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Warfighting In Iraq
by Dale Brown, 2007

ARTICLE ORIGINALLY APPEARED AT TheBigFiveOh.com Blog @ Yahoo.Com, 01/16/08

A few recent e-mails from my brother Jim, who is the executive officer (second in command) of a Stryker Brigade Combat Team in Baqubah, Iraq. It's a small snapshot of warfighting in Iraq right now (that's him in the photo above with an elementary school in Baqubah that they just opened up):

Good to hear from you!

There are NO airstrikes in our area unless we call them.

I have about 12 USAF Joint Tactical Attack Controllers that work for me here in the Operations Center. We have all of the comms gear necessary to talk to any aircraft that we request or gets pushed to us. We also have remote viewing terminals which allows us to tune into the video downlink signals coming from the aircraft. We talk directly to the aircraft ensuring that what we want targeted is what he is looking at. They also make great Armed Recce platforms.

We have almost 24-hour persistent fixed-wing support and have dropped over 30 JDAMs (a mix of GBU-12 and -38) [JDAMs are GPS-guided gravity bombs with very high precision] in the last two days!

Each battalion has a USAF JTAC team assigned to them as well. We can control the air from the brigade but usually push it down to them for direct employment.

We've really got our battle drill down between the ground forces, rotary-wing, artillery, and fixed-wing. My Airspace Coordinator is one busy dude!We have our own air traffic radar system and are able to network into all systems in theater to generate a common air picture. Don't forget the Shadow, Predator, Hunter, Raven, etc. for Unmanned Aerial Systems.

Probably more than you wanted to know. Take care - Jim

FORGOT TO MENTION - My lead JTAC is a B-52 pilot. They all recognize your name!!!

My question in return:

No, in fact this is exactly what I wanted to learn. Very cool. Do you and your JTACs get to choose which aircraft you get or does that depend on all the factors involved (how much time to plan, what kind of target, collateral damage, etc.) What other factors would be involved?

His response:

We request "capabilities" and not specific aircraft. Most aircraft flying have a pretty common loadout that meets just about everyone's needs and slowly changes over time as the enemy situation changes. We'll typically get F-16, FA-18, or Tornadoes in support.

Aircraft and flight hours are divided out based on priorities and planned missions submitted in advance.

At any time, you can declare a "TIC" or Troops In Contact (hmmm.. sounds like a book title...) and pull aircraft from anywhere in theater. No crying wolf though, because if you have it that means somebody else doesn't.

"Hmmm" indeed...I'm casting about for some ideas for a new novel. Maybe it's time to take a trip to Iraq and check out these USAF guys in action with an Army brigade! Gotta renew my passport first!

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