M
MikeL
Guest
"Michael Knight, this is Airwolf. Good job with the VS-17 Panel with the FREQ. We are 2 x Kiowa's with M3P .50 cals with xxx rounds and xx Hydra 70 rockets, and 1 x Apache with 30mm M320 with xxx rounds, xx Hydra 70 rockets, and xx Hellfires - we have approximately xx minutes on station."
"Rock on, let's lighten that load. You are cleared hot for everything but the hellfires, need to talk to The Man Upstairs for approval for those. We are in a compound, GRG #XXX, Grid XX XXXX XXXX marked with VS-17, sister element in GRG #XXX 600 meters away at azimuth XXX at grid location XX XXXX XXXX, marked same."
"Word up. man's always trying to keep us down. I copy GRG #'s XXX and XXX as friendly, we have eyes on both marked with orange VS-17."
"Cool. No ANSF patrols out, if they're Afghans with guns they aren't ours. We regularly take contact from the grape hut 400 meters southeast at azimuth XXX at grid location XX XXXX XXXX and the small break in the wall 325 meters due south at azimuth XXX at grid location XX XXXXX XXXXX."
"Badass, thanks for the heads up, preparing to take a pass along the wall now. Okay, we got eyes on two dudes with AK's hugging that wall, we're gonna light em up then have the Apache will rocket that grape hut for good measure."
"Happy hunting you nasty ass honey badgers, we'll watch for squirters."
I'm sure some dudes would have a coronary listening to that exchange, but Pilots are badass people who want actionable intel as fast and as accurate as possible and they're not sticklers for protocol. They're in the zone (daaaanger zoooone! ) so just talk to them like they're someone you met at a Van Halen concert you would have attended if your Unit was squared away and could effectively transport personnel in a timely manner. If the Pilots have an issue with it, they'll let you know - but it was never cause for concern with me or the AWT's I integrated with.
8) Use AWT's To Your Advantage
Sometimes you just need to straight up use AWT's. They excel in locating and identifying personnel around you. They also are terrifying to the Talib - bad guys tend not to fuck with you when choppers are on station. It may not be a fun job for Pilots, but they realize the tactical necessity of providing overwatch and aeriel cover for ground elements. besides, they get hours flying anyway. This applies to both infil and exfil if stealth isn't required either. Don't be afraid to request AWT's if you determine you need them (worst that can happen is the request gets denied)- they're here to help after all, and they know the bad guys ain't waiting around all the time...they just hope that they are and that they stick up their heads so they can shoot them off.
9) Be SUre To Thank Them On Their Way Out
Congratulate them on a job well done. These dudes have more kills than most ground elements and strike fear into the dark hearts of evil smelly bearded men everywhere. Give them props for their efforts...as if the Kings Of The Mountain require a boost.
Helicopters are nothing short of epic, wondrous inventions made even cooler by modern adaptation by giving them lethal armament and crewed by some of the best in the death-dealing business. Having AWT's come on station was never a bad experience, just a smiling grim reminder that even more hell was about to be unleashed. Bring the motherfucking ruckus. Cheers, those who harness the reins of JP8 guzzling rotary winged steeds. The only time you can have too much CAS is when you're the ones buying them drinks at the bar or when you're trying to jerk off on a rooftop but not end up on TADS camera footage later.
It's reassuring to hear from knowledgeable folks in their respective fields that I'm not off base. The last thing I want to do is pout out bad intel for Joe. I owe my existing knowledge to the Soldiers/Airmen serving in these positions that taught me their jobs, requirements, what to look for and how to best integrate them for their mission. We were a joint-level success due to teamwork and lack of ego on both sides of the sense - it's nice to have this validated.
EODDoogie,
Outstanding addition - this had escaped my focus because we worked solely with Army EOD.
Do you guys from sister services encounter a lot of issues due to that? You would think most would place mission success over petty rivalry over service branch which accomplished nothing.
wrparrish,
"Machines don't fight wars. Terrain doesn't fight wars. You must get into the minds of humans - thats where the battles are won." - COL John Boyd
I think Scout PLT's would be your biggest asset. Soldiers typically undergo a Selection & Assessment process for that PLT and will be a higher caliber individual with greater maturity, professionalism, and common sense. Leaders are typically hand picked due to strong backgrounds, experience, and work ethic. Add a broader mission profile and higher physical standards along with capabilities and that seals it.
FM 17-98 will shed info on their duties and responsibilities. I also recommend reading up on the FM called Special Reconaissance & Surveillance, I don't recall the exact number. This will give you a baseline for their mission sets, but it is best to ask them directly as their use and employment can vary greatly. Our Scouts were typically in Overwatch positions sniping and launching TOW's at dudes while up in the mountains and were insulated from the populace, so a TPT would have been of little value attached to them for the majority of their operations.
Providing them with a Capabilities Brief and a short interaction showing you understand the basics and fundamentals of their role and duties would be a great step in the right direction. As you state, don't just focus on what you can have them do - but also how you can help them. This allows that element to start thinking and problem solving.
I think your biggest hurdle now will be the Qu'ran Burning Crisis. This has COIN implications greater than the DA / Network implications the jailbreak had.
A thing not a lot of people are admitting is how little positive influence a non-Muslim group can and will have over a Muslim culture. They may tolerate us and work together towards a common goal, but we will never be accepted or truly trusted due to religion.
Understand that most of my work centered around Direct Action and Find, Fix, Finish, Exploit, Assess, and Discriminate. We typically didn't interact with the populace on a regular basis and MISO elements were a BN level asset and not directly partnered with us, we were just told to provide them security and capitalized on the strategic value of the information they were collecting. I also failed in integrating with GPF MISO elements due to a poor experience with them initially (hence why I stress that the first impression is the most important in establishing a working relationship)- I subsequently neglected to follow up on this later and wrote them off. We could have been more effective had we been more compatible and I'll show what could have arose had this occurred.
In addition to establishing patterns of life, tracking enemy movement by using assets at your disposal to force their movement is paramount. Track them to their bed down sites and it is a step further to taking them down and provides you with a wealth of information necessary for attacking the network.
i also think a valid initiative MISO could institute would be a Taliban early warning network in villages. Not sure what assets would be best / available, but if this could result in manipulating the battlespace in such a manner to draw them out somehow for some Small Unit Kill Team action that would be epic. This requires a hard charging CO, however, and potential consequences for this on the citizens is severe.
My Michael Jordan / Larry Bird MISO Team would have been one that supported the HVT / TST mission set. This required us going into heavily populated areas and entering compounds to capture / kill bad guys with surgical precision. Having a MISO Team that had personally worked the area, done Cultural Mapping for the village and its citizens, knew the people and culture and able to contribute to the initial Planning Process would have been invaluable. A mock-up of the village with a ring of 3x5 index cards outlining population breakdown / individual information drawn from this would have been greatly enhanced by active input from them. The more information we have, the better we can fine-tune our plan and mitigate risk - not just for us but especially for the innocents living there. Having a TPT element prepared and ready to aggressively put out information to the populace as to why we were there and what this accomplishing and why and that this was done for them and their way of life would have been far preferable to being reactive and trying to counter whatever OPFOR IO messages arose from the operation after. We are getting our collective ass kicked in the IO War, and I'd be interested to hear what problems you guys are facing on your end.