97357. Air Force Team Goes Army Green

By Douglas J. Gillert
American Forces Press Service

        WHEELER ARMY AIRFIELD, Hawaii -- A column of equipment-laden 
soldiers, M-16 rifles tightly gripped, radio antennas bobbing 
from backpacks, slogs along the rain-soaked, red-mud shoulder of 
a winding rural road. 
        But wait: Aren't those Air Force chevrons on the camouflage 
sleeves of their battle dress utilities? It's true. These aren't 
soldiers, they're airmen. Airmen, it seems, who seldom grace a 
flight line and almost never wear blue. Instead, they spend most 
of their service years with the Army. As enlisted tactical air 
controllers and weather observers, they're the eyes and ears of 
the close air support Army infantry needs to beat the enemy.
        "We look like Army, but to a person, we're darned proud to 
be Air Force," said Lt. Col. Buddy Knox, commander of the 25th 
Air Support Operations Squadron. "We're tightly knit, like the 
soldiers in the 25th Infantry Division we support. "We 'PT' as a 
squadron three hours a day, five days a week, and we take the 
Army physical fitness test. But our chain of command is Air 
Force."
        Well, mostly -- Knox serves on the division commander's 
staff, and the other air liaison officers perform similar 
functions in each of the division's brigades. In the field, the 
airmen deploy and work alongside the grunts, eat Army rations 
and, if necessary, fire Army ammo. But the air strikes they order 
come through strictly Air Force channels -- mostly A-10s and F-
16s that fly in loud and low to the ground to destroy enemy 
tanks, trucks and fortifications.
        "Being a tactical air controller is tough duty with 
tremendous responsibility," Knox said. "We don't order anyone to 
do it; they have to volunteer. Out there in the field, they've 
got to have the confidence to call in air strikes."
        They gain their confidence through nearly continuous 
training and rigorous physical fitness that includes weekly 10-
mile hikes toting rucksacks that weigh at least 40 pounds. "Each 
of us carries UHF and VHF radios, additional batteries, M-16 
rifles, 9 mm pistols and ammo," Staff Sgt. Ed Yuhasz said about 
two-thirds of the way through a march. Was he tired from the long 
trek in 85 degree weather and a persistent rain? "Not really."
        Today's enlisted controllers perform a job formerly done by 
highly qualified fighter pilots. "After it became a separate 
service in 1947, the Air Force agreed to provide the Army close 
air support," Knox explained. "But with the Air Force getting 
smaller, fewer pilots are available. So after training and 
certification, enlisted tactical air controllers do the job air 
liaison officers used to do."
        The transition has brought the 25th full-circle. In the 
1940s, the unit's "flying sergeants" piloted aerial observation 
planes, pinpointing enemy positions for bombers and fighters. 
After World War II, the Air Force turned the mission over to 
commissioned pilots. 
        Today, Knox said, the enlisted controllers and weather 
operations specialists run the squadron, while the officers take 
care of overarching issues such as integrating Army plans with 
Air Force flying operations. It's a two-year assignment for the 
officers, three for the enlisted men and women, although most 
request a one-year extension. It's good duty, almost all agree.
        They deploy in teams, each with a corresponding infantry 
battalion. At all times, a team is packed and ready to go. The 
deployment "kit" includes humvees loaded with sophisticated Mark-
144 radio communications systems.
        Weather observers bring their own equipment, including a 
laser optical range finder to determine visibility for incoming 
pilots, and a Global Positioning System device to download time, 
latitude and longitude information from a satellite.
        "We didn't used to consider weather when we planned or did a 
mission," Knox said. But pilots need good weather information, so 
two years ago the squadron fully integrated weather operations. 
Using a compact, mobile work station and Inmarsat satellite up-
link, observers can access imagery, weather bulletins and charts 
and within a day of deploying, begin building a weather data 
base. They also can measure barometric pressure and wind speed. 
"Such information is vital to planning close air support," Knox 
said.
        Knox likes to cite his unit's training accomplishments and 
its impact on combat air. "Our weather flight was named best in 
the Air Force in 1995 and best in Pacific Air Forces in 1996," he 
said. "And according to one Army general, the 25th ASOS conducted 
the best training ever during a battle command training program -
- the Army's battalion-level exercise. Our light field 
maintenance concept is now the standard throughout Air Combat 
Command."
        Knox initiated the latter during an earlier assignment in 
Alaska. "In the old days, it took a big C-141 to deploy our 
people and equipment," he said. "We had to find a way to get 
everything on a smaller C-130." The result is a mobile 
maintenance shelter that doubles as a communications center and 
packs enough spare equipment to keep all deployed Mark 144s 
operating. 
        A further measure of the unit's cohesiveness -- a 1996 
social actions climate assessment -- found the squadron's morale 
to be the highest in the Hawaiian Islands, despite the fact 
squadron members deploy 90-120 days a year, and when not 
deployed, chances are they're training. 
        Out in the early spring rain, team leader Tech. Sgt. Harry 
Oliver took long, purposeful strides, once in a while glancing 
back or ahead, checking on his troops.
        "I taught a lot of these people, and now I'm seeing how well 
I taught them," said Oliver, for 4 1/2 years an instructor at the 
Joint Firepower Control Course, Hurlburt Field, Fla. "I taught 
them well," he said with a grin.

##END##

Members of the 25th Air Support Operations Squadron, Wheeler Army Airfield, Hawaii, hike down a rain-soaked road during a 10-mile rucksack march, part of a rigorous program of physical conditioning. Unit members like to point out the fact that while they train with, deploy with and look like soldiers, they're proud members of the Air Force. Douglas J. Gillert