This story originally ran in the May 23, 2005, issue of the News-Miner.
Airmen are taking to the ground this month at the Joint Readiness Training Center at Fort Polk, in central Louisiana.
The Army’s 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team gave the Air Force’s 3rd Air Support Operations Squadron five of the Army’s high-tech armored Stryker vehicles at a ceremony earlier this month in preparation for a unique partnership.
The 3rd Squadron is assigned to the 354th Operations Group at Eielson Air Force Base, but its primary customer is the Stryker Brigade at the Fort Wainwright Army Post. The airmen will join the soldiers who deploy to Iraq in August.
It will be the first time a joint effort with the Army and Air Force has taken place using the Stryker vehicle. The airmen will coordinate air support from a Stryker vehicle for soldiers on the ground.
For most of May, Alaska-based members of the Stryker Brigade have been at Fort Polk’s training grounds preparing for deployment. That training has included the Air Force’s first spin in the Army’s newest of rides.
The Stryker Brigade’s airman contingent will act as a liaison between ground and air as well. Aerial units act as eyes around corners, over hills and between buildings in urban settings.
The five specially equipped Stryker vehicles given to the Air Force have enhanced communications systems to allow the soldiers to coordinate ground and air force activities.
Squadron members will be able to communicate with any Air Force aircraft.
In the past, the Tactical Air Control Parties–the specialized team that managed air space above ground troops and guided reconnaissance and surveillance–traveled in Humvees manned by airmen.
With the equipment-laden Stryker, Army soldiers operate the vehicle and provide gun support, while airmen focus on managing equipment and aircraft communications.
Lt. Col. Russell Smith, 3rd ASOS commander, said the system has been providing ground troops and air support with what he calls a “God’s-eye view.”
“We see what the pilot actually sees,” he said.
The most important advancement in the Stryker’s communication abilities is the advanced technology erases communication delays between air and ground troops, allowing pilots to get information en route to a target. This is especially important in situations presented by Operation Iraqi Freedom where enemies, troops and civilians can all be in close range of each other and shift constantly.
“That stuff is a quantum leap forward in ability for us,” Smith said.
The idea of the partnership was there at the inception of the Stryker Brigade model, but soon was abandoned. Once off the radar, the idea needed a strong advocate to pull it back.
Enter Smith. When Smith first took over the squadron in July 2004, he asked his predecessor about the partnership plan and was told the Air Force was not going to get the vehicles.
“That did not sit well with me,” he said. “I vowed to myself, ‘I’m going to try, come hell or high water, to get Strykers for my guys. If the answer is no, fine. But I’m going to bang on everybody’s door, though, until the answer unequivocally comes back no.’”
Smith assembled a team that went to Washington to talk to Fort Lewis Stryker Brigade members who recently returned from Iraq. Smith found the air-ground coordination using Humvees worked well enough. But many parties realized how the process could work better with Strykers.
“All the guys, to a man over there, said, ‘We need Strykers,’” Smith said.
Smith’s mission quickly began building speed. He and his team gained the support of commanders at Eielson and Lt. Gen. Carrol H. Chandler, commander of Alaskan Command and the 11th Air Force, deployed at Elmendorf Air Force Base in Anchorage.
“Once we got Gen. Chandler to buy in, all of a sudden things became easier,” Smith said with a grin.
Smith also won over Air Force and Army leaders on the national level. Leadership at the Stryker program management office took up the cause and between December and May developed the software and hardware for the eight-wheeled vehicles. Engineers and contractors gathered in early January and developed a prototype in six weeks.
The JRTC training was the first time the ASOS was introduced to the five vehicles it will be using in Iraq.
Smith said the training has been invaluable in replicating conditions and challenges the troops will face in Iraq.
“It looks like the real thing,” he said.
Smith said the biggest challenge the 3rd Squadron is dealing with is providing air support in urban and village environments where civilians and insurgents are sometimes indistinguishable, an environment portrayed at JRTC.
“Our challenge has been employing close air support in this environment,” he said. “Avoiding collateral damage is key.”
Smith said they have had to get creative in tactics, such as using inert bombs with the explosive replaced with sand. This explosion only structurally damages a target and doesn’t cause a burst that causes a wide area of damage to civilians and structures.
“You have bad guys hanging out and they love to hang out by civilians,” he said. “It’s really about winning over hearts and minds.”