading new data link
communications along the way because of a combined effort between
the Army and Air Force.
The situational awareness data link feeds information into the
tactical awareness display in the cockpit and has the capability of
geospatially finding ground units that have an Enhanced Position
Location Reporting System, or a Global Positioning System-based
non-terrestrial tracking system, Blue Force Trackers. Until
recently, pilots could only view units on the ground or airplanes
in the sky on two separate systems. Time spent flipping between the
two meant time not focused on supporting guys on the ground.
SADL has been used since the A-10C was developed. Moving a step
forward, Army Capt. Jared Cox, assigned to 5-2 SBCT, was catalyst
in developing the combined air and ground picture, providing A-10
pilots with the ability to see nearby aircraft and ground
components simultaneously. "December 26 (2009), working just 60
miles from here, I went out and began talking with the joint
terminal attack controller about a convoy that he had outside the
wire, and I was able to find him in a matter of seconds because
they had an EPLRS-based system," Colonel Millen said. "It was a
Stryker Brigade element and we found them in about 10 seconds. It
would have taken us approximately 5 to 10 minutes to find them with
reading back and forth coordinates and us looking for them on the
roads. With the system we have in the airplane and the system they
have on the Stryker, as well as the data link architecture that
Captain Cox has set up, we were able to find them in seconds."
As a combat aircraft, the A-10 can employ a wide variety of
conventional munitions, including general-purpose bombs, cluster
bomb units, laser-guided bombs, joint direct attack munitions,
wind-corrected munitions dispenser, AGM-65 Maverick and AIM-9
Sidewinder missiles, rockets, illumination flares, and the GAU-8/A
30mm cannon, capable of firing 3,900 rounds per minute to defeat a
wide variety of targets.
From July thru December 2009, the squadron employed
approximately 36,915 rounds of 30mm, 104 white-phosphorus rockets,
eight MK-82's, nine GBU-12's and 78 GBU-38 JDAMs (all 500-lb.
bombs), and one AGM-65E laser-guided Maverick missile. That's about
$3.75 million worth of munitions.
File Photo
To the ground forces, those munitions are well worth the cost.
When Combat Outpost Keating came under attack Oct. 3, 2009, the
fighter squadron Airmen changed their entire schedule. While
Colonel Millen slept, his "smart captains" and "smart majors" took
control, realizing the weather was getting bad and A-10s would soon
be needed. When the Combined Air Operations Center battle director
called, they were ready to launch. "We launched four early in the
day, and they maintained presence all day over Keating, and then we
launched four more at sunset and flew all night. Sure, we provided
firepower, but more importantly somebody to provide airborne
on-scene command," he said. "There were a lot of airplanes (both
Army and Air Force) dedicated to this effort and a lot of people
involved and not all of them could talk to each other. Our guys
spent a lot of time overhead assigning tasks, sorting out who was
doing what and providing information to the ground commanders
involved."
"That's the day we flew the most sorties, we had eight jets
airborne at one point, with two on alert and flew 100 hours in a
24-hour period," he added. "We flew some long sorties and our
maintainers never slowed down."
File Photo
When the two, six-ships flew from Tucson, AZ, to Kandahar,
Afghanistan, Colonel Millen had more flight hours in the A-10 than
all five of his wingmen combined, not to mention more than the
entire other six-ship combined as well.
The lead pilot in the second cell only had about 500 flight
hours. Colonel Millen, a graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy,
just surpassed his 3,000 flight hour-milestone Dec. 26, 2009. "It's
been amazing to watch; it was a very young squadron," he said.
"Guys here stepped up and I've been phenomenally impressed with the
guys along the way. The maintainers have been absolutely great with
any situation -- for election day, Forward Operating Base Keating,
the convoy ambush -- in all those cases we walked across the hall
and said, we need more jets, and every time, we've launched two
more and prepared two more."
File Photo
The squadron will be returning to Tucson soon. The commander,
selected for Naval War College, will relinquish command Feb. 19,
after leading the squadron for 27 months. "For me personally, I
hate the thought of giving up command, but I'm giving command to a
fantastic guy who will do great things in the squadron," the
Georgia native said. "But I'm not ready. I'd do it all again
tomorrow. It's been a good ride, and commanding this squadron has
been the greatest challenge, and the most rewarding thing on the
planet."