JTACs integrate with U.S. Army during RED FLAG-Alaska 16-2

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Shawn Nickel
  • 354th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
EIELSON AIR FORCE BASE, Alaska --  Joint Terminal Attack Controllers worked through multiple missions integrating with Soldiers to find, fix and finish targets, which pose threats to troops on the ground June 8-10 in the Joint Pacific Alaska Range Complex.

RF-A 16-2, the largest exercise of it’s kind in six years, employed more than 500 Soldiers who used the JTACs’ ability to call in air-to-ground support and overwatch from A-10 Warthogs, F-16 Fighting Falcons and U.S. Marine Corps F/A-18 Hornets.

“We are here putting all the training we have learned over the years and putting it to use in live fire scenarios,” Staff Sgt. Jacob Rinker, a 13th Air Special Operations Squadron JTAC out of Fort Carson, Colo. “This is a new place for me, but it is definitely the biggest range I’ve ever been on. With the big air-to-air piece integrated with air-to-ground, we get to take away lessons learned, so we can employ those lessons in the real-life combat environment.”

Real life is an every day occurrence all around the world Rinker explained.

“With ISIS having so much equipment, this training ties into exactly how we would operate against them, but here we are able to work with our partner assets to document tactics and techniques to pass along to deploying forces,” he said.

Detailed integration with so many moving parts and adjustments is exactly what would happen in the real world. RF-A is a safe way for new JTACs and Soldiers to experience it within a controlled environment.

“Being face to face with the players allows everyone to understand why it’s important that we can successfully put bombs on target to relieve a pinned down unit or alleviate a dangerous situation for our troops,” Rinker said.

Hiding deep in the woods under the cover of camouflage dripping with rain, U.S. Army Sgt. Justin Campbell, a team lead from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment, Fort Wainwright, Alaska, had a bird’s eye view of enemy targets as they were destroyed by air support called in by JTACs as he recalled troops in contact situations he experienced when deployed.

“Having a JTAC around is a matter of life and death,” he said. “They are life insurance or a tool that never fails. If you are pinned down, the CAS comes in because of the JTACs and no one else. This advantage is almost instant and gives you the ability to regain ground and advance to the enemy – whoever is left.”