Enduring Freedom

0413&:$0.#"5"*3$3"'5t AV-8B HARRIER II UNITS OF OPERATION ENDURING FREEDOM

Lon Nordeen

LON NORDEEN

INTRODUCTION 6

CHAPTER ONE USMC AND AV-8B AIR SUPPORT 7

CHAPTER TWO OEF 2001-02 13

CHAPTER THREE OEF 2002-03 22

CHAPTER FOUR OEF 2004-06 31

CHAPTER FIVE OEF 2007-10 53

CHAPTER SIX THE SURGE 69

APPENDICES 91 COLOUR PLATES COMMENTARY 92 INDEX 95

© Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com 6 INTRODUCTION T INTRODUCTION from theautumnof2001through toSeptember 2013. American,CoalitionandAfghanground forcesoperations supporting andreconnaissance (ISR)contributionsduring intelligence, surveillance demonstrated theutilityofSTOVL jetthrough firepower and technical modificationstoensure utilityandsafety. pod, ROVER andongoingOperational Flight Programme updates and LiteningIIFLIR/laser designation and theadditionofAN/ALQ-28(V) enhancements, Harrier II+modification thataddedtheAN/APG-65radar Rolls-higher-thrust through equipmentimprovements. These have includedthefitmentof Navy/contractor teamhave worked tirelessly tokeeptheAV-8B uptodate training requirements. Throughout thisperiodtheUSMarine Corps/US Marine Unit Expeditionary (MEU)deployments, exercises andregular (OEF) andOperation Iraqi Freedom scheduled (OIF),aswell asundertaking stretched tothelimitproviding forOperation Enduring support Freedom armed reconnaissance. air interception andground and attack,helicopterandvehicle escort options. Missions by theSTOVL undertaken AV-8B Harrier IIinclude operations duetoitsspeed,firepowerof military andflexiblebasing thefullrange thatcansupport runways operatingbaseswithshort forward Despite allofthechallengesAV-8B squadrons have successfully Since theautumnof2001,USMarine CorpsAV-8B squadrons have been aircraft deployed forward onamphibiousassaultshipsandat provides uniquecapabilitiessinceitispresently theonlytactical he STOVL landing)AV-8B take-off and vertical (short Harrier II Royce Pegasus F402-RR-408 engine,Night Attack © Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com

USMC AND AV-8B AIR SUPPORT 7 www.ospreypublishing.com • Publishing Osprey ©

he US Marine Corps is a combined arms force with ground, combat with ground, Corps is a combined arms force he US Marine support and fight together to conduct and aviation assets that train Corps is the US Marine expeditionary Since warfare. manoeuvre

Operating the US Marine Corps’ principal tactical aircraft types, types, principal tactical aircraft Corps’ the US Marine Operating II, has a slightly than the Harrier is faster The twin-engined Hornet was seen as a special the AV-8B the US Navy, by Although not flown Hornet years, II and, in recent Corps Harrier US Marine Multiple

essentially a light infantry to most armies, with the when compared force on aerial the sea, it relies and assault from emphasis being on manoeuvre such as the of attack helicopters and tactical aircraft, in the form firepower up for the F/A-18A/C/D) to make (and conventional AV-8B STOVL of organic artillery limited availability the range, firepower support. Indeed, far superior are aircraft tactical delivery by and accuracy of weapons offered and attack helicopters. gunfire naval artillery, by to those achieved often communities have II and Hornet personnel within the Harrier Both aviation the years. over a somewhat fractious relationship endured the US from compete for limited funding, which is secured programmes strike fighter that is a superb multi-mission The Hornet budget. Navy’s missions. US performs and strike and reconnaissance the air-to-air role have with the F/A-18A/C variant equipped Corps squadrons Marine aircraft can operate from since the Hornet supported the US Navy directly Corps flying the and US Marine carriers. And with both the US Navy Corps have within the US Marine F/A-18, fighter attack squadrons support, and upgrades to the aircraft investments US Navy benefited from decades. the past three over (CAS), for Close Air Support range and can carry ordnance greater more also has a much better It depending on the mission and load configuration. a 6000 ft runway to operate from. but requires than the AV-8B, safety record Corps CAS for US Marine to provide developed machine’ case ‘Green amphibious assault ships and shorter operating from by forces ground Corps has often had to The US Marine airfields to the battlefield. close funds for the to secure of ‘budget wars’ in a series Congress through work to its unique vertical/short-takeoff and landing (V/STOL) Due AV-8B. flight characteristics, and or short and vertical takeoff landing (STOVL) more requires challenging to fly, II is more associated design, the Harrier maintenance and has a significantly higher accident rate. Marine to meet US to OEF in order been committed have squadrons (ISAF) air support Assistance Force Security Corps and International Corps, US Army or the US Marine for the campaign. For requirements II and the Hornet in Afghanistan, the Harrier ISAF soldiers on the ground AIR SUPPORT AIR

USMC AND AV-8B AV-8B AND USMC T 8 CHAPTER ONE upward-firing chaff/flare dispensers were alsoadded in theaftfuselage. Leading-Edge Root Extension (LERX),which improved agility. Four fight atnight.In addition,theNight Attack Harrier IIincorporated alarger (NVGs). These improvements allowed AV-8B pilotstoeffectively flyand cockpit displaysandlighting compatiblewithnightvisiongoggles upgraded head-updisplay(HUD), adigitalmoving map, two-colour equipped withaForward LookingInfrared (FLIR)sensorinthenose,an (originally builtasthe87thAV-8B) wasrolled out,thisvariant being for CAS.In June 1987thefirstHarrier IINight Attack prototype aircraft (161produced) wasessentiallyaclearairstrikeaircraft optimised ASB-19 AngleRateBombingSystem (ARBS),theAV-8B dayattack withimprovementsforward fortheAV-8B. With itselectro-optical Hughes Even before Shield/Desert Desert Storm theUSMarine Corpswasmoving AV-8B Harrier IIUnits ofOperation Shield Desert Storm andDesert . in thecampaignisdiscusseddetailOsprey CombatAircraft 90– with twopilotsbeingkilledandtakenprisoner. The Harrier II’s role oroperationalcauses, missiles/anti-aircraft artillery action tosurface-to-air of intensestrikeoperationsagainstIraqi forces, five AV-8Bs were lostin Coalition forces toliberateKuwait from Iraqi control. During the41days explosive bombs,clustermunitions andotherordnance supporting missions intheHarrier IIanddelivered 5.9millionpoundsofhigh early 1991,whenUSMarine Corpspilotscompleted3380combat as well asandseveral hundred personnelandflightcrews. support AH-1W Super CobraattackhelicoptersandUH-1Yliaisonhelicopters, detachment ofCH-53heavylifthelicoptersandasmallernumber of CH-46mediumlifthelicoptersor, more commonly, V-22 tilt-rotors, a are assignedtoacompositesquadron. This unitalsoincludesasquadron personnelfrom aUSMarineabout 90support CorpsHarrier IIsquadron units ofthethree shipsoftheESG.Generally, sixAV-8Bs, ninepilotsand aviation elementprovides forthe1200Marines support assignedtocombat a commandelement,ground elements. force andcombatsupport The SOC, andtwosmalleramphibiouslandingships. aircraft andmore thanhalfofthepersonnelandequipment oftheMEU- ton LandingHelicopter Assault(LHA)ship, whichcarriesmostofthe consists ofone40,000-tonLandingHelicopter Dock (LHD)or45,000- Strikeships assignedtoanExpeditionary Group (ESG). The latterusually aviation combatelementofaMEU-SOCembarked inamphibiousassault 1970s USMarine CorpsHarriers have regularly deployed ofthe asapart size (16,000+personnel)MarineForce Expeditionary (MEF).Since the Special Operations Capable(MEU-SOC)aboard three shipstoadivision- a force thatcanrangeinsize from thesmallMarineUnit- Expeditionary Ground Task Force (MAGTF) commanderwhendeployed, of beingpart Joint Direct Attack Munitions GPSweapons. (JDAM) munitions, includinglaser-guidedbombs,Maverick missilesand,later, FLIR/laser targetingpods,cannon,rockets andprecision-guided have provided sincebothjetscarry effective andaccurateairsupport, The AV-8B wasbloodedincombatduringOperation Storm Desert in Aviation combatelementsare ofa MAGTF, alwayspart whichincludes AV-8B unitstypicallycomeunderthecontrol oftheMarine Air- HARRIER IIUPGRADES © Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com

USMC AND AV-8B AIR SUPPORT 9 www.ospreypublishing.com • Publishing In 1990 the AV-8B Night Attack airframe Attack flight testing commenced Night AV-8B 1990 the In to fund the agreed and Italy USA, Spain 1990 the September In the II+, then was the brain of the upgraded Harrier the AN/APG-65 If and radar Attack the Night both first glance the -408 engine used by ‘At maintainability ‘The primary aviation is supportability, ethos of Marine Marine Claypool and a team of US Robert the late 1990s Lt Col In The US Marine Corps received the first of its 65 AV-8B Night Attack Attack Night 65 AV-8B first of its the received Corps Marine The US with the F402-RR-408 engine, which not only provided 3000 lbs of 3000 lbs of which not only provided engine, with the F402-RR-408 durable than the thrustadditional be more was also meant to but the higher thrust However, II. Harrier fitted in the original F402-RR-406 in several series of technical challenges that resulted engine experienced a of all AV-8Bs. a fleet-wide grounding being lost in accidents and aircraft and training until impacted fleet operations adversely These problems The F402-RR-408 engine bearing and blade issues. corrected Royce Rolls- aircraft, Attack Corps Night into all US Marine retrofitted was eventually II+ jets. trainers and later Harrier TAV-8B as as well Raytheon) AN/APG-65 multi-mode (now integration of the Hughes into a new engine and other systems enhancements F402-RR-408 radar, the jet was II+, Harrier the AV-8B II. Designated of the Harrier version bomber precision capable of performing as an air defence fighter, now funded The US Navy all in the same mission. aircraft and reconnaissance aircraft (production of 42 brand new II+ aircraft the production Harrier 164129, which was a radar integration test 233 to 262, and BuNo of 74 remanufacture and the aircraft) Attack a Night from conversion II+ 263 to 336) to Harrier aircraft (production day attack aircraft AV-8B ran from aircraft the new/remanufactured of configuration. Production II+s for the US Marine to late 2003, when the final Harrier 1996 through delivered. were Corps and Spain heart. Dowdle, Chuck aircraft’s F402-RR-408 engine was the improved of AV-8B than 18 years warrant officer with more a former Marine engine expert, was heavily a Roll-Royce support experience, and now new of the with the introduction jet into at squadron-level involved service;frontline when you to be basically the same. However appeared II+ variants Harrier pipes, connections and firewall a lot more were got to look closer there many were there jet. Plus Attack the Night changes on the radar jet versus with the engine work QEC systems and kits to install to make the more radar package to the common engine had to add the you radar jet. Indeed, example, it took about 550 man-hours for II+. For to fit it in the Harrier the radar jet it was With aircraft. Attack a total engine change on a Night than 750 man-hours to change the engine. more officer I was the quarterback As the maintenance control and reliability. the the centre, the maintenance scheduler was of the squadron, of operations officer the coach and the commanding officer the owner had to have We the football team. I was the guy making the passes. to fly.’ ready aircraft Chief Deputy McCorkle, Frederick Corps staff officers convinced Lt Gen to sign an urgent combat capability requirement (DCS) Aviation, of Staff they Crucially, for an up-to-date FLIR to be integrated with the AV-8B. aircraft in September 1989 (production aircraft 167 to 232), with initial 232), with 167 to aircraft 1989 (production in September aircraft Arizona. Yuma, located at MCAS going to squadrons deliveries Osprey © 10 CHAPTER ONE Iraqi Freedom I-VI. in in thiscampaign,andthebloodypeacethatfollowed, ischronicled in 2003,whichinvolved nofewerthan76AV-8Bs. The Harrier II’s role pilots toidentifytacticaltargetsfrom mediumaltitudes. Litening IItargetingpodsforeachHarrier IIsquadron, whichallowed about topayoff. Anotherpluswastheprocurement ofsixtoeight F402-RR-408 engineandimproved safety, andtrainingwas support The USMarine Corps’ Pegasus investment inthehigherthrust radar-equipped Harrier II+sandfour tosixAV-8B Night Attack aircraft. squadrons were equippedwith15AV-8Bs –usuallyamixoftentotwelve andreconnaissancemuch-prized strikeplatform. intelligence,surveillance revolutionise battlefieldcommand-and-control, andmaketheAV-8B a toground stations. transmission ofimagery capabilitywasto This new Litening IIpodswere eventually modifiedwithadatalinkforreal time fire missiles.AV-8B andshoulder-launchedIR-guidedsurface-to-air deliver precision laser-guidedbombsfrom above therangeofanti-aircraft enhanced precision, greatly reducing theriskofcollateraldamage,and modified software, wasbeingtested. stationfive, andincorporating the LiteningIIpodmountedonunderwing than otheralternatives, andthusitwasselected.By 2000anAV-8B with pod wasmore capable,costlessandwaseasiertointegrateintotheAV-8B NorthropAN/AAQ-28(V) Grumman LiteningIIFLIR/laserdesignation testing theavailable targetingpodsitwasdeterminedthatthe also secured supplementalfundingfrom Congress forthisupdate.After These systemswere puttothetestduringOperation By late2002allseven oftheUSMarine Corps’ frontline Harrier II The podallowed Harrier IIpilotstodetectandtracktargetswith Osprey CombatAircraft 99–AV-8B Harrier IIUnits ofOperation © Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com Iraqi Freedom I

the pilot( he was sitting inthecockpit nextto aerial attacks from theground asif battlefield commandercanmonitor strike effectiveness, sinceaFAC or this system hasgreatly improved The real timeimagery generated by the ground fitted withanantenna. a ‘ruggedised’ laptop computer on the pilotcouldalsobetransmitted to video datalinksotheimage seenby Litening IIpodwas fitted witha pinpoint accuracy. Inlatethe 2002 and otherPGMweapons with identify targets andemploy LGBs which allows thepilotto detect and pod isdisplayed onthecockpit CRTs, designator. Imagery obtainedby the a laserspottracker, rangefinder and forward-looking infrared system and coupled devicetelevision camera, a Litening IIpodcontainsacharge- attached to stores pylon No5. The Litening IIFLIR/laserdesignationpod AN/AAQ-28(V) Northrop Grumman This VMA-513 AV-8B+ Harrier 14hasa US Navy) USMC AND AV-8B AIR SUPPORT 11 www.ospreypublishing.com • Publishing Continuous software upgrades were also developed and incorporated incorporated and also developed were upgrades Continuous software Cole, former many of these systems upgrades was Hank Overseeing a significant transformation platform has gone through ‘The AV-8B Aside from the Litening II, the US Marine Corps had also acquired acquired had also Corps the US Marine II, the Litening from Aside into the AV-8B’s weapons system. This included many Operational Operational This included many system. weapons into the AV-8B’s 1999 to C2.0 in C1.0 in (OFP) updates ranging from Program Flight These software and H5.0 and H6.0 in 2008. 2003, H4.0 in 2006 radar and the operability of the AN/APG-65 upgrades improved integration with the many it came to weapons Litening II pod when JDAM), the dual mode laser/GPS of JDAM (including Laser versions The software missile. guided bomb and AIM-120 radar-guided air-to-air II to work the Harrier new digital data links that allowed also created unmanned) and land- closely with other aerial (both manned and more War be put to the test in the based assets. All of these upgrades would 2002. from Terror on Manager; Programme Boeing AV-8B two significant were There since the beginning of OEF in 2001 to today. during this period incorporated into the aircraft capabilities that were additional equipment to enhance the AV-8B’s strike effectiveness. The effectiveness. strike AV-8B’s the to enhance equipment additional (GPS) and the Automatic System Positioning a Global latter included of the digital exchange provided which (ATHS), System Handoff Target targeting pod and ground and imagerytargeting data the jet’s between Receiver Enhanced Video Operational with a Remote units equipped II the Litening of newThe installation wiring also allowed (ROVER). station four rather than underwingpod to be carried on centreline station up of The freeing view of the ground. thus widening the sensor’s five, to be carried by or fuel additional ordnance allowed pylon the underwing II. the Harrier Osprey © The full set of equipment that Operational the L3 Remote comprises III), (ROVER Video Enhanced Receiver FACs Corps US Marine as used by view real commanders to and ground F/A-18s AV-8Bs, from time imagery became a critical ROVER and UASs. in piece of equipment in the war Afghanistan since it significantly and awareness enhanced situational (L3) command and control 12 CHAPTER ONE planned out of service datein2030.’ planned outofservice the aircraft remains intothefuture capableandsupported toitsnew the platformrelevant. The Harrier IIteamisfocusedonensuring that industry/government group maintaintheplatform capabilityandkeep their desire theMarine tosupport riflemanincombat,thathelpedthe China Lake.In theenditwasasmall, integratedteamofpeople,and site reps andtheFleet Support Teams Point atMCASCherry andNAWS providing reps, through ourfieldservice technicalassistance andsupport focusedonthedeployed partners squadrons, team atBoeingandindustry aircraft tobearmedwithupten500-lbJDAMs. [DITER], whichaddsincreased weapons carriageby smart allowing the The latestupgradeincludesadigitalimproved triple ejectorrack capability thatallows theweapon tohitmoving targetsontheground. The nextadditionwasthe500-lbLaserJDAM,withitsgreat multi-mode continue toinstalltheseandothermodificationkitsintotheHarrier IIs. Centers duringthelatters’ Planned Maintenance Intervalactivitiesto withtheUSNavy’sBoeing laterworked inapartnership Fleet Readiness into theunmodifiedNight Attack andradaraircraft inthefrontline. and thecompanyalsoprovided fieldteamstoincorporatethecapability was taskedwiththedesignandproduction ofsuchmodificationkits, MIL STD1760Bwiringmodificationtoutilisethecapability. Boeing weapon fortheAV-8B smart become theprimary strikecapability. introduced totheUSNavy inventory, especiallyaboard ships. This has of the500-lbJDAMwasamuchbetterfitonHarrier IIwhen weapon wasinitiallycleared foruseby USNavy aircraft. The introduction allowing themtobeJDAM-capable,butonlythe1000-lbGBU-32 employ the500-lbGBU-38 JDAM. coming outofOperation Storm Desert Litening IItargetingpod,whichwasidentifiedasakeyrequirement commanders andAlliedforces. The firstwastheincorporationof which madetheAV-8B akeyassettotheUSMarine Corpscombat ‘As theprogramme manager, Iwasalwaysfocusedonensuringthatthe ‘At oftheconflict,mostfleetrequired thestart aretrofit ofthe ‘Most ofthe remanufactured radaraircraft were builtwithsoftware © Osprey . The secondwasclearanceto Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com Navy) and itwillguideitselfto impact(US guidance system anddrop thebomb coordinates into theweapon’s simply hasto enter thetarget targeting. When usingJDAM, thepilot with GPSupdates for precision employ aninertial navigation system GBU-38JDAM,pair of500-lb which pod –untilimpact. Above themare a designator –asfitted intheLitening II being illuminated by alaser rounds), which rely ontheirtarget means thatthey are inert training two GBU-12LGBs(bluebodies 500-lb pinpoint accuracy. At thebottom are pilots to strike battlefield targets with Such ordnance hasallowed AV-8B assault shipduring alive fire exercise. PGMs onthedeck ofanamphibious OEF 2001-02 13 At 2057 hrs local time on 7 local time on 7 2057 hrs At This Afghanistan conflict again central and northeastern regions. In In central and northeastern regions. when the US 2001, October on militaryWar commenced its and Taleban against the Terror the population of al-Qaeda, mix of Afghanistan – a diverse tribal, ethnic and linguistic groups – stood located regionally that were 25 million. at just over US and British 2001, October military Taleban struckforces at 31 The 2001 targets. and government named Operation offensive, (OEF), saw Freedom Enduring continuous Coalition air strikes that demolished strategic targets and the time there At defences. Taleban that this was no way of knowing longest would turn into America’s with air power running war, supporting throughout. operations the importance of sea- underscored aircraft especially based air power, and amphibiouscarrier battle groups bin after Osama Even assault forces. for the 11 Laden claimed credit many 2001 attacks, September Afghanistan were nations bordering or air bases unwilling to provide port to support facilities a US-led Thus, intervention in the country. www.ospreypublishing.com • ollowing the 11 September 2001 attacks on the World Trade Trade World attacks on the 2001 11 September the ollowing mobilised US W Bush George President Center and the Pentagon, support allies for diplomatic and military from and secured forces Publishing Afghanistan is a landlocked Asian countryAfghanistan is a landlocked the some 600 miles from nearest coastline. It shares borders with Pakistan to the southeast, Iran to to the southeast, Iran Pakistan with borders shares coastline. It nearest north in the and the Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan Turkmenistan, the west, larger than France, of China in the northeast. Slightly Republic People’s miles (647,500 sq km), and 250,000 square of Afghanistan has an area deserts the to mountains in terrain ranging from in the southwest varied action against the Taleban government in Afghanistan, which had been in Afghanistan, government Taleban action against the bin Laden and his – Osama of this atrocity harbouring the perpetrators 1997. organisation – since terrorist al-Qaeda F OEF 2001-02 OEF Osprey © Brickstreet Creative Creative Brickstreet ) US Marine Corps Harrier II units Harrier Corps US Marine in OEF usually participating based in the troops supported Afghanistan. half of southern Bagram flew from VMA-513 However, of tour 11-month its air base during duty in 2002-03 ( via author 14 CHAPTER TWO initial waves oftactical aircraft togointoAfghanistan whenthewar coast ofPakistan, andwe were ofthe confidentthat we wouldbepart do andwe willgoforward”. team. He said “you guysare thefixed-wing experts. Tell me whatyou can was great. of his guywhowasfairandsupportive He smart wasavery and mostpilotslove challenges.LtColJames LaVine, who ledHMM-163, off theship, asflyingfrom anamphibiouscarrierposesmanychallenges, MEU-SOC duringthedeployment. Ireally likeddeploying andworking in 2001; tanker transports. operations andalsomaintainedabaseforUSMarine CorpsKC-130 Pakistan. These forces mannedastaging area for search andrescue 350 Marines andseveral helicopterstoJacobabad airbaseinsouthcentral in earlyOctober, andonthe7thofthatsamemonthunittransferred exercise Australia offthecoastofnorthern totheIndian Ocean. 11 September from 2001attack,the15thMEU-SOCwasdiverted an Medium Helicopter (HMM)Squadron 163aboard Peleliu. Following the VMA-311. The latterjetsformedDetachment BassignedtoMarine three ships,2200Marines, 20+helicoptersandsixHarrier IIs from deployment totheNorthern Arabian Gulf (NAG). This force included had leftSan Diego, California,on13August 2001foraplanned assets tobedeployed totheregion OEF. tosupport The 15thMEU-SOC targets inlandlockedAfghanistan. theheavyweapons loadsneededto effectively hit operations andcarry l’Air, strikeaircraft wouldnothave beenabletosustainthelong-range these aircraft, initiallyprovided by theUSAF, theRAFand their NATO allies,aerialrefuelling assetsplayed apivotal role. Without and theFrench carrier did aircraft andhelicoptersfrom theBritish carrierHMSIllustrious (RO6) (LHA-5) andUSS helicopters operatingfrom theamphibious assaultshipsUSSPeleliu opening phaseofhostilities.USMarine CorpsAV-8B Harrier IIs and groups, were involved in the Vinson Enterprise (CVN-65)andUSSCarl in theMiddle East. USAF, thelatterflyingfrom bases bombers andtacticaljetsofthe assault shipsandlong-range carrier battlegroups, amphibious Afghanistan were theUSNavy’s sustained campaignagainst mobility andfirepower towagea assetswiththe the onlymilitary ‘We were amongthefirstfixed-wing unitstoarrive onstationoffthe ‘I wasthemaintenanceofficerforAV-8Bs assignedtothe15th Maj John with VMA-311 DetThomas wasserving Baboard Peleliu The three shipsofthe15thMEU-SOCarrived offthe coastofPakistan US Marine CorpsHarrier IIunitswere amongthefirstUS TACAIR allmodernconflictsinvolving USarmedforcesAs withvirtually and The aircraft carriersUSS (CVN-70), andtheirbattle (LHD-5) also took part inthecampaign,as Bataan (LHD-5)alsotookpart Charles De Gaulle ©

Osprey (R91). Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com Armeé de

2002 (USNavy) 2002 between August 2001 andMarch HMM-163, operated from LHA-5 ‘Det B’, which was assignedto MEU-SOC to Afghanistan. VMA-311 deploying Marines from the15th support theGlobal War on Terror, was thefirstamphibiousshipto assault shipsoftheUSNavy. Peleliu (MEU) embarked inamphibious within aMarine ExpeditionaryUnit Aviation CombatElement(ACE) pilots regularly deploy aspart ofthe support personnelandeightto ten AV-8B detachment withsixjets, 100 commitments. A USMarine Corps during2002 abreak from its OEF the coastofKuwait on7January USS Peleliu (LHA-5) sitsatanchor off OEF 2001-02 15 “Use our gas to kick ass!” – it was very motivating. “Use www.ospreypublishing.com • Publishing The pilot of the Harrier II that suffered a technical fault on the a technical fault on the II that suffered The pilot of the Harrier assigned the first strike sortie,‘The our det and I were majors from three ‘We subsequently headed into Afghanistan, found our target and subsequently headed into Afghanistan, found our target and ‘We ‘The mission had been scheduled several times but it was cancelled over ‘The times but it was cancelled over been scheduled several mission had flightdeck was Capt Jason Maddocks; flightdeck was Capt Jason training compound. mission against a terrorist which was a pre-planned dropped our bombs, before heading back to the ship, refuelling once on refuelling heading back to the ship, bombs, before our dropped the camp and expending our ordnance our way back south. Acquiring were IIs but at least the Harrier easy and not all that exciting, was pretty [empty bomb came home “clean” into the fight. Any time you finally now learned that we Later, racks] the personnel on the ship got very excited. Center] [Combined Air Operations the majority of the staff at the CAOC They had tracked monitors. had watched our first mission on their video flew launched, and flewus as we to the tankers, bombed back to the ship. tasking, this first mission had knew for us to continue to receive that We to all of the effortsto go off without a hitch, which it did thanks of our crew.’ the ship’s maintainers, as well Marine and over again due either to weather or other factors beyond our control. our control. or other factors beyond again due either to weather and over among the majors in the det, and mission rotated The flight lead for the jets had been was the lead for the strike. Four 2001 I on 3 November the chocks with in down but one of them went allocated to the mission, Each planned four-ship turned into a three-ship. a technical fault so our Mk 82 general purpose bombs on the had two fuel tanks and four aircraft the over KC-130 a Marine from refuelled we wings. Right after takeoff an RAF again, this time from refuelled 45 minutes later we ocean. About They had what looked like paper plates in the Pakistan. tanker over VC10 that read, windows started. However, to our surprise and great disappointment, no tasking no disappointment, great and to our surprise started. However, frustrated tried and were We IIs. Harrier 15th MEU’s to the down came in Qatar, [ACC] Air Component Commander to the to sell ourselves contribute to the asset that could a valuable were him that we informing by the fight was the desire of getting into of the challenges fight. One collateral damage. to reduce guided munitions] [precision for PGMs ACC on the back Wing Air our Marine through after much lobbying Finally, put in the fight were we Coast, up the chain and finally to the ACC, West training camp. tasked with attacking a terrorist were – we Osprey © AV-8B BuNo 164152 of VMA-311 ‘Det VMA-311 of BuNo 164152 AV-8B of the flightdeck down B’ accelerates signal to 2001 on 3 November Peleliu II first Harrier of the very the start in targets enemy mission against 2001. Afghanistan on 3 November in the mission jets participated Three camp, training a terrorist against with two II being armed Harrier each Mk 82 fuel tanks and four external 500-lb) bombs (US Navy 16 CHAPTER TWO to midNovember.’ some effective CAS.Most ofourheavystrikemissionswere flown inearly 15,000 fthard deck. We were pretty accuratedespitethis,andperformed agentledive tosswithourbombs inorderperform tostayabove the had todive, acquire thetargetinHUD[Head-Up Display] and 15,000 ftforweapons delivery. Since we didnothave atargetingpod,we ground level] soastolimitourthreat exposure, andwe coulddescendto ratherthanforcombat. originally designedforferrying four bombsbecausetheAV-8B had large externalfueltanksthatwere be abletoprovide more than60minutes ofloitertimedespitecarrying to theholdingstack,beassignedakillbox withaground FAC andstill to otheraircraft. We wouldpre-mission tankinsouthernAfghanistan,go more ofacoordination challengewithoutthelatter. despite nothavingaLiteningIIFLIR/laserdesignationpod.It wasjust CAS missionsforSpecial Forces, we were effectively stillabletoperform I dropped anLGB, aground FAC haddesignatedthetargetforme.Flying or anotheraircraft forlaserdesignation. On allofmymissionswhere flexibility. We wouldrely ontheground FAC [Forward AirController] GBU-12 500-lbLGBs [laser-guidedbombs]oneachjetforincreased away from bingo[nofuel],soitwas anexciting experience! to ouraltitudeandhighgross weight. hundred Iwasonlyafew pounds Rendezvousing at30,000ft,we hadtotobogganmaintainairspeeddue had tankedonNVGs andthefirsttimeIhadtankedoffaKC-10. recall howI still surreal itwastohitthetanker. This wasthefirsttimeI two production radarjetsandtwo remanufactured jets–atnight, and I wasflyingoneofourradarjets–we hadtwoNight Attack Harrier IIs, into theoceanandrecover. IdulymissedthefirstmissionintoAfghanistan! burn offfueltogetitdown tolandingweight, drop twoofmybombs replacement jetlostallcomms,soIhadtoorbitthecarrierinorder to guys tookoffandheadedforthetanker. Immediately aftertakeoffmy ever thebackupaircraft seenacrew astheotherthree dothat.Istarted to thisjet.It was thequickestIhave Marines transferred allthebombs the backupaircraft, andour went down. Ihadtomove over to during myground checksthejet aircraft ontheflightdeck,andthen as “fam” flightsby theUSmilitary]. are[familiarisation sorties referred to this missionan“Afghanifam” get backsafely. We jokinglycalled Afghanistan, drop ourbombsand the ship, flyallthewayinto just toshow we couldtakeofffrom AV-8B ofatrainingmission –sort wasaproving missionforthe It ‘The ROE‘The [Rules ofEngagement] keptusabove 20,000ftAGL [above ‘We achieved outstandingtimeonstationintheCASstackcompared ‘After twoMk82sand carrying thefirstmissions,we started nextday,‘The however, myfirstmission,whichlasted4.1hours. Iflew ‘I completedpre-flighting the © Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com beneath itsright wing(USNavy) Harrier GBU-12LGB II)anda500-lb (the largest warhead employed by the both a1000-lb BLU-110 ‘dumb bomb’ flightdeck ofPeleliu, isarmed with position for take off from the December 2001 beingtaxiedinto 164142), photographed on24 This VMA-211 ‘Det B’jet(BuNo OEF 2001-02 17 www.ospreypublishing.com • Publishing had become a dedicated ‘Harrier carrier’, as as carrier’, ‘Harrier had become a dedicated Peleliu late November By into the war the rotary-winged and the weeks squadron ‘Several each with four aircraft per day, planned two missions were Generally, Maj John Thomas recalled; John Maj operations in transitioned to shore-based (BLT) Team Landing Battalion [FOB] Rhino, essentially turning Base Operating Afghanistan at Forward and minimising flightdeck competition carrier” into a “Harrier Peleliu would and we flight schedule, had a fairly routine this time we issues. By a four-ship twice daily or fly a mix of day and night missions, launching for ground units.’ four-ship twice daily on on-call CAS a staggered the detachment relied assigned – with only six jets embarked, and a spare IIs Harrier the hardworking heavily on its maintenance personnel to keep VMA-311 as a fighting of fully operational, thus ensuring the effectiveness and a second in the afternoon, in the morning was flown mission unit. One II pilots the Harrier after takeoff Shortly extending into the evening. heading north before a USAF or RAF tanker to refuel, with rendezvoused and tanking for a second time just prior to entering Afghan into Pakistan would usually split up Afghanistan, the formation over airspace. Once and fly strikes in supportinto two sections of two aircraft of Coalition delivering After about an hour in the combat zone ground. on the forces fly south all four jets would bombs or undertaking armed reconnaissance, and then head back to the carrier for a vertical refuel, into Pakistan, a to 5.5 hours and covered five missions lasted from landing. Most distance of 500 to 800 miles. Osprey © ) C-135FR de l’Air Armée in March-April 2003 during 2003 during in March-April 15th MEU-SOC Vol en de Ravitaillement of Groupe southern over 93 ‘Bretagne’ Afghanistan on 9 December 2001. to has been critical refuelling Aerial of employment the effective OEF, throughout Coalition air power case the particularly and this was of the stages the early during ‘Det B’ jets VMA-311 campaign. RAF and Armée USAF, from refuelled time the unit’s during tankers de l’Air ) (VMA-311 in 2001-02 in-theatre A VMA-311 ‘Det B’ AV-8B Harrier II+ Harrier AV-8B ‘Det B’ VMA-311 A on with GBU-12 LGBs takes armed an fuel from Pilots and maintainers from VMA-311 VMA-311 Pilots and maintainers from on the a photograph ‘Det B’ pose for on 22 January of Peleliu flightdeck its completed the unit having 2002, that month. OEF missions earlier the backdrop II that forms The Harrier (BuNo 164566) this photograph for in combat by be flown would from Iraq over A’ ‘Det VMA-311 Tarawa OIF I ( 18 CHAPTER TWO carrier, the withthe ItalianDecember 2001wesorties flew Navy AV-8Bs offtheir did, andthere wasabitofanoverlap where wetogether. flew Also,inmid when theyarrived offPakistan. missionsatthesametimeasweThey flew a face-to-facebriefwithMaj Mark Werth andhisdetonboard Bataan detachment briefedonOEFprocedures; after theycameuptospeedwe rotated dayandnightmissionsasrequired’. offcoveringBataan started thedayscheduleandwe covered thenight,but them onouroperations’, explainedMaj Harrier IIsThomas. ‘The on of HMM-365in personnelaspart which hadembarked ninepilotsandassociatedsupport unit’s aerialfirepower wasprovided by sixHarrier IIs from VMA-223, Lejuene, North Carolina, joinedthe15thMEU-SOCoff Pakistan. The the sixinourdetachment.’ expended. We nearlyalwayshadfourjetsavailable formissionsfrom usually bringyour bombsbackaboard theshipiftheyhadnotbeen If youthelighterNightless performance. flew Attack jetyou could the radar-equippedHarrier IIisa heavieraircraft, andtherefore has it cametorendezvousing withthecorrect refuelling tanker. Conversely, you bettersituationalawareness andhelpedwhen better thantheNight Attack jetastheradargave the operation; Afghanistan, withMaj Thomas inthevanguard of continued toflyitslong-rangemissionsinto vehicles tooperatesafelyfrom theFOB. allow KC-130s filledwithMarines andtactical and approach lightshadbeeninstalled soasto troops hadbeenrepaired andgearuntiltherunway Kandahar. CH-53Escontinuedtheinflow of airstripsouthof established FOBRhinoatadesert 441milesfromrifle companyflew theirshipand on 25November areinforced sixCH-53Escarrying previously notedinthischapterby Maj Thomas, ofMarinesinsertion intoAfghanistan.As Bataan alsoprovided forthehelicopter airsupport US Marine CorpsHarriers IIs flyingoffPeleliu the defencesaround Kunduz were alsobreached. to enterKabulon12November. Two weeks later under thepressure, allowing theNorthern Alliance October 2001the Taleban were tocrack starting Alliance assistedby CoalitionSpecial Forces. By late for asuccessfulground assaultby theNorthern weakened the Taleban’s defences,openingtheway ‘As we were thefirstAV-8B unitonstation,itwasuptousconduct Capt Jason Maddocks wasalsoinvolved ingetting VMA-223’s six-jet ‘When In mid November the26thMEU-SOC,originatingfrom Camp ‘For OEFmissions,Ilikedflyingtheradarjet While thiswasgoingon, VMA-311 Det B Aside from targetingthe Taleban andal-Qaeda, Nearly non-stoppoundingfrom theairsoon Bataan arrived itsAV-8B pilotscameoverPeleliu to andwe briefed Garibaldi .’ Bataan. © Osprey Publishing and • www.ospreypublishing.com early years ofOEF( would subsequentlycallhomeinthe forward bases thatMarine Air units luxurious incomparison withthe environment would prove to be cramped, maintenance insuch an November 2001. Although alittle Harrier IIinPeleliu’s hangar bay on23 B’ perform regular maintenance ona Marines assignedto VMA-311’s ‘Det USMC ) OEF 2001-02 19

‘The Marines of the VMA-223 VMA-223 ‘The of the Marines a Thanksgiving, I enjoyed ‘For rose to the occasion in the opening rose been I could not have days of OEF. They deployed of them. proud more days after way just seven into harm’s They the nation had been attacked. be true and I will forever heroes are indebted to them for their sacrifice. dinner in the Bataan turkey and then manned up for stateroom www.ospreypublishing.com • Publishing At approximately 2300 hrs on 22 November Harrier II pilots from II pilots from Harrier 2300 hrs on 22 November approximately At during the strength VMA-223, the AV-8B of with the arrival Even Thomas, he flew his ‘last combat mission over to Maj According II for Harrier VMA-223 assumed responsibility VMA-311 gone, With VMA-223 began flying regular strike missions over Afghanistan. The unit Afghanistan. strike missions over regular VMA-223 began flying Lashkar Gah, the corridor from conducted the bulk of its sorties over with Pakistan. near the border to Quetta, and down Kandahar through a tiny element of the only were opening phase of OEF was modest. ‘We at had ten aircraft only ever the two units, we air war in 2001 – between only made a small we to fly at any one time, and I am sure most ready not by limited in our mission effectiveness were contribution, since we I think we ‘However, recalled. Capt Maddocks having a targeting pod’, could perform similar missions AV-8B V/STOL demonstrated that the time on great carriers, providing off the big deck aircraft to the Hornet Our to support FACs. per aircraft the ground weapons station with several fought the political battle to get the biggest accomplishment was that we I think this and its effectiveness, the fight and then showed II into Harrier in both OEF and OIF.’ deployments AV-8B for future the way paved dropped this time I hadn’t 2001, and by Afghanistan on 31 December headed home, stopping 2002 we mid January In for weeks. any ordnance had Although we & Recreation. and Rest for re-supply off in Australia Diego, got back to San the time we months by been gone a total of seven to be a part of such an operation’. and rewarding it had been both exciting Werth; Mark Maj detachment was led by The Bataan operations in OEF. Osprey © ) US Navy ) M Werth VMA-223 ‘Det A’s’ AV-8B BuNo 165385 AV-8B VMA-223 ‘Det A’s’ mission from a training performs Arabian the to Bataan while en route IIs The six Harrier 2001. Sea in late were the detachment assigned to in turn was which of HMM-365, part the 26th MEU-SOC by controlled Once in-theatre, in LHD-5. embarked flew VMA-223 pilots from AV-8B the missions over most of their early long These were Afghanistan at night. in excess that usually lasted sorties fly from to jets having hours, of five Afghanistan via Pakistani the ship to with then tasked were They airspace. the repeating before targets, hitting the carrier. long flight south to were tankers Multiple visits to as there trip, round each for required to no bases then available were Afghanistan in aircraft Coalition strike ( Capt Jason Maddocks of VMA-311 VMA-311 of Maddocks Capt Jason AV-8B his inspects carefully ‘Det B’ mission over flying a to prior of OEF on 2 in support Afghanistan due to He was 2001. November first strike in the historic participate this 24 hours after of the campaign both his but taken, was photograph the replacement jet and primary in suffered off he then took aircraft causing him to failures, technical the mission ( abort 20 CHAPTER TWO area, whichproved tobetoo farforanythingotherthan fixed wing now 450nauticalmilesfrom theMarineBrigade’s Expeditionary operating elementof HMM-365went withthetroops.rotary-winged Bataan was Finally, when the26thMEU-SOCmoved ashore intoFOBRhino,the in December, moved sorties the26thMEU-SOCair support todaytime. theseizuresupport of Kandahar International by Airport Task Force 58 on theground inFOBRhinoincreased. Astheflightopsshiftedto And thisbecameincreasingly whenthenumbersofUStroops important arranged soastoprovide over 24-hourairsupport southernAfghanistan. night. The shipflightdeckcycle between theCVNsandLHA/LHDswere Harrier IIoperationsinAfghanistan,missionswere flown exclusively at hundredsof support ofmilesfrom theship.’ the target.Ifeltproud thattheMarine Corps couldprovide thiskind I coordinated withthemsothattheycouldlasetheconvoy. My bombhit made apass,destroying twovehicles intheconvoy. My wingmanand thisinformationontotheground FAC. and passed The Tomcats each pods were onstation,andtheyhaddetectedanenemy vehicle convoy a target. Two F-14Ds[from VF-213] withLANTIRN Targeting System on stationwhenIwassurprisedtoheartheFAC clearusweapons free on 1969. It wasnear theendofasix-hourmission. We had20minutesleft Corps mediarelease from lateNovember 2001; by theunit,ashedescribedinaUSMarineOEF missionsundertaken pilots from VMA-223.’ othernightcyclefirst inwhatwouldbecomeanevery forthedetachment time foraFriday morningbreakfast. That Thanksgiving missionwas the debriefed intelligenceandreturned ourweapons to thearmoury, itwas enemy whohadpoortacticaldiscipline. When we finished oursortie, capabilities oftheHarrier II+gave usasignificantadvantage over the followed several convoys thatnight. The nightattackandradar I station near Tarin Kowt. My wingman,CaptDwightDeJong, and withthreewhat wouldbenearlya5.5-hoursortie, hoursoftimeon According toMaj Werth, ‘for thefirst30daysof26thMEU-SOC ‘I becamethefirst VMA-223 pilottodrop abombincombat since Capt Nathan of duringtheearly Berryman VMA-223 created history © Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com them ( tanks, withordnance outboard of obligatory 300-gallonexternal fuel Sea. Itis, however, carrying the long missionsflown from the Arabian to theirexcessive weight during the centreline gunpods–rarely seendue the aircraft isnotarmed with Bataan OEF missionfrom theflightdeck of check prior to thejetlaunching onan ‘Det A’ through aquick pre-flight of AV-8B BuNo165385from VMA-223 Olisakwe Anchonye directs thepilot Aviation Boatswain’s Mate 3rd Class US Navy) on8January 2002. Note that OEF 2001-02 21 , before heading , before Peleliu www.ospreypublishing.com • enjoyed additional flight operations flexibility to support additional flight operations enjoyed Bataan Publishing The final phase of the opening round of OEF in 2001 was the hunt for The final phase of the opening round in Afghanistan were Corps troops As 2001 came to an end, US Marine operations with aerial refuelling capabilities. With most of the helicopters With capabilities. refuelling operations with aerial ashore, II sortiesHarrier day or night.’ any time, Bora Tora in the leadership group Laden and his al-Qaeda bin Osama and Afghan Forces US Special of eastern Afghanistan in December. region P-3Cs the suspected hideouts, while US Navy to surround militia worked the heavy application Despite above. watched from drones and Predator on search and an intensive IIs) (which included the Harrier of air power able to escape bin Laden and many of his senior advisers were the ground, into Pakistan. 101st Airborne and soldiers of the US Army’s by replaced progressively the 15th late December In Coalition forces. and Divisions 10th Mountain to MEU-SOC departed FOB Rhino and returned month the 26th MEU-SOC also departed The following home. to its homeport of Naval returning , the vessel Afghanistan for Bataan in April. Virginia, Norfolk, Station, Osprey © Pilots assigned to VMA-223 ‘Det A’ A’ ‘Det VMA-223 Pilots assigned to beneath one a photograph pose for is also marked which of their jets, the with a single bomb symbol to These men of the unit emblem. left Capts Enrique right, to left from are, Maj Mark Sinelli, and Joe Bougeois Chris Ferguson, Capts John Werth, Bers Dwight De Jong, Raible, and Maj Berryman and Nate Brennan ) Spano (M Werth Dan An aviation boatswain’s mate signals mate boatswain’s An aviation AV-8B the pilot of to launch’ for ‘Okay BuNo 163876 aircraft Attack Night 2002. Bataan on 8 January aboard jet is carrying A’ ‘Det VMA-223 The two tanks, 300-gallon external two AIM-9M an GBU-16 LGBs and 1000-lb missile beneath its wings. air-to-air small red two also has The aircraft the beneath bomb symbols painted expended denoting ordnance cockpit, ) mission (US Navy on a previous 22 CHAPTER THREE B OEF 2002-03 number ofAmerican troops, theUS land battleofOEFinvolving alarge eventually becomethefirstmajor Paktia province. In whatwould region, southofGardez inthe in themountainousShah-i-Kot Most ofthefighterswere holedup ofthecountry.in theeasternpart of Taleban andal-Qaeda resistance to knockouttheremaining pockets of 2002asanoffensive wasplanned troops duringthefirsttwomonths increased tomore than10,000 Exercise Edged Mallet inKenya.’ in country, soinmidFebruary in LHD-6sailedsouthtoparticipate missions intoAfghanistanfrom 18to24January. Things were quiet very Bonhomme Richard dayslater . Afew CASandthenreturned Afghanistan,flew went to uptonortheast Afghanistan withtwopilotsfrom in-theatre, CaptJosh Luckthedetachment’s andIflew firstmissionover had tailedoff. the timewe arrived offthecoastofPakistan fightingagainstthe Taleban officer embarked, ready whatever taskswe tosupport were assigned.By Bonhomme Richard the 1stofmonth. We pulledoutofSan Diego harbouraboard attacks of11September 2001ourdatefordeployment wasacceleratedto HMM-165 duringthe2001-02deployment; 2002, replacing aboard thevessel. The ESGarrived offthecoastofPakistan inmidJanuary detachment ofHarrier IIs from VMA-211 beingassignedtoHMM-165 embarked inUSSBonhommeRichard (LHD-6),withasixaircraft and creating policeforce andAfghanNational anew Army(ANA). by feedingtheAfghanpeople,rebuilding Afghaninfrastructure the country forces inAfghanistanjustasthelatter were tofocusonstabilising starting the courseof2002theyprepared tocounter-attackUSandCoalition removed from power, the Taleban remained undefeated.Indeed, during east ofthecountry. Althoughhavingsuffered seriouslossesandbeen Coalition forces inAfghanistan ‘Having initiallybeenbriefedby VMA-223 onrecent operations ‘We were scheduledtodeploy inmid-December, butasaresult ofthe Maj Michael Gough wastheHarrier IIdetachmentcommanderwithin From December 2001through toJune 2002the13thMEU-SOC neighbouring Pakistan orthesemi-independentborder area inthe Afghanistan, withtheremnants oftheirforces havingescapedinto y early2002boththe Taleban andal-Qaeda were in ontherun Bataan. withsixaircraft, ninepilotsand one maintenance Bataan, whoshowed ustheropes. We © Osprey Bataan leftandweregular flew Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com to 18 (USNavy) June2002 deployment from 1December2001 was embarked inLHD-6on as part ofthe13thMEU-SOC, ‘Det A’ with GBU-16s. Assigned to HMM-165 mission. All four aircraft are armed and sentaloft ontheunit’s nextOEF soon beunchained, marshalledout camera, andthesemachines will the two jetsfurthest from the 2002. There are pilotsstrapped into Bonhomme Richard on20January chained to theflightdeck of Four AV-8Bsfrom VMA-211 sit ‘Det A’ OEF 2002-03 23

Anaconda . Anaconda despite the unit’s despite the unit’s Anaconda against more than a thousand than a thousand against more on enemy combatants hardcore blighted the weather Bad 2 March. the start, from and offensive serious suffered Coalition forces air supportcasualties despite heavy did not the air or on the ground, a laser designator for our have When this LGBs. GBU-12 the simply dropped happened we bombs in unguided mode, and effect on mainly had an excellent of the time, the targets. Most the received our GBU-12s however, laser designation that they precision or other aircraft from required units. ground Army’s Task Force Mountain, Mountain, Force Task Army’s the from soldiers of 2000 consisting and the Division 10th Mountain together Division, 101st Airborne and ANA soldiers with Coalition units, Forces and Special Operation commenced www.ospreypublishing.com , as Maj Gough explained; Gough , as Maj Anaconda • Publishing recommenced OEF missions following the the following OEF missions recommenced Bonhomme Richard to help ‘HMM-165 flew Bagram some AH-1Ws and CH-53s into head for and Pakistan would fly through we departed‘Having the ship, VMA-223 who was amongst the pilots from Gore Thomas Maj this cruise had no Litening II targeting pods because they were ‘On we as entrenched al-Qaeda fighters shot down a MH-47 Chinook and badly a MH-47 Chinook fighters shot down al-Qaeda as entrenched other helicopters. damaged several launching of called the in an area Coalition operations in the high mountains SEALs and US and where Valley, in the Shah-i-Kot “Whaleback”, We losses. had seen some heavy fighting and suffered Coalition forces numerous our jets flying 6 to 28 March, from off Afghanistan stayed missions in support of the fighting associated with Operation in southern Afghanistan. Fuel point near Kandahar, our first refuelling coming point, or were got to the refuelling When we was a constant worry. always hoped that the tanker would be off a strike and needed gas, you times the jet At smoothly. and that the fuel transfer would proceed there chance to only one more had fuel when you close to “bingo” got pretty in Pakistan, into the basket for gas, or it was off to Jacobabad, get the probe flew six long missions ranging in length from many We to land ashore. missions commenced at night and extended hours to 7.5 hours. Many started into the night.’ in the day and went conversely, into the day or, during ordnance expended precision-guided targeting pods; lacking their own AV-8Bs with enough time to train did not have just arriving in the fleet, and we II is a very the Harrier Fortunately, them prior to our deployment. either in for occasionally the terminal controller, bomber, accurate “iron” Osprey © ) ) USMC AV-8B Harrier II+ BuNo 165397 from from II+ BuNo 165397 Harrier AV-8B ‘feet go to prepares A’ ‘Det VMA-211 the coast of as it approaches wet’ at the end of an OEF Pakistan By this 2001. mission on 15 March would the aircraft in the sortie stage than 600 miles and more flown have hours. five close to for been aloft OEF US Navy When supporting typically sail some 70 miles carriers (USMC the coast of Pakistan off A VMA-211 ‘Det A’ jet takes on fuel jet takes A’ ‘Det VMA-211 A KC 1 of No 216 Tristar an RAF from on 12 Pakistan northern Sqn over would II pilots Harrier 2002. March least three their tanks at off top OEF mission a typical times during of Tristars an LHA or LHD. from flown sight for a regular No 216 Sqn were the its time in-theatre, during A’ ‘Det of RAF unit flying jets in support (the RAF’s Oracle Operation its from OEF) codename for at Bahrain’s base detachment No 216 Sqn Indeed, Manama airport. had the distinction of being the first enter asset to Coalition tanker Afghan airspace ( 24 CHAPTER THREE watching uson thisdeployment. Embarked inWasp, we sailedfrom aware oftheresponsibility we had sincethere would bemanyeyes deploy withaself-designationPGM capability, we were much very while thewingmancarriedbombs –usuallytwoGBU-12s –andfueltanks. Flight Program software. II podtothesystemwouldhave meantrewriting theAV-8B’s Operational was notahigherorder language. To have addedcarriageoftheLitening wing. At thistimewe hadtheC1software installedintheAV-8B, which under thewing,usuallytostationfive –theinnerpylonbeneathright a LaserMaverick ratherthanatargetingpod, soitcouldonlybeuploaded with thepodmadeAV-8B’s weapons systemthinkthejetwascarrying GBU-16 1000-lbLGBsolitary undertheother. Our hurriedintegration Indeed, theLiteningIIpodunderonewing anda we couldonlycarry II thejethadonlybeenflighttestedwithasmallnumberofload options. of ordnance, asatthatearlystageinthepod’s associationwiththeHarrier simple tacticsthatsawuseitherself-orbuddy-lasingtargets. develop theseaswe went along.Since toallofuswe itwasnew usedpretty documentation onhow theAV-8B worked withthepod–we hadto deployment, astheunithadnooperatingmanualsnorsupport We learned“on thejob” uptothe systemintherun aboutthisnew Center [MCAGCC] at Twenty-Nine Palms, inCalifornia,late2001. exercise toexpandourskillsattheMarine CorpsAirGround Combat the LiteningIIpodtoHarrier II fleet,afterwhichwe conductedan deployment. The VX-9 testguyscametothesquadron andintroduced training withtheLiteningIIpodinpreparation forour2002OEF VMA-542, andherecalled; debut withtheAV-8B. CaptMichael Perez wasoneofthepilotsassignedto LHD-1 were givingtheLiteningIIFLIR/laserdesignation poditscombat deployment fortheHarrier IIcommunitywasthefactthatjetsaboard Harrier IIs from VMA-542. including adetachmentofsix of LHD-1,thereinforced unit was operatingfrom theflightdeck the coastofPakistan. HMM-261 embarked, hadrelieved LHD-6off with the22ndMEU-SOC home. By thenUSSWasp another exercise, before heading now over, LHD-6sailedeastfor followed by shipboard recoveries.’ ground forces, dayandnight, of insupport demanding sorties pilots dreamed about–long, the typesofmissionsthatallattack ‘As we were thefirstAV-8B pilotstoflywiththeLiteningIIpodand ‘We podsavailable hadsofew thatonejetcarriedthepodandfuel tanks ‘Fortunately, weprofiles didnothaveforawiderange tolearndelivery ‘We operationaltestingand hadbeenthefirstsquadron toperform The mostsignificantaspectofthis In lateMarch, withAnaconda ‘Overall, inearlyOEF, we flew (LHD-1), (LHD-1), ©

Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com (US Navy) exercises, asidefrom supporting OEF Group participated inseveral Wasp anditsExpeditionaryStrike from 22February to 30 August 2002, ‘Det A’ withinitsranks. Oncruise including six AV-8Bs from VMA-542 HMM-261 embarked, thelatter unit deployed withthe22ndMEU-SOC/ Pakistan on17 July2002. Wasp replenishment off thecoastof (LHD-1) during anunderway lbsoffuelto USSWasp65,000 USNS Supply (AEO-6)delivers nearly OEF 2002-03 25 ‘We operated off the coast of off the coast of operated ‘We Naval Station Norfolk in February February in Norfolk Station Naval six months less than was It 2002. thought we and we after “9-11”, to the Arabian directly would head fly missions over and Sea with our newAfghanistan Litening alert sat on we for II pods. Instead, in supporta week of Operation [OSW] in the Southern Watch never were although we NAG, Iraq. fly over actually called on to got we there, from Eventually, to head east. orders flying weeks, for several Pakistan the boat. day missions only from www.ospreypublishing.com • Publishing ‘Flying jets equipped with both a Litening II pod and LGBs, we were were we II pod and LGBs, jets equipped with both a Litening ‘Flying 2002, its ESG having sailed in late August Virginia to LHD-1 returned again flying over were IIs Corps Harrier US Marine mid October By its time at Bagram; throughout Dixon Lt Col Jim The unit was led by and performed to Afghanistan a site survey to see if ‘I was sent over My first OEF sortie meet up with an RAF lasted eight hours, and I had to My were as we times during the course of the mission, tanker five Tristar of Kandahar. the west to patrolling improved new use of the aircraft’s able to develop tactics that made the best VX-9 had built on what effectively We systems. avionics and weapons tactics and and the taught us about the Litening II pod pre-cruise, for all later became standard adopted on this deployment techniques we to OEF in The 22nd MEU-SOC deployment units in the fleet. AV-8B II could do with new of what the Harrier a prototype 2002 was effectively continuing integration with the Litening II pod and LGBs systems, the jet’s of capabilities for the AV-8B.’ the evolution deployment. nearly 95,000 miles during the six-month rather than flying from shore-based Afghanistan, but this time they were ten pilots and aircraft, Attack Night of six AV-8B A detachment a ship. VMA-513 and than 180 support and security personnel from more to Bagram, Yuma MCAS from 373 deployed Squadron Support Wing to its XO, statement, according mission The squadron’s Afghanistan. 180 a period of approximately for was to ‘deploy Franzak, Michael Maj days to conduct expeditionary-based air support Forces for the Coalition sent to Afghanistan were we simply, Put Air Component Commander. blanket – over – a protective air cover provide To to support grunt. the VMA-513’s Kush’. the inhospitable Hindu soldiers as they patrolled subsequently be extended to almost a year would 180-day deployment in-theatre. – an old air base located Bagram II there. could operate the Harrier we forces about 35 miles north Soviet of Kabul that had been used by the base With – was to be our home. War during the Russian-Afghan Night squadron’s of 4900 ft, I chose to take all of my at an elevation is 1000 lbs lighter than the AV-8B+ as this variant IIs Harrier Attack no air-to- was attack, since there – our mission in OEF was to be ground Osprey © Aviation Boatswain’s Mate 3rd Class 3rd Mate Boatswain’s Aviation Buchan Toby Capt Allen gives Cordell to permission A’ ‘Det VMA-542 of the from II his Harrier launch 2002. on 23 May of Wasp flightdeck The most significant aspect of this II the Harrier for deployment that the jets the fact community was giving the LHD-1 were aboard pod II FLIR/laser designation Litening AV-8B. its combat debut with the the sensor head of the pod Indeed, wing of this beneath the right fitted the extreme can be seen to aircraft ) (US Navy of the photograph left 26 CHAPTER THREE from Bagram. the unittallied3700flyinghours than 1800hoursatnight–overall, in-theatre moreVMA-513 flew that duringtheyear we were soon swappedaround, whichmeant at night.Mission assignmentswere missile tofindtargets,waspatrolling infrared sensorintheMaverick on eitherflares ortheinferior while theA-10,whichhadtorely dark wasflyingdaylightmissions targeting podthatcouldseeinthe aeroplane withthededicated fixed-wing CASassets,asLtColDixon explained; re-emergence ofterrorism’. order toestablishastableandsecure Afghanistanabletodeter/defeatthe humanitarian assistanceoperationsincoordination withtheITGA in operationsanddirected informationoperations,civilmilitary [ITGA] elements. CJTF-180alsotrainedtheANAandconducted/ other hostileanti-Islamic Transitional Government ofAfghanistan and Taleban command-and-control elementsinAfghanistan,aswell as was taskedwith‘conducting operationstodestroy remaining al-Qaeda Combined Joint Task Force (CJTF)180. Formed inJune 2002,thelatter Freedom details),theHarrier IIs 2002-07forfurther provided CASfor Combat Aircraft 98– carriers littered Bagram’s infield.’ throughout thebase.Burned andarmoured outtanks,trucks personnel abandoned MiGs andSukhoi aircraft layoverturned asheapsofjunk formanyyears.remnants Numerous ofawarthathasravaged thiscountry minefields leftfrom theSoviet occupationandcontinuedpastthevisual repaired, theaircraft turnedontoaperpendiculartaxiwaylinedwith active runway, whichwasinsuchpoorconditionthatit hadtobeconstantly 2002; arriving in-theatre on15October AV-8Bs from Yuma toBagram, jet theobvious choice.’ fuel tanksmadetheNight Attack as well astheLiteningIIpodand and 300rounds ofammunition– GBU-16 LGB andour25mmgun were bringingback–a1000-lb with theordnance loadsthatwe of the-408motoratthataltitude The superiorengineperformance air threat thatrequired theradar. ‘It tookusawhilebefore CJTF-180atBagram figured outthatthe togetthebestoutofitsBagram-basedCJTF-180 initiallystruggled Flying alongsideeightBagram-based USAFA-10As(seeOsprey ‘After rolling out totheendof Maj Franzak oneofthesix flew A-10 ThunderboltII Units of Operation Enduring © Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com a LAU-10D/A rocket pod(USAF armed GBU-12and witha500-lb the Litening IIpod. The trailing jetis counteract the440-lbweight of a single1000-lb GBU-16to 29 January 2003, theleadaircraft has photograph, taken from aKC-10 on with onewhenflyingapatrol. Inthis aircraft sectionwould beequipped typically onlytheleadjetinatwo- Bagram inOctober 2002, and supply when VMA-513 deployed to Litening IIpodswere stillinshort the middleoffront row (AHeino CO, LtColJimDixon, iskneelingin tour ofdutyatthebase. Squadron midway through theunit’s 11-month a group photo ontheBagram ramp The officer cadre of VMA-513 posefor ) ) OEF 2002-03 27 adopting interesting cooperative cooperative adopting interesting tactics, especially in mountainous used the gun about 40 We terrain. had time. Early on we of the percent had two thatsome gun issues, and we these. fixed failed to operate, but we of gun is a pet peeve The Gatling get a lot of commandersmine – you that want to pull the guns off the extra weight, because it’s aeroplane but youdrag and training evolutions, CAScannot go out on a three-hour mission with just a single bomb and the bomb drop You no other option. done, other than to fly are and you them.’ and scare low www.ospreypublishing.com • Publishing ‘Many of our missions were reactive in nature, with jets already airborne with jets already nature, in reactive of our missions were ‘Many were there on over dropped of the missions that we percent ‘Ninety was in lead aircraft The flew two configurations. our jets in ‘We FLIR pod, its field of view with the experienced masking problems ‘We ‘By the time we went to Afghanistan the heavy fighting was done. done. was heavy fighting the to Afghanistan went we the time ‘By on patrol being called over to help out troops that were coming under that were to help out troops being called over on patrol strikes. all reactive were ordnance times I dropped different three The fire. undertaking my wingman and I were the first occasion this happened On in the that a firebase word received when we a typically quiet mission The out. to help them there down raced at, so we south was getting shot Ground was in support out to drop of an “insert”. second time I went in and went we for enemy fighters, and a valley wanted to sweep forces the last time I expended both LGBs Finally, bombed ahead of their sweep. Lwara, near was in supportand cannon rounds of SEAL team “Malice” militants had tracked several SOF personnel with Pakistan. on the border wingman and to a small outpost. My that had just attacked FOB Orgun-e to help them out, hitting the target with I came off the tanker and went a GBU-16. also dropped We two strafing runs. RPG or small arms fire. taking mortar, with friendlies reactive, configuration, carrying 1000-lb a Litening II pod, a GBU-16 “Hunter” jet was in The wingman’s the gun and two external fuel tanks. LGB, under LGB 500-lb configuration, being armed with a GBU-12 “Killer” two external fuel tanks. each wing and the cannon, and it also carried rockets, Zuni with a pod of 5-in one of the GBU-12s replaced we Later, to choose from. weapons selection of thus giving our customers a greater this by got around the fuel tanks and gun pod. Pilots being blocked by CJTF-180 was now busy conducting mopping up operations, trying operations, up mopping busy conducting was now CJTF-180 to support job was to isolated Our various the pockets of evil”. out “root that pre-deployment had been told We the country. throughout firebases air support which for CJTF-180, to provide going to Afghanistan were we to our jets being Thanks escortmeant CAS, armed reconnaissance. and from our missions shifted found that we Litening II pods, equipped with the night the ability to see through had we because CAS to reconnaissance – CAS, escort major missions for ended up with three we very So well. and reconnaissance. ground convoys helicopters, C-130s and Osprey © ) VMA-513’s hardworking maintainers hardworking VMA-513’s AV-8B on conduct an engine change BuNo 163868 in the squadron’s The at Bagram. hangar temporary a by provided was power lifting in specially for flown mobile crane team II support The Harrier the job. (both military and civilian) put in hours per flight maintenance many action for the jets ready keep hour to (A Heino 28 CHAPTER THREE out”, butweformore flew thanamonthbefore mywingmanand to employ ordnance inOEF, asheexplained; its deployment toBagram. Appropriately, hewasthefirstpilotin unit worked togetherandfixed theproblem.’ Systems Command,thesquadron maintenancepersonnelandBoeing and helpfigure theproblem out. To USNaval short, cutalongstory Air Lively, anAV-8B over expert, product support toAfghanistanjoinus calls withBoeingtofindoutwhatwashappeningandtheysentLarry and cabinpressurisation] failures withourjets. We hadsomeconference [Environmental Control System –provides airsupply, thermalcontrol Another problem, whichwe were surprisedby, wasaspateofECS were abletofixthesedespitebeingattheendof a longsupplychain. including thepremature However, wearing outoflandinggearstruts. we Debris] wouldposeconstantchallenges. We facedotherproblems too, andtaxiways–FOD[Foreignrough conditionoftherunway Object wethat alsoknew wouldneedalotofextratyressurvey becauseofthe personnel. supply andextrasupport Thanks tothepre-deployment site someone waswillingtogiveusenoughspare parts. andthatorganise turningwrenches tokeeptheaircraft serviceable, long aswe couldfindawayto heightened operationaltempoas the abilitytocopewiththis and itwasmybeliefthatthejethad grown upintheAV-8B community, 500 hourswiththesixjets.Ihad months where we pushedcloseto but inAfghanistanwe hadseveral able tosurgesomethingover that, Dixon explained.‘You mightbe to 120hourspermonth’, LtCol six aircraft, you are goingtofly100 September 2003.‘Normally with hours between October 2002and inexcessthe unitflew of3700 previously notedby LtColDixon, deployed withjustsixaircraft, as ‘When we arrived inAfghanistan mostofuspilotsreally‘When hadour“fangs Maj Andrew Heino asoperationsofficerfor served VMA-513 during ‘Fortunately, we tookwithusa16-aeroplane orfullsquadron parts hadAlthough VMA-513 © Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com Arizona state flag(MFranzak) been painted inthecoloursof left wingpylon anditsfintiphas lb GBU-16LGBshackled to itsinner ‘Joliet 03’(BuNo163868) hasa1000- border nearKhoston14July2003. patrol alongthe Afghan-Pakistan Michael Franzak during adawn Capt Jarret Stricker leadsLtCol operations in Afghanistan (AHeino) fronts thatfrequently blighted jets hadto flyaround weather Extra fuelwas alsooften neededafter periods ofCAS for ground forces. payload inorder to provide longer visits to atanker to extend range/ AV-8B pilotsoften maderepeated always carrying external fueltanks, 10 November 2002. Despite nearly mission over eastern Afghanistan on a USAFKC-10 tanker during a Maj Andrew Heinoreceives fuelfrom OEF 2002-03 29

‘As Marines, we were very used to were we Marines, ‘As Army Special Forces Operational Operational Forces Army Special Commander. Team A Detachment Although I supported of his several friends and their teams in got the Afghanistan, I never opportunity to support my brother’s did see each We team in combat. other a few times when he came to however. Bagram, CAS for our brother providing While we on the ground. Marines no were in Afghanistan there were combat units Corps ground Marine supported so we US in-country, and Special Army Infantry Brigades SEALS US Navy Teams, Operations combat and Coalition ground www.ospreypublishing.com • Publishing ‘During the 20- to 30-minute flight we “bustered” [aviation slang term “bustered” the 20- to 30-minute flight we ‘During a 1000-lb the target and dropped an aborted run, “lased” we ‘After success with the Litening II in great subsequently enjoyed ‘We for going as fast as possible] to get to the firebase. During the transit we the transit we During to get to the firebase. for going as fast as possible] being on station there of A-10s that was already could hear the section with the Joint checked in When we ordnance. hot to deliver cleared to the US Army unit at Lwara, assigned [JTAC] Controller Area Terminal still under mortar a After being given attack. were he told us that they or FAC the JTAC, by brief [formal brief given modified nine-line CAS The nine-line them to conduct a CAS attack. to allow to aircraft FAC(A) to how information containing specific details on consists of nine lines of The accidentally engaging any friendly forces. attack the enemy without to be brief and is designed US forces throughout nine-line is standardised the on where and effectively] so that targets can be engaged both quickly ran an attack we to the enemy, positioned in relation were friendly forces on the mortar position utilising the Litening II targeting pod. told us that a forward observer had later the JTAC Moments GBU-16. were We hit on the enemy mortar position, silencing it. a direct reported first attack in Afghanistan, because that was our squadron’s excited pretty was also the first time that the Litening hit. It a direct achieved had and we VMA-513. by II targeting pod had been used in combat us both during the day The capabilities that the pod gave Afghanistan. air units requesting ground and at night made us highly desirable to the My combat units. with the ground relationship had a great We support. – he was a US was fighting in Afghanistan while I was there older brother I became the first to provide CAS and deliver ordnance. On a dark night night a dark On ordnance. deliver CAS and to provide the first I became to launch preparing and I were Warlock Capt “Wiz” 2002, in November off took we before mission. Shortly on call CAS] [airborne on an XCAS [USAF-run Air Support “Tombstone” call from a radio received we CAS coordinating for planning and Center responsible Operations to take off immediately tasking us supportmissions in forces] of ground under mortar was It border. near the Pakistani Lwara, firebase and head to fighters. Taleban attack from Osprey © Lt Col Franzak and his wingman Lt Col Franzak at the end of a Bagram to head back Franzak, to According patrol. dawn from flown missions, patrol ‘dawn midnight until shortly slightly after over gruelling became sunrise, after on me’. toll their time and took and his wingman Capt Mike Franzak DFCs for awarded were Trapp ODA Team Forces Special supporting had been ambushed which 2056, 2003. August Chopan on 25 near Dae II pilots to the first Harrier were They since Operation the award receive ) (M Franzak Storm Desert 30 CHAPTER THREE the year award in2003. won theUSMarineVMA-513 deservedly Corpslightattacksquadron of 83 percent. Asaresult ofthiscombatandotherdeployments in2002-03, average of58.8hourspermonth,andtheoverall missioncapableratewas an and340flying hoursapiece.Eachjetflew pilots averaged 112sorties two 5-inZuni rockets and1922cannon rounds. During thedeployment Litening IIpod. The detachmentexpended 12GBU-16s, five GBU-12s, effectiveness oftheAV-8B Night Attack jetwhenequippedwiththe total flighthours(1833.7)were atnight,demonstratingthe performed this periodtheunithadonlysixaircraft atitsdisposal.Nearly halfofthe foratotalof3763.6flighthours. 1250combatsorties flew Throughout ontheground.’and grunts pilot, Iderived immensesatisfactionfrom helpingoutmybrother Marines platooncommanderforfouryears before becomingaHarrierinfantry II in-contact situationandwere abouttobeoverrun. Having beenan previously heard thefearinhisvoice whiletheywere engagedinatroops- out orsavingthemwasoneofthebestI’d ever felt,especiallywhenyou flybys. The feelingyou getwhenaFAC thanked you forhelpingthem Many includedlow altitudehigh-speedpassescalled“show offorce” ground unitswithoutactuallyeversupported dropping anyordnance. another five monthsbefore mynext“cleared hot” anddrop. hours circling over Afghanistan.Aftermyfirstordnance release, itwas got thatrare goodmissionorwouldbeheldonstandby forthree to four jet’s GAU-12A 25mmcannon.It alldependedonluckastowhetheryou missions. Some ofourpilotsnever even gottodrop abomborshootthe most oftheactionhappeningafterdark, we allwantedtoflynight recognition trainingduringtheCold War. armoured personnelcarriersthatwe hadregularly studiedinourthreat Rumanian mechanisedbattalion,whichoperatedSoviet BMPandBTR infantry, specialopsandmechanised units.It the wasstrangesupporting During VMA-513’s 11-monthdetachment inAfghanistan,13pilots ‘Some ofmymostmemorablemissionswere onflightswhere we ‘We onlydropped 17bombsinayear of fightinginAfghanistan. With © Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com 25 mmgunpods( GBU-12 LGB. Itisalsoequippedwith four 5-indiameter Zunirockets) anda LAU-10D/A rocket pod(containing carrying two 300-gallonfueltanks, a Bagram. This particular aircraft is high’ conditionsexperienced at bring back margins inthe ‘hot and capability andincreased ordnance provided additionaloperational equipped Harrier II+, andthus they were lighter thantheradar- Attack jetsto OEFinOctoberas 2002 deployed exclusively withNight covered peaks’. The squadron ‘an endlesspanorama ofsnow- Kush’. Franzak described thisviewas they patrolled theinhospitableHindu protective blanket –over soldiersas Bagram ‘to provide aircover –a VMA-513 was specificallydeployed to 2002. According to LtColFranzak, over theHinduKush on24November Capt Aaron Haugbreaks to thewest M Franzak ) OEF 2004-06 31 sails AV-8B BuNo 164551 sits chained to to sits chained BuNo 164551 AV-8B as it Wasp of the flightdeck the Suez Canal in south through the forward heading for 2004, March This jet Pakistan. off area operating II+ aircraft Harrier one of four was Attack Night (along with two A’, ‘Det VMA-542 assigned to variants) of HMM-266 part in turn was which within the 22nd MEU-SOC ) (S Blochberger

, Wasp www.ospreypublishing.com • Publishing Osprey ©

ith the fighting having seemingly tailed off in Afghanistan tailed off in Afghanistan having seemingly ith the fighting when it departed was not replaced VMA-513 during 2003, seven 2003. Indeed, in September Yuma for MCAS Bagram

Lt Col Sean Blochberger, Officer-in-Charge of the VMA-542 VMA-542 of the Officer-in-Charge Blochberger, Lt Col Sean took nine pilots to Afghanistan with the 22nd MEU-SOC, and ‘We Lt Col detachments, a number of shipboard completed Having difficult (and aviation operations is more facet of shipboard ‘Every W deployed to Kandahar International Airport. The commander of the 22nd Airport. International to Kandahar deployed the media to spoke positively F McKenzie, MEU-SOC, Col Kenneth II detachment during his the Harrier made by about the contribution ‘Their speed, lethality and intelligence OEF. commitment to unit’s to our operations here’. them invaluable made have gathering capabilities and HMM-266 helicopters from also deployed The 22nd MEU-SOC and MEU 6th Marines 1st Battalion, BLT from personnel and equipment in south-central Province, 22 into Uruzgan Squadron Service Support operated alongside elements of Corps force US Marine The Afghanistan. conducting military Infantry 25th Division, and civil the US Army’s support operations. detachment, added; I had sailed on a combat flying experience. six of them had previous and the Persian Pacific Western to the deployment II MEU-SOC Harrier VMA-211 as part in USS Tarawa of HMM-268 embarked with Gulf Iraq sorties over had flown we this deployment (LHA-1) in 1998. During VMA-542 with 2003 I made a combat deployment In in support of OSW. in support of OIF I.’ to Iraq Bataan aboard a Landing Helicopter life on board placed to describe was well Blochberger ; or Wasp ship such as Bataan Dock fact The mere than land-based operations. dangerous) usually more of being a daily away from at sea, parts supply run, makes it a challenge to continuously replace failed parts new with ones in order The ship flying. to keep aircraft carries a certain number of parts, but it cannot stock as many items as you would like. Also, no one can of parts anticipate the failure not happen to be carried on that do stocked in the the ship or aren’t The need them. quantities that you Corps and the US Marine US Navy job in tryingdo a great to anticipate spent I have partsHowever, needs.

months would pass before a Harrier II detachment from VMA-542, VMA-542, II detachment from a Harrier before months would pass in HMM-266 embarked MEU-SOC’s assigned to the 22nd OEF 2004-06 OEF 32 CHAPTER FOUR and more dangerous.’ aboardeverything ashipinvolving maintenanceisslower, more difficult best attemptsofdedicatedsailorsandMarines tokeepthejetsflying, associated movement allover anddelay)hastostart again.Despite the If theaircraft doesnotpassitsairtest,thewholeprocess (withallofthe requires moving theotheraircraft outofthewaysojetcantakeoff. allowed times),theaircraft mayneed tobeflown. duringcertain This go backuptotheflightdeckfortesting.Afterafunctionaltest(only always atapremium. Once theaircraft isfixed, ithastobesequenced where you canwork onthem–typicallythehangardeck,where spaceis again. airworthy thatIneededinorderdays onashipwaitingparts tomakeanaircraft ‘Once the parts problem‘Once issolved, theparts theaircraft have tobeputinaplace © Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com (S Blochberger) of theru dur nway from ouraircraft blewbigchunks out numerous occasionsthejetexhaust enough to make itblurry. On pilots’ HUDto vibrate violently during takeoffs itwould causethe was terrible –itwas sobumpy that Blochberger recalled. ‘The ru proved to beachallenge’, LtCol effectively outofKandaharcertainly ‘Operating sixHarrier IIssafely and Kandahar International Airport. The mainterminal andtower at supported OEF(USNavy) and-a-half monthswhilstit the unit’s homefor thenextthree- International Airport, which would be through Pakistan to Kandahar aloft, theseaircraft would flynorth vessel sailsintheIndianOcean. Once Wasp on11 April whilethe 2004 A’ taxiinto positionfor takeoff from AV-8B Harrier IIsfrom VMA-542 ‘Det ing takeoff runs’ nway nway OEF 2004-06 33 Prior to VMA-542’s 2004 2004 VMA-542’s to Prior knew what to expect ‘We few days (text continues on page 42)

deployment, Lt Col Blochberger Blochberger Lt Col deployment, the 22nd MEU-SOC accompanied the element and command to leadership HMM-266 to look at possible Afghanistan basing sites; over having looked in-theatre, and Bagram possible basing sites at decided that the was It Kandahar. be the best latter spot would which to supportlocation from the to Kandahar we going MEU. By the other would also be based with our organic MEU aviation assets, aviation support and the MEU we command element. In-theatre, on 11 April 2004, flying north over Pakistan to Pakistan 2004, flying north over on 11 April Wasp www.ospreypublishing.com • Publishing ‘Once in Afghanistan, operating six Harrier IIs safely and effectively effectively safely and IIs operating six Harrier in Afghanistan, ‘Once able were hours, our aircraft five taking off and staying airborne for ‘By departed ‘We hours and two later plan was to fly two jets in the morning for five ‘Our also had access to USAF and Coalition tankers, as well as Marine as Marine tankers, as well also had access to USAF and Coalition us a lot of This gave to keep us on-station longer. in order KC-130s, us to plan when needed, allowing loiter time to support forces ground flight window. operations with a five-hour on conducting regular to be a challenge. Airport certainlyout of Kandahar International proved The runway that during at Kandahar was terrible – it was so bumpy to HUD to vibrate violently enough takeoffs it would cause the pilots’ our aircraft the jet exhaust from occasions numerous On make it blurry. blew big chunks out of the runway during takeoff runs. the of Because wanted to limit the number of takeoffs and deteriorated state, I runway’s landings so as to preserve the runway and to minimise the possibility of engine damage from FOD. that would normally be serviced sorties a window several (and by to cover we making use of aerial refuelling, associated takeoffs and landings). By the time damage. During engines from FOD risk and saved also lowered never engine FOD – we only experienced one serious we there, were we prior to going ashore on the boat determined if the FOD had occurred had another engine FOD incident when we Later, or at Kandahar itself. Yuma had been at we on some of the engine fan blades. If found nicks we called in the contractor blend team who would have we or Cherry Point, equipment, smoothed out the damaged blades using specialist would have for our in place in the jet. Unfortunately all while the engine remained det, the contractor blend team could not come out to the combat zone to pull the engine, which is a major forced were the blades, so we to repair the nicked blades. to replace effort, in order hours, within a also for five in the day, Kandahar. The bulk of our support equipment was already at the airportThe bulk of our support equipment was already Kandahar. during the voyage had stopped in Qatar as Wasp arrived the time we by C-17 to Kandahar. airlifting by and offloaded it for onward over Osprey © VMA-542 ‘Det A’ commander Lt Col A’ ‘Det VMA-542 poses with his six Sean Blochberger at arrival their after IIs shortly Harrier 2004 April Kandahar on 11 ) (S Blochberger COLOUR PLATES 34 1 15th MEU-SOC/HMM-163, B, Detachment VMA-311 BuNo 164142 of AV-8B 2001 November Sea, Arabian (LHA-5), USS Peleliu 2 15th MEU-SOC/HMM-163, A, Detachment VMA-311 BuNo 164566 of AV-8B 2001 November Sea, Arabian (LHA-5), USS Peleliu 3 26th MEU-SOC/HMM-365, A, Detachment VMA-223 BuNo 165385 of AV-8B December 2001 Sea, Arabian USS Bataan (LHD-5),

© Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com 4 AV-8B BuNo 163876 of VMA-223 Detachment A, 26th MEU-SOC/HMM-365, USS Bataan (LHD-5), Arabian Sea, January 2002 © Osprey Publishing 5 AV-8B BuNo 165397 of VMA-211 Detachment A, 13th MEU-SOC/HMM-165,

• USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD-6), Arabian Sea, March 2002 www.ospreypublishing.com

6 AV-8B BuNo 165311 of VMA-542 Detachment A, 22nd MEU-SOC/HMM-261, USS Wasp (LHD-1), Arabian Sea, July 2002 35 36

7 AV-8B BuNo 163867 of VMA-513, Bagram, May 2003 ©

Osprey 8 AV-8B BuNo 164551 of VMA-542 Detachment A, 22nd MEU-SOC/HMM-266,

Publishing USS Wasp (LHD-1), Arabian Sea and Kandahar, April to July 2004 • www.ospreypublishing.com

9 AV-8B BuNo 165004 of VMA-542 Detachment A, 24th MEU-SOC/HMM-365 USS Iwo Jima (LHD-7), Arabian Sea, September 2006 10 AV-8B BuNo 165357 of VMA-223 Detachment A, 22nd MEU-SOC/HMM-261, USS Kearsarge (LHD-3), Arabian Sea, October 2007 © Osprey

Publishing 11 AV-8B BuNo 164119 of VMA-542 Detachment A, 24th MEU-SOC/HMM-365, Kandahar, February to October 2008 • www.ospreypublishing.com

12 AV-8B BuNo 165421 of VMA-214, Kandahar, May to November 2009 37 38

13 AV-8B BuNo 165389 of VMA-214, Kandahar, May to November 2009 © Osprey 14 AV-8B BuNo 164551 of VMA-231, Kandahar, November 2009 to May 2010 Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com

15 AV-8B BuNo 164552 of VMA-231, Kandahar, November 2009 to May 2010 16 AV-8B BuNo 165574 of VMA-513, Kandahar, May to November 2011 © Osprey Publishing 17 AV-8B BuNo 165580 of VMA-513, Kandahar, June 2011 • www.ospreypublishing.com

18 AV-8B BuNo 165307 of VMA-223, Kandahar, October 2011 to April 2012 39 40

19 AV-8B Bu No 165386 of VMA-223, Kandahar, October 2011 to April 2012 © Osprey 20 AV-8B BuNo 165572 of VMA-211, Kandahar and Camp Bastion, April to Publishing October 2012 • www.ospreypublishing.com

21 AV-8B BuNo 165588 of VMA-211, Kandahar and Camp Bastion, April to September 2012 22 AV-8B BuNo 165383 of VMA-231, Camp Bastion, September 2012 to April 2013 © Osprey Publishing 23 AV-8B BuNo 165390 of VMA-231, Camp Bastion, September 2012 to April 2013 • www.ospreypublishing.com

24 AV-8B BuNo 165425 of VMA-311, Camp Bastion, April to September 2013 41 42 CHAPTER FOUR experience levels. In Kandahar, pilotsgotmore flighttimeinaweek than terms ofhoursflown anddramatically increased ourflight andcombat wasaHarrier IIpilots’performed dream, aswe allsetpersonalrecords in intermediate level ofmaintenancesupport. The flight programme we about 80Marines –thisnumberincludes boththesquadron level andthe that we were inAfghanistan,we1339combathours withsixjetsand flew maintained mostofthetimeatKandahar. In thethree-and-a-half months up andready toflyatanyonetime. That ispretty muchwhatwe Night Attack aircraft. The goalofourdetwastohave fouroutofsixjets and combatordnance loads)tobe pretty long. in thesummer. This causedthetakeoffroll forfullyloadedjets(fullfuel situated some3300ftabove sealevel, andthetemperature waspretty hot were andtheramp. theconditionofrunway Also,thebasewas provide totheMEU. effective support The onlyreal challenges we faced the combinationofthosefactorsmadeitanidealplacefrom whichto and anarea ofoperationsclosetothebase.From anoperationalstandpoint, hours permonth. Harrier IIsquadron ingarrisonat Yuma Point orCherry mayfly350 issues –andwe508hours.By flew comparison,afull16-aeroplane 440 hours.In June we were “full up” ormajormaintenance –nosupport lab inKandahar, issues. thussolvinganyserviceability target area ifrequired. Afterawhilewe were abletocreate anoilsample contact withtheenemyby sending atime-expired aircraft directly toa jets, whileatthesametimebeingresponsive ifthe MEUcameinto way, we theabilitytoflyfive-hour couldpreserve patrols withserviceable would bereclassified dutyonly. assuitablefor30-minutestripalert That ending upwithgrounded jetsatthe endofthethird thesemachines sortie, flight hours.Instead offlyingthoseaircraft onthree and five-hour sorties onsite atKandahar, we developed aschemefortestingaircraft after15 fire plan. support detachment, aswe were tofulfiltherequirements struggling oftheMEU’s fourdays. taken every This becameareal readiness considerationforthe earlier, we were flyingsomuchthattheaircraft oilsamples needednew a logisticsflight)ouroilsamplesuptoBagram foranalysis.Asnoted get ourown labthere (on wasatimewhenwe hadtophysicallytransport been establishedatBagram by theEA-6Bunitbasedthere. Until we could helicopter squadronmates used,theonlycompatibleonein-theatre having power inspectionsafter12daysofflying. dayandconductinghigh- fourth hours, we neededtobeoiltestingevery power 60flighthours. testevery With ourmissionsusuallylastingfive 15flighthours,anditalsorequiresto betakenandanalysedevery ahigh- adverse affectonouroperability. The Harrier IIengineneedsanoilsample facilities,suchasanoiltest lab,support whichtooktimeandhadan commencing operationsuntiltheendofApril. We hadtosetupmany problems thattookusawhiletoovercome –theseprevented usfrom of ourarrival inAfghanistan.However, we soonencountered some ‘Our Harrier IIMEUdetachmentconsistedoffourradarjetsandtwo ‘At Kandaharwe hadarunway, strategictankers maintenance support, ‘We finallygotintotheswingofthingsinMay, whenoursixjetsflew ‘We solved theproblem Until by usingstripalerts. we gotanoillab Harrier IIneeded adifferent oilanalysis labthantheonethatour ‘The © Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com OEF 2004-06 43 ‘Afghanistan provided a great a great provided ‘Afghanistan they got in a month back home. in a month they got between the differences example of and land operations. shipboard in were we though Even expeditionary in the conditions Asia, partsmiddle of central supply in was better and availability the ship. Afghanistan than on the on work could we Additionally, 24 hours a day and performaircraft functionals, high-power aircraft we whenever tests or check flights to did not have We needed too. spaces, in tight manoeuvre of the movement choreograph or schedule maintenance aircraft www.ospreypublishing.com • Publishing ‘We flew a lot of aerial reconnaissance missions, helicopter and convoy missions, helicopter and convoy flew reconnaissance a lot of aerial ‘We village and a would pass through on the ground the troops ‘Sometimes ‘The got to II pilots was that whether or not we attitude of the Harrier scanning areas supporting operations by the MEU ground were ‘We during set hours. As long as we had parts, which were flown in, we had in, we flown parts, had long as we during set hours. As were which flying. and as long as it took to keep the jets the expertise as hard to work The Lightening II pod was critical to our success – my escort and CAS. The challenge facing US and Coalition detachment had four for six jets. was not muchThere was countering insurgent activity. in Afghanistan forces making attacks. looking for violent groups were law in Afghanistan, so we did not see much in the way started flying a lot of hours but, initially, We got calls to help troops- we Sometimes delivery on the enemy. of ordnance could be in Afghanistan, these troops operated we Where in-contact. would race over we times or Coalition. Many Forces Special Army, Marines, that the fighting had finished by the action was, only to discover to where got there. the time we activity going on, so they would ask us to spot potentially dangerous to engage who had yet The enemy, flyby. of force show perform a low-level on-station were we know the soldiers, upon hearing the jet noise would they knew and typically abandon their attack because they would get in were When we if they tried something. above pounded from Many for Allied air power. had a healthy respect Taleban Afghanistan, the they attacked before dispersed groups of force or a show flyby times, a low friendly forces. had done then we help the guys on the ground could anything, if we drop pass and made a lot of noise that dispersed the flew if we a low So, well. on the ground. there life down a friendly saved might have we enemy, helped bombs but we satisfaction of dropping did not get the we Often, a lot of low 2004 was characterised by effort nevertheless. May the overall dropped. and not much (if any) ordnance flybys with our Litening II pods and escorting HMM-266 helicopters up to Combat Element the MEU Ground where Kowt, Tarin near FOB Ripley, Air the Combined Forces from also took tasking We was based. to CJTF-76 which was subordinate Component Commander [CFACC], Osprey © ) AV-8B BuNo 165004 from VMA-542 VMA-542 BuNo 165004 from AV-8B a USAF fuel from receives A’ ‘Det Kandahar from a patrol during KC-10 Aside from in the summer of 2004. tanks, 300-gal external two carrying II pod a Litening has this aircraft wing and a single beneath its right The wing. GBU-12 under the opposite with has also been equipped fighter had access we ‘In-theatre, gun pods. as USAF and Coalition tankers, to to in order KC-130s, as Marine well Lt Col us on-station longer’, keep us ‘This gave explained. Blochberger ground support to time a lot of loiter us to allowing when needed, forces plan on conducting regular flight with a five-hour operations (USAF window’ 44 CHAPTER FOUR first. In additiontoconcentrating a quickhitofgasfrom thetanker due toalow fuelstate,we hadtoget troops-in-contact but,to support markers ontheground. mountainous terrainandthelack of outthetargetsdueto to sort mountains. It challenging wasvery by enemyforces hidinginthe targets whenourguysgotambushed used rockets andgunstosuppress did indeeddrop bombs,we mostly the fuselageofjet.Althoughwe GAU-12A cannonfittedbeneath rounds forthepod-mounted piercing highexplosive incendiary We podsand25mmsemi-armour carried5-inrockets inunderwing guys ontheground wouldreally likeyou ordnance. touseforward-firing and guns)inAfghanistan. You wouldflyouttotheoperatingarea andthe munitions inIraq toemploying ordnance old-timeforward-firing (rockets Within lessthanayear, we went from delivering high-techlaser-guided CAS musthave beenduringprevious wars. in Afghanistandoingtalk-onCASmadeusthinkaboutjusthow frustrating challenging toIDthetargetthatFAC wantedyou toengage. Our time explosives orlaserdesignators)tomark thetarget. This madeitextremely talking you ontoatarget. There were high nomarkers (whitephosphorus, In AfghanistanCASdominatedourmissionrequests, withaFAC oraJTAC box. We mostlydropped LGBs inanarmedreconnaissance role duringOIF. targetthatwe couldpositively identifywithinthekill to attackanymilitary the invasion ofIraq, whenwe were operatinginkillboxes, we were allowed for theactionthentailedoffagain. ordnance tohelptroops-in-contact. This wasgreat, butitdidnotlastlong ashowcrossed whenperforming offorce flyby orstrafingatarget. ahard –wetypically flew triedtoobserve deckof10,000ft,whichwasonly you couldpickupwithatargeting podfrom thealtitudesatwhichwe ithaditslimitations. and escort, There wasonlysomuchground detailthat Litening IIpodwasagreat armed reconnaissance toolwhenperforming vehicles toseeiftheenemywasplanningambushthem.Although the 22ndMEUanditsassociatedBLT. the MEUinArea ofOperations [AO] “Linebacker”, providing CASfor wereneeded. Having saidthat,mostofoursorties flown of insupport we couldbetaskedtogojustaboutanywhere inAfghanistanwhen ofourMEUandalsomissions from theCFACC.in support Asaresult, available were given totheCFACC. On anygiven day, we mightflysorties Afghanistan atthetime,soanyexcess Marine thatwe had Airsorties at Bagram. The latterorganisationwasinchargeofUSforces in ‘Occasionally we wouldgetacall contrastbetween operatinginIraq‘The andAfghanistanwasstriking. flyingwe didinOEFwasnotlikeourexperienceOIF.‘The During ‘In earlyJune tointensify, thefightingstarted andwe finallygottodrop ‘Aside from providing convoy we wouldsweep escort, aheadofthe © Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com on 5 June 2004 (SBlochbergeron 5June2004 particular oneenveloping theairfield occurrence atKandahar, withthis Sandstorms were afrequent ) OEF 2004-06 45 www.ospreypublishing.com • Publishing ‘During a CAS mission you would spend a lot of time talking with the of time talking with would spend a lot mission you a CAS ‘During was the building of situational critical factor during a CAS mission ‘A was more ordnance to deliver with confidence, where ‘Determining, was straightforward, and thus solved this process occasions rare ‘On heavy action one of the first occasions that the MEU got into ‘On FAC on the ground to determine where he was. It often proved difficult often proved he was. It where to determine on the ground FAC what with ground what he saw on the between the difference to reconcile to describing the seeing at altitude when it came the pilots, were we, Meanwhile, a mountain”. by might say “I am on a road The FAC terrain. see multiple they could where at 20,000 ft, from the pilots in the jets were with troops-in-contact, mountain ranges! Sometimes, and several roads could then ask, You was occurring. the action could see smoke where you HUMVEE?” Many to the burning the bad guys in relation “Where are had to go against we Often, however. that clear, other times it was not an altitude or a to see from impossible are Snipers snipers in the rocks. need a You than four nautical miles away. be more slant range that may onto the target. eyes talk a pilot’s to highly skilled FAC Time it was needed. where ordnance could drop so that you awareness We the guy on the ground. was ticking and no one wanted to fail to help into a target area, went when we Ideally, did not want to let him down. as However, the target was right away. to determine where wanted we had to use all of the We easy. mentioned, this was usually never previously back- etc.) along with a lot of verbal (sensors, map, systems in the aircraft out all of the to figure in order and-forth controller with the ground – target location, friendly location and threat. dimensions of the problem would FACs a weapon. difficult than the actual mechanics of dropping or the gun unless they felt very rockets bombs or fire drop not let you comfortable had the right target and knew that the pilots in the aircraft both aspects of the problem had to have You the position of friendly forces. had the correct confidence that the aircrew to have had FAC – the solved of the target location and The pilot had to establish a clear picture target. All the while, the clock was ticking – the the location of friendly forces. the enemy and the jets on being attacked by were guys on the ground station continued to burn fuel at a rapid rate. took skilled pilots It times, this was not the case. Most quickly and easily. of the enough situational awareness to build controllers ground and clever This is what makes CAS on target, on time. in ordnance to result problem of talk-on CAS (with no target a challenging mission, and the execution in results of this mission. Any error the most difficult variation marker) delivered weapons delivered, sorts of various – either no ordnance failure on the friendlies (the worst-case scenario). dropped off target or ordnance called in to some of my guys were IIs, the Harrier CAS from requiring The pilots used on a road. counter bad guys ambushing the Marines an ambush such to knock out the attackers. During 25 mm cannon fire The pilots did an outstanding critical. as this, both time and accuracy were gaining the confidence of the FAC job in finding the target quickly, and then at the right time in the right place. the weapons delivering on tanking, pilots would try pilots on tanking, of the awareness situational build their and good the where know they would so that the radio calls) (based on fight This would allow prior to arriving on station. bad guys were guys and the the target. overhead they were quickly as soon as ordnance them to deliver Osprey © 46 CHAPTER FOUR A-10s from Bagram alsofollowed thesame procedures. working area, we wouldtalkwithairofficersandthena specificFAC. The about violatingairspaceorconflicting withairliners.Once we gottothe control likeintheUSorEurope, sowe didn’t toomuch have toworry you hadtocheckinwiththe TAOC. However, there wasnopositive air contact wasworking. the FAC we were totalkto. We thenheadedofftothearea thatour in. The DASC woulddirect ustoafrequency andgive usthecallsignof for land,airandnaval forces toconductcombatandnon-combatactivities air space.AnAO wasanoperationalarea definedby theforce commander “Linebacker” andlaterAO “Flanker”, whichwere designatedasMarine Marines, butthistimefrom FOBRipley. Our operatingareas were AO TAOC by wouldclearyou 22ndMEU totheDASC,whichwasalsorun later takenover by the22ndMEU–whomanagedbattle space. The Operations Center[TAOC] by theUSAFand atKandahar–initiallyrun control andthencheckinwithcommand-and-controlatthe Tactical Air the bestNATOPS checkrideever! told usthathehadanothertarget. This timewe dropped LGBs. It was our surprise,we checkedbackinwith theFAC afterrefuelling, andhe treat. Ithoughtthatwe wouldspendtherest ofthemissionorbiting. To with gunfire, thenitwasover. We went tothetankerandgotfuel. my aimpoint,before inagain.Ed andIhoseddown running theridgeline impact. Icouldseethehits,pullofftargetandmakeacorrection to of your aircraft –theylooklikered dots–andtravel allthewaydown to SAPHEI rounds, theyare alltracers,soyou canseetherounds comeout of dustontheground. It isactuallypretty unimpressive. In thecaseof the bulletsimpacttarget. The impactofthebulletslookslikelittlepuffs After you squeeze thetrigger, you donotseeanythinguntilyou observe when you fire thegun,you cannotseetheordnance travel downrange. [SAPHEI]semi armour-piercing highexplosive rounds. incendiary Usually ridgeline, alsowith25mmgunfire. Irecall flyingthree gunpassesusing of 25mmfire, andEd gotacorrection offofmyhitstomove upthe guys were nearthetopofahill.Istrafedtargetwith about100rounds for CASpilots. had atargetforus. The handover wasreally quick–thebest-casescenario that “Chieftain” immediatelypushedusuptoaFAC whostatedthathe sign “Chieftain”. Expecting tohave towaitforamission,we were surprised and checkedinwiththeMarine Direct AirSupport Center[DASC],call have agunwith300rounds, a5-inrocket podandanLGB. We tookoff Litening IIpod,gunsandanLGB, whilethe“Dash 2”aircraft would aircraft were configured inourroutine loadout–theleadwouldhave a Training andOperating Procedures Standardization] checkride.Our ofmyannualNATOPS itwasalsopart a combatsortie, [Naval Air Weapons and Tactics Instructor andmyNo 2officer. Althoughthiswas proud andimpressedbeing very athow well theyhadperformed. After hearing aboutthemissionfrom thereturning pilots,Ialsoremember ‘We wouldflyuptoanaltitudeof18,000ft.If you wantedtogohigher, ‘On atypicalmission,we wouldtakeoff, checkoutwithdeparture ‘Being abletodrop ordnance rightawaywaspretty rare andquitea ‘We went tothetarget,where theMarines were onaroad andthebad ‘I recall withMaj onemissionIflew Ed Villalobos, thedetachment © Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com OEF 2004-06 47 www.ospreypublishing.com • Publishing ‘When supporting a MEU mission, we would talk with Marine FACs ‘When FACs supporting Marine would talk with a MEU mission, we of military on a variety targets – tanks, ordnance dropped we Iraq, ‘In VMA-542 at was one of the pilots assigned to J Miller Capt Edward AV-8Bs very is a flown desolate place. I had previously ‘Afghanistan ‘On the radio, you would hear different aircraft check in and head out and head check in aircraft different would hear radio, you the ‘On and then orbit around, circling in the sky, until we received their call. received we until in the sky, circling and then orbit around, in the cockpit interrupted by hours of boredom were there Typically, not doing CAS, were OIF I, when we In periods of intense excitement. mission that would inevitably see could fly an armed reconnaissance we Afghanistan, all of the In stuff up without the help of a FAC. us blow of a ground under the direction was dropped delivered we ordnance in show calls that resulted had 30 troops-in-contact I think we controller. ten of these 30 In of ordnance. and the expenditure overflights of force in just 20 of the 400+ sorties we So, guns or rockets. fired situations we had to be we of the time the rest bombs. For got to deliver completed, we patrolling. passes or routine satisfied with low primarily concentrations, etc. – but in Afghanistan we buildings, troop few. were opportunitiesThe to excel hit bad guys hiding in the rocks. it was weapons your did get the chance to employ when you However, it could on target where ordnance critical to performand get your well feeling a great you gave It on the ground. to the troops make a difference the radio.’ over hits” said “nice at the end of a bombing run when the FAC Kandahar in 2004; but the terrain in Afghanistan and thought that was rough, Kuwait from on missions. Most of the time the TACAIR working targets while we were were we targets while working TACAIR the time the of Most on missions. MEU Harrier or 22nd out of Bagram either A-10s flying were in-theatre of B-1s in the area would hear we Sometimes out of Kandahar. flying IIs on the aircraft some US Navy would also hear and then, we Now too. supporting OIF were in-theatre aircraft most of the carrier radio, although tankers and transport flying around. aircraft also heard We at that time. Forces Special Marines, could support mission, we Army, any given On for a flight of as relief would go into a kill box We or Coalition forces. by in turn replaced were we coming off station. Often, A-10s who were ended. A-10s when our window Osprey © VMA-542 ‘Det A’s’ pilots and A’s’ ‘Det VMA-542 an end-of- maintainers pose for at Kandahar photograph deployment The detachment July 2004. in late and than 400 strike more performed 1339 combat totalling ISR sorties its time in-country hours during ) (S Blochberger 48 CHAPTER FOUR escort, 75percent ofthemissions flownescort, were CAS. We cametoknow the armed reconnaissanceAlthough we occasionallyperformed orhelicopter provide ground operationsby oncallCAStosupport the22ndMEU. be itaMarine, ArmyorUSAFcontroller. If itwasaMarine we would Harrier IIgave ustheabilitytooperate inareduced environment. runway taxiwaysandramps. time duetothepoorcondition of therunways, The the AV-8B andtheA-10couldoperate from KandaharandBagram atthis deployment tomakesure thatwe tooktherightthingstoKandahar. Only issuesandFOD. support We usedthelessonslearnedfrom VMA-513’s covered thingslikehighaltitudeflying inhotconditions,duststorms, operations atBagram –whichwassituated3300ftabove sealevel –that landing. Such precautions toensure were safeengine operations. necessary up anddown lookingfordebris before therunway eachtakeoff and scheduled toflywouldtakeaJohn Deere M-Gator utilityvehicle andrun initial attacksin2001. We were careful aboutFOD.Apilotnot very us andthere were patchesallalongwhere we hadbombeditduringthe Kandahar wasinpoorshape.Some 3000ftofoneendwasunusableto extra stress onpowerplants. then takeoffonceagain–shuttingenginesdown andrestarting themputs helped, asyou couldkeepflyingrather thanhavingtolandrefuel and a month. We alot,andthejetsheldupwell. flew Working withtankers 160hoursinfourmonths,including60just with sixjets.Iflew almost fourmonths,andinthattimewe completed1300flighthours rarelytankers available didwe –very nothave them. We were there for when the Taleban mountedmostoftheirattacks. We usuallyhadaerial seven hoursastheMarines really likedustobearound atdawnanddusk AV-8B, butitdidnotgettothefightasfast. to ourAOR. Admittedly, theA-10couldstayonstationlongerthan south, buttheywere slower than ussoittookthemawhiletogetdown the easternborder withPakistan Sometimes andthenorth. theA-10sflew central andwestern areas ofAfghanistantocover whiletheA-10spatrolled TACAIR CASrole withthe16A-10satBagram. We were given thesouth remaining 25percent went through theCFACC. of ourmissionswere eventually flown ofMarines insupport andthe forMarinesair support andotherCoalitionforces. Seventy-five percent CJTF-76’s predecessor, whenin-theatre], andwe were there toprovide hadbeencontrolled byassigned toCJTF-76[VMA-513 CJTF-180, in 2002-03.However, we were a22ndMEUasset, ratherthanbeing to Kandahar. VMA-513 had,ofcourse,operateditsAV-8Bs from Bagram and conductoperations]ourMarines were tobeinchargeofwascloser command withinwhichacombatantcommanderhasauthoritytoplan of Responsibility –thegeographicalarea associatedwithacombatant Within 20milesofKandaharthere are 10,000ftmountainranges. togetbiggeruntilthey reachmountains start theirpeak around Bagram. is farmore rugged. ofKandaharthe There andthennorth isadesert ‘Once intheair, we checkedinwiththeDASCandtalkedaFAC, ‘We hadreceived briefsfrom afew VMA-513 abouttheirearlier ‘As previously notedby LtColBlochberger, at the10,000ftrunway ‘Mostly, wefive flew hoursmissions,andsomestretched toaslong ourtimeinAfghanistanwe principally shared the‘Throughout ‘We were senttoKandahar, ratherthanBagram, becausetheAOR [Area © Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com OEF 2004-06 49

www.ospreypublishing.com • Publishing ‘A lot of the missions we flew used tactics we had learned in OIF I flew had learned in OIF I we used tactics we lot of the missions ‘A ‘The on target it was the culmination of ordnance first time I dropped ‘The engaging, see the bad guys they were could AH-1W Cobra crews of our CAS other than got little feedback on the results we ‘Although ‘The was getting patrol first time I saw action in Afghanistan, a Marine three FACs assigned to the Marine battalion very well, and we got to battalion very and we well, assigned to the Marine FACs three very always help each other out. could we confident that were we where system for as “keyhole CAS”, which used a new target reference known found that we quickly, moving forces With command-and-control. would get We together. well work “keyhole CAS” helped pilots and FACs all the target receiving format, a nine-line brief but in a different well as other data. as and restrictions, elevation coordinates, the end to this mission. By all the things I had learned in training prior occasions on five I had expended ordnance in-theatre of the deployment – which was rockets Zuni I used the gun, fired for troops-in-contact. LGBs. – and also dropped exciting pretty the hills, using from of the time the bad guys fired not. Most could but we not had to be careful the gun, we employing When the terrain for cover. they which because of the steep terrain from to get too close to the ground deck of 6000 ft, which observed we When strafing, a hard firing. were distance it was hard that From the ground. a mile from was a little over us would usually give The FAC among the rocks. to see a human figure and sometimes they used an IR for the target area, grid coordinates mortar onto the target for us to see. rounds or fired marker [infrared] would talk us onto the target. the FAC however, Mostly, I got talking to a the FAC, on the radio from hits” the occasional “good at Kandahar one day when he was driving me somewhere driver Marine asked me what my job was and I told him I was He on base in a pickup. immediately thanked me for saving him and his II pilot. He a Harrier got ambushed. A jet had strafed and rocketed buddies when their convoy proved This brief conversation their attackers, getting them out of a jam. VMA-542 was having an impact on OEF and saving the lives to me that shot at and a FAC asked us to perform a show of force flyby. I was focused I was focused flyby. of force asked us to perform a show shot at and a FAC kept looking in combat, and we on doing the job right to help Marines shooting at us too. if they were sure weren’t we because around Osprey © AV-8B Night Attack jet BuNo 164140 Attack Night AV-8B Capt by Wasp aboard back is flown VMA-542 Beals at the end of Joseph Kandahar deployment. A’s’ ‘Det Station Naval to return LHD-1 would thus 2004, in September Norfolk an end its seven-month to bringing (US Navy) combat cruise 50 CHAPTER FOUR supported thedeploymentsupported ofthe24thMEU-SOCfrom CampLejeune, than twoyears. in USMarine CorpsHarrier IIs returning toOEFafteragapofmore more troops andairpower to be senttoISAFinAfghanistan,resulting Afghanistan, alsoprovided forCoalitionforces. airsupport Danish andNorwegian F-16s,operatingfrom Kyrgyzstan and, later, F-15Es, carrier-basedUSNavy F/A-18s,French Mirage 2000sandDutch, rotation ofHarrier GR7unitstoKandahar. USAFA-10s,B-1Bsand September 2004theRoyal AirForce assumedresponsibility forthe with therest ofHMM-266andthe22ndMEU-SOC.From late CAS forMarines incombat.’ of USandCoalitiontroops. It alsovalidated theideaofMarines providing During thesecondhalfof2006USSIwo Jima (LHD-7)anditsESG A significantspikein Taleban attacksin2005-06ledtothecallfor In lateJuly 2004 KandaharandreturnedVMA-542 departed to © Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com Wasp (US Navy) ‘Det A’s’ deployment to Kandahar LHD-7’s stern ontheeve of VMA-542 Jima whileasecondjetcloseson landed AV-8B Harrier IIaboard V-1 Divisionchain down arecently Flightdeck directors assigned to the mission ( at Kandaharto refuel andrearm mid- targets in Afghanistan, often landing unit flewregular operations against 21 September 2006. That monththe along theflightdeck ofIwo Jima HMM-365/24th MEU-SOCaccelerates VMA-542 ‘Det A’ assignedto AV-8B Harrier from II+BuNo165004 US Navy) Iwo on OEF 2004-06 51 HMM- When LHD-7 reached the the reached When LHD-7 North Carolina. This unit included unit included This Carolina. North (1st a BLT element, a command Regiment), Marine 8th Battalion, air supportassociated under the and Combat of HMM-365 control 24. Group Logistics Battalion in early September Arabian Sea ashore 2006, its MEU went to forces. with Pakistani exercise detachment, however, The AV-8B MEU that it had convinced the employed would be better supporting in southern ISAF troops A’ VMA-542 ‘Det Afghanistan. duly started operating four AV-8Bs 9 September out of Kandahar from of a small thanks to the deployment www.ospreypublishing.com • Publishing Fury flying CAS, and participating Mountain in Operation Primarily Corps in a US Marine CO of HMM-365 remarked Barr, Lt Col Robert doubled the number of sorties could using Kandahar air base, we we ‘By detachment, assigned to the 24th MEU-SOC, was led by The AV-8B port enjoying the Atlantic, and sailed across on 6 June left Norfolk ‘We specialists from team of maintenance personnel and ordnance at Kandahar after and rearmed refuelled were 365 to the air base. Jets a 1.5-hour LHD-7 – following their first mission from they had flown 20 minutes could only initially provide IIs the Harrier carrier, flight from out on a 2.5-hour Sent they had to land at Kandahar. of CAS before to would return the aircraft after an hour on the ground, again patrol complete a third then and rearm, Kandahar for a second time to refuel ship and landing on at heading back to the 20-minute mission before had to be adopted by This unusual flight programme midnight. the by was driven 12-hour flying window Jima’s VMA-542 because Iwo rather than the combat missions being flown in Pakistan, MEU exercise II detachment. the Harrier by the eastern from Taleban aimed at clearing the offensive (a NATO-led missions pilots completed 136 combat of Afghanistan), AV-8B provinces and 17 PGMs delivering Afghanistan during the 12-day deployment, over making four strafing runs. media release; and us to rapidly refuel II allowed of the Harrier The versatility generate. jets truly and then get back into the fight. Our made a difference rearm during this period of operations.’ Lee, who recalled; Pete Maj On upon entering the Mediterranean. and Civitavecchia calls in Marseille lost a jet off the back of the we just north of Crete, of 2 July, the evening alongside the ship in to hover boat when the pilot had insufficient power with only minimal injuries was recovered for landing. He preparation 14 quickly sent [MAG] Air Group eight minutes after ejecting. Marine jets – a mix of Night had seven so we IIs, Harrier us two replacement needed them. really – and we and radar aircraft Attack Osprey © behind the Harrier IIs behind the Harrier Two jets from VMA-542 ‘Det A’ of the A’ ‘Det VMA-542 jets from Two at 24th MEU-SOC sit on the ramp The 2006. Kandahar on 15 September were LGB-12s seen in the foreground these aircraft. to fitment destined for 20 personnel from of A detachment to forward-deployed HMM-365 was 9 and 21 Kandahar between and rearm refuel to September from in-theatre IIs patrolling Harrier C-130H is A Canadian Forces LHD-7. single Kandahar’s finals to on short runway ) Corps (US Marine 52 CHAPTER FOUR of Naval Station Norfolk inearlyDecember. police force insouthernIraq. Iwo Jima eventually returned to itshomeport led by Iraqi securityforces thatplaguedthe toroot outthecorruption ofBritishsupport inOperation forces Sinbad takingpart –acampaign over 42sorties when itflew Basra, insouthernIraq, from LHD-7in was sailingintheNAG, thedetachment wasbrieflycommittedtoOIF HMM-365 returned toLHD-7. The following month,whileIwo Jima September whenthesmallteamofmaintainersandarmourers from andwewhoever supplied bothISRandoncallCAS.’ neededairsupport, ofCoalitionforces. support We were basedon routed around thecountry requirement.levels ofsupport In 2006weallover flew theplacein The accentsandthecultures were different andthegroups hadvarious British, aswell asforUSSpecial Forces withUSAF terminalcontrollers. for theItalians, theCanadiansinKandaharProvince, theDutch andthe CASfortheNATO sowe undertook support, troops withinISAF. Iflew extended well intothenight. of thetimeweindaylighthours,butsometimesourmissions flew using Kandaharasabase,before headingbacktotheboatatnight.Most CASmissionsoverundertake Afghanistanduringthecourseofday, while laterby asecondsectionof twoAV-8Bs. Allfourjetswould weapon, justaslongwe hadoneoneachjet. standoff capabilitythantheLGB. Ididnothave apreference foreither weather LGB] you couldadjusttheimpactangle.It alsohadagreater JDAM [whichcouldbeusedinanyweather conditions,unlikethefair targets. targets –theJDAMwasaprecision weaponWith forstationary the JDAM andtheotheranLGB, sincethelatterweapon couldhitmoving a LHDclasswarship]andtheGBU-12 LGB.the One jetwouldcarry became thefirstHarrier IIunittodrop aGBU-38 JDAMincombatfrom pods aswell –we usedthegunabitinAfghanistan2006. and aGBU-12, withthelighterNight Attack jetsbeingfittedwithgun of ourmissionswithtwodrop tanks. We alsocarriedaLiteningIIpod Kandahar forgasandbombs. Without we hadtoflyall tankersupport, we couldsneakinandgetfuel,but mostofthetimewe hadtolandat aircraft flyingfrom Qatar andUSNavy jetsoffthecarriers.Now andthen flight timeonthejets,soitwasgreat thatwe hadthatseventh aircraft. back totheship. It wasa90-minuteflighttoIwo Jima. We putalotof another missionandreturn toKandaharformore fuel,before heading and refuel aftercompletingamissionstraightfrom theboat,thenfly but there wassimplynoroomforus. space atapremium. We wantedtodetthere onamore permanentbasis, underreconstruction andramp time thebasewasamess,withrunway Afghanistan from theboat,doCASandthenlandatKandahar. At that and theMEUexercised inPakistan. We wouldflyallthewayinto from Iwosupport Jima whilewecombatmissionsintoAfghanistan flew VMA-542 Detachment AendeditscommitmenttoOEFon21 ‘During thisperiodoftheconflictthere were noMarines in-theatre to ‘We wouldlaunchapairofaircraft inthemorning,followed ashort ‘Our principalweapons ofchoicewere theGBU-38 JDAM[VMA-542 ‘We USAFstrike didnothave assignedtankers,astheysupported bestweMarines coulddo wasstationafew there, land,getbombs ‘The ‘We sentouttwofour-jetsectionsaday, thedetachmentenjoying great © Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com OEF 2007-10 53 Two AV-8Bs from VMA-223 ‘Det A’ VMA-223 ‘Det A’ from AV-8Bs Two a during Kearsarge aboard land back in exercise unit training composite 2007. Atlantic Ocean on 22 May the IIs of six Harrier The detachment assigned to was VMA-223 from HMM-261/22nd MEU-SOC whilst the six-month in LHD-3 for embarked that commenced on combat cruise 30 July 2007) (US Navy Kearsarge www.ospreypublishing.com • Publishing Osprey

y 2007 NATO’s ISAF was composed of military ISAF the from forces y 2007 NATO’s Italy, Germany, Australia, The Netherlands, US, UK, Canada, troops and a handful of other nations, these Spain France,

while the MEU was ashore in Kuwait training. For three or three training. For in Kuwait while the MEU was ashore Kearsarge ‘We had initially seen combat while flying missions in support of OIF ‘We operating in southern Afghanistan, just north of were Marines ‘Our As combat intensified in Amongst the TACAIR assets committed to OEF in an effort to blunt TACAIR Amongst the (LHD-3). Having already flown OIF sorties in for a number of weeks flown already (LHD-3). Having month to OEF the following VMA-223 shifted theatres 2007, September and headed east into the Arabian Sea. when LHD-3 departed the NAG K Adams; John The det commander was Maj off strike missions into Iraq. flewduring this period we regular four weeks for fixed was an urgent requirement that there word then received We and we coast of Pakistan so our ship sailed to the wing support in OEF, Operations Special MSOC [Marines flew missions for our own very as we These missions went well Command] in southern Afghanistan. for about coverage only provided We trained with these guys. had already on almost every dropped single sortie. I think weapons were but a week, would launch two-ship sections on mostly day We Camp Leatherneck. took off and We some night sorties too. were missions, although there a USAF KC-135 – usually hitting a tanker en route flew Pakistan, across also flew with RAF Harriers We Tristar. Brit but sometimes a or KC-10, unplanned, usually being an The night missions were on occasions. extension of a day mission. Our support of direct in missions were also helped but we Marines, this time At as well. Coalition forces our typical load-out was two fuel tanks, a Litening II pod, either a LGB JDAM or GBU-12 GBU-38 and the gun pods. Kearsarge support us with excellent provided flexible in and always remained flightdeck hours.’ terms of its active Corps Afghanistan, the US Marine commenced testing new systems aimed at that were in-theatre participating and the training of the ANA and the in both peacekeeping in-theatre, presence NATO the significant Despite Afghan police force. Afghanistan across to expand its offensive continued Taleban a resurgent and air forces US and international ground additional to the point where ISAF. be sent to Afghanistan to protect had to power the Taleban offensive was the VMA-223 detachment assigned to detachment assigned to VMA-223 was the offensive Taleban the HMM-261 as part in USS embarked of the 22nd MEU-SOC

OEF 2007-10 OEF B 54 CHAPTER FIVE Litening IIpods onstationwiththeHarrier IIs, thecommander wasable communicate verbally by radiowith his commandelement,butwith near Marines from BLT 1/6. The FAC withtheMarines couldonly observed Taleban Improvised fighters burying Explosive Devices (IEDs) publishedinthe in anarticle Winter ‘09issueof The magazine; Sheet Yellow providing CAS,asAV-8B Requirements Officer LtColPeter Blake recalled from lateApril. Asusual,theunitrelied heavilyontheLitening IIpodwhen counterinsurgency offensive toliberatethe Taleban-held town ofGarmsir) Province, whichwasthe24thMEU’s AOR. for sixmonths.Much oftheirfocuswasontheGarmsir District ofHelmand Harrier IIs from round-the-clock VMA-542) flew missionsfrom Kandahar Sea as had originallybeenplanned,HMM-365(includingsixAV-8B rather thanembarking inUSSNassau (LHA-4)andsailingtotheArabian a standingISAFrequest foramanoeuvre force insouthernAfghanistan, Afghanistan. Deploying directly from CONUStoOEFtemporarilyfill Corps battalionsandotherUSforces andCoalitionunitsfightingin HMM-365 hadarrived in-theatre toprovide fortwoUSMarine airsupport Afghanistan on12April 2008. coordinates’. The USMarine testingStrike Corpsstarted Linkin Strike Linkreduces bothhuman error andthetimeittakestopasstarget information through Strike batteries. Linkdirectly toaircraft orartillery binoculars togive thedistanceand rangeofthetargetandtransmitthis had notreally changedsincethe Vietnam War. Now we usedigital then sendthecoordinates viaradio. Up recently thatmethod untilvery past aFAC usedbinoculars,compassesandmapstosplitoutatarget, Instructor alsoassignedtoUSMarine CorpsSystems Command,‘In the According toCaptRyan B Ward, anAV-8B Weapons and Tactics Newbold, Team Fires Lead,USMarine CorpsSystems Command. that adigitalfire capabilitywasneeded’, support explainedMaj Brian J troops ontheground andsupporting TACAIR assets.‘We determined improving bothcommand-and-control andcommunicationlinksbetween ‘In May Maj Ryan Ward Bruggerman, andhiswingman,CaptArt VMA-542 played akeyrole inOperation The previous monththeAirCombatElement ofthe24thMEU-SOC’s © Osprey Publishing Azada WosaAzada (amajor • www.ospreypublishing.com September-October (USNavy) 2007 Afghanistan from LHD-3in combat missionsover Iraq andthen was taken. VMA-223 ‘Det A’ would fly deployment whenthisphotograph from commencingasix-month Kearsarge ESGwas justweeks away vessel on20June2007. The (CG-69) holdsstationbehindthe guided missilecruiser USS USS ‘Det A’ sitschained to thestern of An AV-8B Harrier II+from VMA-223 Kearsarge (LHD-3)whilethe Vicksburg

OEF 2007-10 55 to see a live video feed of the Taleban Taleban feed of the video a live to see With up an IED. setting insurgents he in turn verification, that visual to the target confirmation relayed who was commander, the MEU from approval receive then able to the ISAF headquartersto strike the that certainly insurgents – approval been granted would not have the by provided without verification video downlink. Litening II pod’s IIs the Harrier After ISAF approval, to drop the FAC by cleared were the enemy, two 500-lb JDAM on had been who Taleban killing six Marines. intent on killing BLT www.ospreypublishing.com • Publishing ‘In a related mission with the same Marines, the Litening II feed again mission with the same Marines, a related ‘In VMA-542 during this who was assigned to Tanis, Capt James Garmsir CAS for the MEU over in the middle of providing were ‘We supported sets of troops- when we five day was 15 June most intense ‘Our while flying in on the ground accents some interesting heard ‘We brief when FAC in Afghanistan used some form of a standard forces ‘All facilitated approval to strike another Taleban target, this time taking out the target, this time Taleban strike another to facilitated approval video the live Without cache. and his weapons IED coordinator regional been approved. neither of these missions would have that the pod provided, provided find the enemy, both cases, the Litening II pod helped Marines In identify the for commanders to positively time situational awareness real to their targets.’ weapons targets and guided precision that he flew Kandahar in missions detailed several from deployment, ; support of Azada Wosa coming under fire. troops called away to support British were when we the Brits. flying overhead were we 15 minutes of being re-tasked, Within and continued to Garmsir then returned them out, we helped Having was interesting It Marines. with our original CAS commitment to the flying a mission within a mission! hear machine guns at the not only could we one of them, in-contact. For too – I also could hear them taking fire we fire, returning position FAC’s as he talked with us. near the FAC impacting the ground rounds heard needed, and we information we got the we Sometimes support of ISAF. on the impact of our support feedback with shouts of great also received when operating Sometimes, the radio. hit!” over “bloody hell mate, direct tried to get them the support we they needed with less experienced FACs, as quickly as possible, while at the same time trying to calm them down them. and draw the information we needed from required during intense fighting, pilots were air support. Even requesting critical information such as the location of the back to the FAC to repeat guys with our own Working friendly forces. target and its distance from knewwas nice because we them, and they knew us and our procedures. some of them or a Brit, JTAC with say a Dutch working were When you accordingly, would talk with you and they professional extremely were others, you With what target they needed hit. to confirm “big to small” Osprey © Kearsarge A CH-46E Sea Knight nears the A CH-46E Sea Knight nears amphibious assault ship while returning from a relief mission a relief from while returning on 1 Bangladesh, in Pahoraghata, sent east LHD-3 was December 2007. Sea so that the Arabian the from elements of HMM-261 could rotary assistance and conduct humanitarian to in response efforts relief disaster of Bangladesh’s the Government Cyclone Tropical help after for request southern the country’s Sidr struck of Three coast on 15 November. six jets can be A’s’ ‘Det VMA-223 the of on the stern seen parked ) (US Navy carrier 56 CHAPTER FIVE Marine operationsin Iraq and MARCENT supported in Qatar. Commander atAlUdeid airbase Forces AirComponent for MARCENT toCENTCOM’s Hancock explained; ofDefense.Department Col nine unifiedcommandsintheUS Central Asia.CENTCOM isoneof the ArabianGulf region into from theHorn ofAfrica,through US securityinterests in27nations (COMUSCENTCOM), whichwastheunifiedcommandresponsible for commander forCommander, USCentralCommand (MARCENT). component The latter wastheUSMarine Corpsservice Marine adviserforUSMarine CorpsForces, CentralCommand worked closelywithMAG-40 in2009duringhistimeasthesenior former CH-53pilotwhohadswitchedtotheHarrier II.ColBen Hancock an aviationlogisticssquadron. MAG-40 wasledby ColKevin Vest, a refuelling squadron, oneunmannedaerialsystem (UAS) squadron and squadron, oneMV-22 Osprey squadron, oneKC-130 tacticalaerial squadrons, onelightattackhelicopter squadron, oneAV-8B Harrier II relieved by the3rd Marine Aircraft Wing (MAW). from thespringof2009through toApril 2010,whenMAG-40 was Brigade-AfghanistanExpeditionary (MEB-A).It OEF dulysupported MAG-40 astheAviation served CombatElement forthe2nd Marine atBritish-controlledto theairfield CampBastion, inHelmand Province), adjacent Leatherneck (theUSMarineoutofthedesert Corpsbasecarved helicopter andfixed-wing unitsin-theatre. Having itsHQatCamp PointCherry anddeployed toAfghanistaninthespringof2009 tocontrol the Taleban, Marine Aircraft Group (MAG) 40wasreactivated atMCAS forces committedtoOEFinresponse toincreasingly violentattacks by President Barack Obama approved a30,000-strong troop surgeforUS to British forces. when the24thMEU-SOChandedover control oftheGarmsir District we return toKandahar!’ forces allintheoneflight. We even hadAustralians controlling uswhen ofISAFtroops, talkingwithDutch,support Italian, USArmyandBrit ambush spots.For morningin muchofourtimein-theatre weevery flew outapatrol. carrying We lookedforsuspiciousactivity, IEDsandpotential The troops ontheground were moving from “A” to“B”,ortheywere enemy forthem. guys whowere takingfire, andyou were hopefullygoingtotakeoutthe taking. The mostrewarding thingwasknowing you were goingtosupport to friendlyforces andwhere thelatterwere inrelation tothefire theywere just neededtotakethatextraminuteconfirmhow closetheenemywas ‘I wastheseniorMarine adviser For muchofitstimeinOEF, MAG-40 wascomposedoftwoCH-53 With theUSMarine Corpspresence intheatre increasing insize after VMA-542 returned homewiththerest ofHMM-365inOctober 2008 ‘Most oftherequests we received sawusflyinginover-watch mode. © Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com them Night Attack jets( IIs to KandaharinMay 2009, sixof tanks. The unitdeployed ten Harrier pod andtwo 300-gallonexternal fuel cannon, andcarrying aLitening II GBU-12 LGBandGAU-12 25mm AV-8B Night Attack jetarmed witha An undersideviewofa VMA-214 E Schaefer) OEF 2007-10 57 Essex (LHD-4) with ‘Marines prefer Marine jets or jets or Marine prefer ‘Marines Afghanistan. In OEF, I was was I OEF, In Afghanistan. in support 2nd MEB-A, of the Gen Brig by commanded Larry Nicholson. in a overhead attack helicopters and though the USAF even firefight, allies had some great our NATO as and capability in-theatre aircraft between difference The main well. and other CAS pilots is the Marines pilots Marine that most of the time fly in support of units that they have www.ospreypublishing.com • Publishing ‘Brig Gen Nicholson, commanding general of 2nd MEB-A [Task commanding general of 2nd MEB-A [Task Nicholson, Gen ‘Brig VMA-214 from 2009 ten AV-8Bs November to 14 14 May From would be deploying indications that we received 2008 we October ‘In a close relationship with. The vast majority of the Marine JTACs are pilots, are JTACs majority of the Marine The vast with. a close relationship some of the ground with worked have in-theatre and many of the pilots CAS Marine Because levels. and regimental battalion officers at company, every single day in 2009, they Helmand in the Marines flewaircraft over with their JTACs. recognition voice soon achieved to were the start Leatherneck], made it clear from that Marines Force first organic weapons or kill them with engage the enemy and suppress to take care ordered They were at platoon, company or battalion levels. using 5.56 mm, 7.62 mm or 40 mm gunfire, of a situation on their own the infantry then call for artilleryor mortars. could required, If support CAS. Artillery and the included 155 mm M198 howitzers and, lastly, Artillery be for Last call would System. Mobility Rocket M142 High very reluctant guys were Our TACAIR. and Hueys Cobras, CAS from “troops-in-contact”.’ to declare Six Kandahar. capability from TACAIR with its MAG-40 provided the unit had been expecting Yuma, MCAS from months prior to deploying 2009 January months from to send a six-jet detachment to sea for eight with the 31st MEU-SOC as part in USS of HMM-262 embarked OIF VMA-211 when filled by was this requirement (LHD-2). However, as scheduled, Nevertheless, commitments came to an end in 2008. USS Boxer aboard six aircraft VMA-214 still embarked 2009. HMM-163 as part of the 13th MEU-SOC in January undertakingto Afghanistan, rather than simultaneously two MEU made were ‘We recalled. VMA-214, CO of Schaefer, Lt Col Eric cruises’, Although the Yuma. at MAG-13 for this tasking by the lead squadron for Afghanistan had not been requirement wing of the fixed exact nature to support wing aircraft the soon identified at that stage, the need for fixed started our mission analysis with working We MEB-A had. to be deployed for the deployment. in preparation Vest, Col the CO of MAG-40, the in the final stages of readying was also the squadron Simultaneously, took half of the detachment to support the 13th MEU – this deployment [six jets] and most of my experienced pilots and support aircraft squadron’s we for the Afghan deployment, only a few months to prepare With team. a few senior one qualified instructor, AV-8B, had only one working officers and eight very junior pilots, plus some experienced NCOs. Osprey © One of four AV-8B+s flown by by flown AV-8B+s One of four BuNo Kandahar, from VMA-214 up as the unit’s marked 165421 was the ‘colour’ jet (including bearing Maj first CO, name of the unit’s beneath the Boyington, ‘Pappy’ of OIF with A veteran cockpit). this wore the aircraft VMA-214, throughout scheme distinctive ) (E Schaefer its time in-theatre 58 CHAPTER FIVE the aircraft. ‘We anticipated thatourpilotswouldfly 40hourspermonth Marine Aviation LogisticsSquadron (MALS)13onthemaintenanceof 200 Marines assignedtotheunitworked alongsidepersonnelfrom inorder tomeet theunit’sairworthy punishingoperationaltempo. Some wastoldtoabort. for anothergunrun, The enemyhadfled.’ end.“Dash an abrupt Two”, holdingat30secondsintrailandwaiting position, itwascleartotheMarine patrol thatthefirefight hadcometo instead offlares. Asthesmokecleared from theremnants oftheenemy SAPHEI-T [Semi-Armour Piercing High Explosive Incendiary-Tracer] fire. The nexttimetheHarrier IIs over flew itraineddown 25mm firepower. The 2/8Marines onceagainfound themselves takingheavy only momentarilydiscouragedby thisshow ofMarine airandsuperior troops, keptthepressure ontheenemy. fire,positions asmortar impactingasclose150metres from friendly took advantage ofthislullby regrouping andseekingtenable fighting ceased asthejetpasseddirectly over them,dispensingflares. The Marines overhead at300ftandmore than500knots. The enemyfire abruptly a jetenginewasdrowning outthesoundofgunfire astheHarrier IIblazed located theenemypositionand,30secondslater, thedeafeningsoundof allaround them.AnAV-8Bstruck thathadchecked inmomentsbefore direct andindirect fire. They were unabletoseetheenemyasaccuratefire Charles George describingatypical missionduringthesummerof2009; of thesquadron. activity asthe Taleban attemptedtoassessthecapabilitiesandintentions known tothe Taleban. Ground forces sawanimmediatelullinenemy the MEB-Awouldsoonbeoperatingandgenerallymaketheirpresence were senttooverfly enemyactivityinthoseareas where FOBs,observe was askedtocommenceflightoperationsearlierthanexpected.Aircraft 10 June. However, asenemyactivityneartheFOBs increased, VMA-214 at Kandahar, asitwasnotexpectedtocommenceoperationsuntilafter had beentoldthatitwouldhave ample timetoprepare itsworking spaces Attack jetswere theoldestexamplesinfleetattime. The squadron Night Attack andfourradaraircraft toAfghanistan. Two oftheNight ready todothework.’ incidents. This wasafunctionoftrainedMarines withalotofmotivation However, during3000combathoursinOEFwe hadonlythree FOD vulnerabletoFODdamageasitsenginesucksupeverything. is very time. Anotherarea we focusedalotofattentiononwasFOD. The AV-8B all ofourMarines couldfixtheproblems andhave itready toflyinashort our maintenancequalificationssowhenajetcamebackfrom amission, efficiencies tomeetourrequirement. We didalotoftrainingtoexpand a fullsquadron ofaircraft toachieve thisgoal. Thus we hadtoidentify troops. We hadarequirement for24/7fire butwe hadlessthan support, element withinBrig Gen Nicholson’s planforforce protection forhis fire assetsavailable, soaviationfires support [TACAIR CAS]were akey Considerable effort went intokeeping Considerable effort VMA-214’s tenHarrier IIs ‘Today’s enemyisadedicatedadversary, andthe Taleban fighterswere ‘On patrol, Marines from 2/8foundthemselves pinneddown by heavy The actionquicklyintensifiedfor VMA-214, withsquadron pilotCapt VMA-214 deployed toKandaharinMay 2009,theunitsendingsix ‘We thatthe2ndMEB(A)wouldbein-theatre knew withonlylimited © Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com the blast( sand glidingover themshortly after Onlookers reported arolling cloudof from VMA-214 on21July2009. 1000-lb bombsdropped by Harrier IIs Province, are destroyed by three Afghanistan, inSafaar, inHelmand Marine ExpeditionaryBrigade- Armored ReconnaissanceBattalion, seized by Marines from the2ndLight More than290tons ofpoppy seeds US Marine Corps) OEF 2007-10 59 www.ospreypublishing.com • Publishing The unit also received support from Boeing’s AV-8B Field Service Service Field AV-8B support Boeing’s from The unit also received the RAF’s [where Kandahar and Bastion from II operations ‘Harrier VMA-214 jets flew the ten months of operations almost seven During for MAG-40 Officer Plans served as the Future Thomas Gore Lt Col time in Afghanistan my primary job was to MAG-40’s ‘During flying while in Afghanistan, but we ended up flying a lot more – some ended up flying a lot more but we flying while in Afghanistan, VMA- T Bardo, James explained Maj 90 hours a month’, exceeded aircraft able to have were that we ‘I am proud officer. aviation maintenance 214’s capable at the start of our jets fully mission 80 percent of everyaround a very despite being on the end of long supply line’. flying day, Wilson; personnel, including Pat most other from different considerably located] were 9s were GR Harrier of the airfieldsThe elevation was the years. supported had sites we over engine This in itself degraded ft and 3600 ft, respectively. 3200 roughly was not of the aircraft performance so significantly that full hovering while special attention wheels and brakes required Tyres, possible. were and outrigger tyres main Blown these airfieldsoperating from too. (tanks, Lantirn II pod and not uncommon due to the heavy landing loads The added heat with OEF. often two bombs and ammunition) associated landings took its toll on the braking systems. Due fast, heavier from for areas and surrounding to the brakes, tyres diligence was also given inspected many occasions, when brakes were damage. On heat-related had – a condition we rotors the found cracked around clips were drive operations. Another heat not seen for quite a while during peacetime assemblies were Brake and erosion. effect was heavy oxidation related for this condition.’ monitored carefully in only four months) flown 3084 combat hours (2798 of these hours were while than 20,000 lbs of ordnance and 1374 sorties, more dropping While in and attack missions. performing armed reconnaissance CAS, for flight hours, all statistical records VMA-214 exceeded Afghanistan II other Harrier utilisation rates set by and aircraft mission readiness in OIF. including those involved squadrons, 2010, and he was able to fly to March 2009 through April in OEF from the deployment; II missions throughout Harrier supervise efforts the aviation planning coordinate, for all and refine were IIs Harrier Marine executed. heliborne assaults that we company-sized initial terminal conducting integrated into most of these offensives, Osprey © ) E Schaefer A VMA-214 jet armed with GBU-38 armed jet VMA-214 A VMGR-352 a from fuel receives JDAM southern KC-130J in flight over helped refuelling Aerial Afghanistan. time of and loiter the range extend with in OEF, AV-8Bs VMA-214’s VMGR-352 co-located providing most the jets from of the fuel passed to a 57,500-lb The KC-130J offers unit. and using wing capacity, fuel offload It is while in the air. tanks, external also equipped with a removable 3600-gallon aluminium fuel tank that inside the cargo is carried additional providing compartment, The KC-130J can fuel when required. aircraft or rotary-wing fixed refuel and drogue probe using standard equipment ( 60 CHAPTER FIVE underway, theMEB-A wasfuriously Lt ColGore. ‘As thisoperationgot winter weather conditions’, recalled assault duringtough,challenging IIs, ‘which oversaw aheliborne byoffensive Harrier wassupported Operation Helmand Province. Codenamed clearance ofNow Zad, innorthern the MEB-Aconductedfinal on theground’. theMarines of timeitcouldsupport refuelling andincreased theamount the amountoftimeanaircraft spent off. These improvements decreased land, refuel, rearm, park andtake taxiways toenablemore aircraft to Dispensing System andconnecting runway, parking we ramp, alsoaddedanorth Tactical Fuel Airfield commanding officerofMWSS-372.‘In additiontoimproving the Vietnam forfixed wingaircraft’, explainedLtColMatthew Puglisi, since airfield thelargestexpeditionary finished we hadconstructed Marine Wing Support Squadron (MWSS)372.‘By thetimejobwas established forhelicoptersbutwasexpandedtoaccommodateAV-8Bs by the Helmand River valley, intheGarmsir District, thathadinitiallybeen expandedCampDwyernewly from January 2010.Dwyer wasaFOBin some ofthetenaircraft assignedto flyingfrom the VMA-231 started MAG-40 inNovember 2009.AlthoughtheunitwasbasedatKandahar, in OEFandgreatly theywere helpedtheMarine supporting.’ infantrymen 2004]. VMA-214 maintainedsuperbreadiness ratesthroughout itstime largest USMarine Corpsoffensive sincetheBattle ofFallujah, inIraq, in MEB-A’s initialheliborneassaultintotheHelmand River valley [andthe roleplayed inOperationearlyJuly aninstrumental Khanjar –the in November 2009. VMA-214 had arrived inKandaharMay 2009and VMA-231 whenthelatterunitreplaced the“Blacksheep” withinMAG-40 guidance, reconnaissance andoncallCAS.Igottoflywith VMA-214 and Soon after VMA-231’s arrival, As notedby LtColGore, VMA-231 replaced VMA-214 within Cobra’s Anger, this © Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com (E Schaefer) reconnaissance andattack missions performing CAS, armed lbsofordnance while than 20,000 and 1374 sorties, dropping more were flown inonlyfour months) combat hours(2798ofthese VMA-214 jetsin-theatre flew3084 seven monthsofoperations theten 12 October 2009. During almost squadron photo atKandaharon VMA-214 comestogether for a December 2009 (Needham December 2009 Afghan-Pakistan border on30 Capt McLinalongtheeastern assigned to VMA-231, isflown by AV-8B Harrier II+BuNo165594, ) OEF 2007-10 61 – in February February – in Moshtarak www.ospreypublishing.com • Publishing ‘Due to the potential for significant Taleban resistance, MAG-40 sought MAG-40 resistance, Taleban for significant to the potential ‘Due VMA-231 completely validates and ‘The MAG-40 by use of FOB Dwyer its time VMA-231 throughout was CO of Forrest Lt Col David that and still did not know initially on the hook to go to Iraq, were ‘We for the on getting additional training particularly worked hard ‘We planning for a much larger assault – Operation assault – Operation larger for a much planning 2010. Part of the ISAF pacification offensive in Afghanistan, its main aim its main aim in Afghanistan, offensive ISAF pacification of the Part 2010. the enemy’s thus eliminating Marja, from Taleban the was to remove Province. in central Helmand stronghold expeditionary capability and surge basing II’s on the Harrier to capitalise is located operation. FOB Dwyer in support of the Marja the AV-8Bs that time was the home of and at of Marja, about 20 miles due south for the combat element 7 – the ground [RCT] Team Combat Regimental boasted an expeditionary the time, Dwyer assault. At runwayMarja that one attack jet in and less than 100 ft wide. Only was only 4250 ft long on a runway and land from the world can take off that short while carrying AV-8B. a full combat load – the certainly have IIs Harrier Marine the AV-8B. of the operational premise operations VMA-231’s but FOBs in other conflicts, austere operated from unique because the runway was so campaign were in support of the Marja The AV-8B’s assault. short was located so close to the regimental and Dwyer transit time dramatically reduce VMA-231 to capability allowed STOVL for tanker support, eliminate the need external drop Marja, to and from very also ensured high sortie rates. It fuel tanks and carry ordnance. more headquarters co-located also facilitated a very FOB and RCT the Having battalions.VMA-231 and supported manoeuvre tight integration between support this operation, and throughout great II pilots provided The Harrier all of the others that they flew in during the deployment.’ to the deployment; the build-up and he recalled in-theatre, to heading to Afghanistan instead. I sent the squadron would be we to NAF went then we exercise, Flag AFB, Louisiana, for a Green Barksdale moved and finally we ordnance, live California, and delivered Centro, El base operations, day and for fixed Carolina, North out to Bogue Field, this was at around qualified. It could get everyone night, so that we NVG Afghanistan, so the squadron going to were found out we time that we to the forward field at moving by finished its training for deployment 2009, where in September to fly with the MCAGCC Palms Twenty-Nine units. All flew ground it was hot and sandy and we in support of Marine providing in-theatre were we of this training paid off handsomely once on the ground. CAS for troops the Today, for the first time. pilots that would be deploying younger integrated with good targeting systems and effective is so well AV-8B miss it. However, almost never a target you detect that once you weapons with operating so engrossed initially found that our junior pilots were we systems that they would the targeting pod and other aspects of the jet’s not look outside the cockpit and maintain a good scan pattern. During manoeuvre and I made my guys fly together in section spread work-ups them to keep a as a pair when acquiring a target, which in turn forced actually before to each other, visual check on their positions relative the junior that this provided quickly found We any ordnance. delivering training. effective guys with more Osprey © 62 CHAPTER FIVE to cleanupthedebris.’ andthenwent out withbrooms, leafblowerslet itdry andscrewdrivers ofthetaxiways. AM-2 steelmattingthatwasused intheconstruction We sandstorm. the dollyaftermosttakeoffsand every FOD wasaconstantfocusfor VMA-231, andwe didalotofsweeps with aircraft andhelicoptershadtakenoffimmediatelypriortoourdeparture. tobecheckedafterlargesufficient timeforthetaxiwaysandrunway plenty ofseparationbetween aircraft. We alsomadesure thatwe left down, so we didnotblow debrisaround, andmadesure thatthere was world atthattime,soitwastough. We hadminimumtaxispeeds,nozzles clear ofFOD.However, inthe airport it wasthebusiestsinglerunway While thesquadron wasatKandaharwe didourbesttokeeptherunway in thewinterwhenitgetscold! We also experiencedhailandsandstorms. where we coulddotheheavywork, andtheywere neededaswe were there just aswe expectedittobe.Fortunately, we hadhangarsatKandahar better suitedtothemore selective ROE thatwasnow inforce inAfghanistan. BLU-126the new low collateralblastwarheadsoastomaketheordnance tremendous flexibility. Our GBU-38s andGBU-12s couldbefittedwith a GBU-12 LGB, thetargetingpod,fueltanksandgun,whichgave us aGBU-38centreline JDAM, modfortheLiteningIIpodcouldcarry We usedthegunalotasdirect result ofthesemods.Our jetswiththe Afghanistan duetothemore restrictive ROE thatwasnow inplaceOEF. GAU-12 25mmgun. This weapon wasparamountforouroperationsin of theAV-8B allowed ustoconcentrateonmakingmore effective useofthe fly upto5.5Gswiththetanksinboard. The improved handlingcharacteristics as theforces associatedwithasymmetric loadswere reduced andwe could prior toheadingOEF. This modenhancedthehandlingofaircraft II podoncentreline stationNo 4andfueltanksonstationsNos 3and5 Change479completed,whichallowedtheLitening Airframes ustocarry only sentradarjetsthathadbeenfullyupgradedtoAfghanistan. aircraft, andthejets’ paintworkapplied,before wasnewly we deployed. We PointCherry toensure thatallthelatestmodshadbeeninstalledin the bestjetspossible.It alsohelpedthatwe hadtheoverhaul depotthere at allowed ustotakethepickofitsaircraft too,thusmakingsure thatwe had going totakeKandahar. Point, Our sister-squadron atCherry VMA-223, ‘I recall heavyrainstormmudshotupthrough the afteroneparticularly ‘Maintenance fortheAV-8Bs oncein-theatre proved tobehard work, ‘Our maintenanceofficer, Maj Ben Hutchins, madesure ourjetshad ‘In theweeks leadingupthedeployment we selectedtenjetsthatwe were © Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com on 22January 2010 (Needham markings, patrols over Afghanistan 164662, complete withspecialtail VMA-231 flagshipHarrier II+BuNo ) OEF 2007-10 63 10 was very different from what10 was very from different www.ospreypublishing.com • Publishing ‘Our command-and-control was good in Afghanistan. Let me give you me give in Afghanistan. Let was good command-and-control ‘Our done basic already had times in Afghanistan the command centre ‘Many costing Eagle UASs or Scan ‘The used Shadow command centre deployment VMA-231’s of months for the first three XO Lt Col Forrest’s in 2009- Province Helmand over ‘Flying only the squadron of our deployment months the first three ‘During Command (Southwest) daily mission in support‘Our of Regional Once in combat over Afghanistan, Lt Col Forrest was impressed by the by was impressed Col Forrest Lt Afghanistan, combat over in Once in OIF II with VMA-513 in OIF II with I flewWhen Richard Bonhomme off a comparison. as part the interface in 2005, the pilot was of the 15th MEU the between I had to take on the ground, I saw something and the jet. If targeting pod manually enter them into the jet’s and the screen from the coordinates that had integrated mission had AV-8Bs 2010 we In mission computer. had JDAM capability. plus we automatically, that could do this software and operating, using UASs were Marines where of the areas reconnaissance would get a set of coordinates checked in our pilots When we other sensors. something might be going on, like the command thought where of an area the targeting pod would enter the numbers into We potential for an ambush. codes so our ROVER or air officer the FAC give and and it would look there so we here’, ‘Look They would then say, saw. we that they could see what to evaluate of Impact] Point Mean [Designated DMPI a valid would have This is ISR at its best. and attack. for many on station perhaps $100 per hour to run, and they could remain for the most and prepare hours to monitor the situation on the ground costing $3000 per hour to run of fighter aircraft use that were effective command- Thanks to this improved perhaps an hour at most. for available on the ground the troops effective, more were fast movers and-control, knew what was and command centres support valid and the FAC received time.’ going on in real who like his CO had also seen action in OIF; Hermley, Shawn was Maj was in support with twice. Once of troops-in-contact, ordnance employed attack ontwo 25 mm gun runs, and the second time was a pre-planned a JDAM. two GBU-38 dropped onto which we Taleban, the building used by commands operating in Afghanistan which is one of six regional [RC(SW), was airborne-alert were under ISAF control] CAS, which meant that we an attack aviation requesting force to a ground on-call to be redirected were While we with the enemy. to a firefight asset, usually in response and Surveillance, Intelligence, Non-Traditional provided we ‘on-call’, forces, ground support of NATO in direct [NTISR] Reconnaissance advances that had been made in the command-and-control of TACAIR TACAIR of in the command-and-control been made that had advances earlier; OIF II five years he had seen action in assets since in 2007 while serving Iraq, I had experienced flying in Al Anbar Province, was 6. Helmand Team Combat air officer with Regimental as regimental infrastructure. out, lacking any well-developed spread rural and more more been without a centralised had Province evident that Helmand was It activity was also initially less for quite some time. Enemy government to months of my deployment than during the early in Helmand frequent also We infrequent. relatively was also hence the use of aviation fires Iraq, in Afghanistan, particularly when it came to the ROE restrictive had more amongst was almost a dirty word “Bomb” of bombs. Indeed, employment commanders. ground our customers – US and NATO Osprey © 64 CHAPTER FIVE his view ofthe targetfromhis view theLiteningIIpodto hisHUD. the pilotbefore hecancommencefiring. With thelatter, thepilot hastoshift challenge incongestedairspace– andthevisualacquisitionoftargetby challenging aspectsofstrafingare therequirement todive –acoordination engagement withordnance. of approval authorityand, hence,improved thelikelihoodofatimely TACAIR assetsinOEF. Strafing passesrequired asignificantlyreduced level restrictive withintheROE andthevarious Tactical Directives issuedtoall the gunpriortoenteringcombat. The criteriaforgunemployment wasless weapon. was goingtobeourprimary The squadron trainedextensively with ahead ofourdeployment thattheGAU-12 25mmfive-barrel Gatling gun provided additionaltime-on-station attheexpenseoftwoPGMstations. required. Therefore, ourstandard loadincludedexternalfueltanks,which rather longprocess duetoROE andthevarious approvals thatwere of events from targetdetectionthrough to weapon ontarget]couldbea game wastomaximisetime-on-stationbecausethe“killchain” [sequence miles from Kandahar. In thecounter-insurgencyfight,nameof There wasalsotimespentonpre- andpost-flightbriefings. hour on-deckbeingrefuelled andrearmed andtwohoursairborneagain. expect tospendaround five hoursinthecockpit–twoairborne,one hot refuelling Allinall,you could andtakeoffagainonasecondsortie. providing about1.25to1.5hourson-station,thenreturn toKandaharfor to IEDattacks.EachAV-8B perday, sectionwouldconducttwosorties convoys beingsentouttoFOBs,asthesewere proving highlyvulnerable being usedextensively forlogisticsin anattempttoreduce thenumberof one aircraft overhead atalltimes. The Marine KC-130s were, inanycase, were anamedoperationwhere supporting itwasdesirabletohave atleast or JTAC watchedourfullmotionvideodownlink anddirected oursensor. provide over-watch offriendlypatrols/convoys whilethebattalionFAC Litening IIpodtocollectintelligence,search forenemyfightersand/or “non-traditional”. We wouldorbitoverhead friendlyforces, usingthe renamed Multi-sensor Reconnaissance Imagery [MIR]sinceitisnolonger usually USMarine Corpsbattalions–theNTISRmissionhassincebeen ‘The GAU-12 accuratewhenemployed isvery ‘The properly. The most “Bomb”‘With word beingadirty in-theatre atthetime,wewell knew ‘Our working areas alongtheHelmand River ranged80to100nautical ‘We rarely conductedaerialrefuelling unlesswe duringourdailysorties, © Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com Corps) beneath itsleft wing( The jetiscarrying aGBU-38JDAM at CampDwyer on10 February 2010. refuelling oftheaircraft iscompleted Harrier II+from VMA-231 assoon conduct finalinspectionsonan AV-8B Marines from MWSS-372standby to US Marine OEF 2007-10 65 , additional . Moshtarak ‘In the weeks prior to the prior to the the weeks ‘In town would flee. Conversely, those would flee. Conversely, town insurgents who chose to stay had defences. plenty of time to prepare ordnance analysed we offensive We load-outs and basing options. the KC-130s have knew we’d for the first fewavailable days of the operation, other and possibly platforms too. aerial refuelling ordnance reload can’t you However, while airborne, and the 80 miles and Kandahar was Marja between not ideal – at least a 20-minute one- way transit, plus significant ground delays at a very busy airport. www.ospreypublishing.com • Publishing ‘VMA-231 planned and prepared to provide the best CAS we could for the best CAS we to provide ‘VMA-231 planned and prepared ‘About a month prior to the eventual start a month prior to the eventual of Moshtarak ‘About ‘Therefore, during VMA-231’s first few months in Afghanistan, we few first we months in Afghanistan, VMA-231’s ‘Therefore, during ‘The airspace over the Helmand River was certainly congested, as certainly was River as congested, ‘The the Helmand over airspace airspace control measures were instituted over Marja in order to work out to work in order Marja instituted over were measures airspace control of the operation. A large prior to execution the bugs of airspace control [HIDAZ] and a smaller Restricted Zone Airspace Control Density High these being run created, within the HIDAZ were [ROZ] Zone Operating The Team. Liaison an Air Support by Centre Operations 7’s within RCT within the larger HIDAZ, while the regimental aircraft latter controlled January Throughout within the ROZ. and fires air officer guided aircraft effectively were 2010 the bugs in this new system of command-and-control had 7 giving us the priority airspace block that we with RCT out, worked operating at now were UASs Theatre-level the start.been asking for from for the AV-8Bs. rapid gun employments more higher altitudes, allowing The ISAF was open expected in Marja. fight that we the difficult ground fighters, heavily publicising Taleban of about its plans to clear the town to the and size it was launched and comparing its scope before Moshtarak fighters in the Taleban in the hope that of Fallujah Battle 2004 Second continually pleaded with the DASC to insert the AV-8Bs lower in the stack lower the DASC to insertcontinually pleaded with the AV-8Bs effective at higher altitudes to make more UASs and place the theatre-level pilots the AV-8B given have This would sensors. use of their superior wait for a slow the gun without having to opportunity to rapidly employ the make up of the stack improved, Eventually, to transit out of the way. UAS for Operation perfected preparations until final but it wasn’t virtually everyone who lives in the province resides next to the river within to the river next resides virtually the province in everyone who lives Jet supportedfarmland and villages – the the river. by zone” the “green to conserveto be at high altitude generally like aircraft to remain fuel, counter- During optimise PGM effectiveness. and to the threat above have jets TACAIR and Afghanistan, operations in both Iraq insurgency to maximise the fidelity altitudes in order than typical lower operated at the number of other aircraft and also to reduce of the targeting pod video, of the way in case of a out need to be moved beneath them that would Laser gun or the AGM-65E for the profile diving attack – the preferred missile. Maverick Osprey © ) Corps US Marine A refuelling crew from MWSS-372 from crew A refuelling jet VMA-231 tanks in a the replenish 2010 on 13 February at Camp Dwyer Moshtarak Operation – the day site This forward commenced. and from flight to a long eliminated extended for Kandahar and allowed forces. ground Marine for air support with is armed aircraft This particular a GBU-12 and GAU-12 a GBU-38, 25 mm cannon ( 66 CHAPTER FIVE joining VMA-231 asXO andOps O,respectively. It wasrare tohave at VMAT-203, before togetherinthe unitasinstructors, thenserved ourHarrier– we IIcareers hadstarted togetherinthesameAV-8B class Buchan, whowasthesquadron’s Operations Officer andagoodfriend to VMA-542. It turnedouttobeamemorable flightwithMaj Toby mission with VMA-231 on19February, priortomy earlyredeployment details ofthebattalionwewere goingtowork for. having already received ourairspaceassignment,situationupdate and being refuelled andrearmed. We wouldthentakeofffrom CampDwyer able totalkface-to-facewiththeregimental airofficerwhilejetswere concept, wasthatRCT 7’s Headquarters waslocatedhere, andpilotswere 6000 ft. The othergreat thingaboutDwyer, basing andtheforward section ofAM-2mattingthatincreased toabout thelengthofrunway the AV-8B, we coulddeploy toplacesthatnootherjetcouldgoto. from baseclosetothefightinorder aforward tomaximise sorties. With station. This wastheHarrier II’s designconceptatitsbest,thejetoperating on deckinDwyer was19minutes –toland,getgasandbackon theextrafuelrequiredneed toreserve tomeetatanker. Our quickestturn Dwyer becauseitwasdirectly undertheCASstack,which meantwe didn’t get fuelfrom theKC-130. It wasactuallyeasierforustolandatCamp incaseyou couldn’tgas togoboththetankerandanalternateairfield actually losttime-on-stationgoingtotankerssinceyou hadtokeepenough we usedCampDwyer exclusively, whichworked extremely well. We Dwyer ifwe neededtoreload bombs.On subsequentdaysoftheoperation refuelling withKC-130s, withthegameplanofdropping intoCamp section conductedmultiple25mmgunattacks. We aerial alsoperformed the squadron’s planningandpreparations really paidoff. Every AV-8B hot refuelling andhotreloading. rotating asmalldetachmentofMarines intothesiteinorder toconduct south ofthetown. We flyingintoDwyer inearlyJanuary, initiallystarted literally underneaththesouthCASstackforMarja, beingjust20miles settled onusingCampDwyer asourordnance reloading point.It was wingandfixedcongested withrotary wingcargoaircraft. We ultimately refuelling andordnance reloading location,butitwasalready extremely MAG-40 initiallylookedatusingCampBastion asanAV-8B airfield ‘ ‘Just priortoMoshtarak commencing,MWSS-372tiedinthelast ‘On thefirstdayofOperation Moshtarak on13February 2010,allof Moshtarak forexactlyaweekmylast whenIflew hadbeenunderway © Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com Marine Corps) fleet to make thetransition ( and it hastaken years for theentire overhauls atMCAS Cherry Point, aircraft went through major The newscheme was appliedas still alighter shadeofgrey, however. scheme –itsreplacement canopy is boasts thenewdarker camouflage intheforegroundBuNo 165004 two-tone grey camouflage while background ispainted instandard Note thatBuNo165355inthe at CampDwyer on10 February 2010. their turn to berefuelled andrearmed Two VMA-231 AV-8B Harrier II+swait US OEF 2007-10 67 www.ospreypublishing.com • Publishing ‘We had executed our first mission and landed at Dwyer for gas. When When gas. for at Dwyer mission and landed our first had executed ‘We a digital nine-line CAS brief had had the capability to receive ‘The AV-8B checked in with we at Dwyer, after refuelling airborne were we ‘Once VMA-231 in OEF in 2009-10, also flewBucklew with Capt Keith When flying in got a lot better tasking in Afghanistan than Iraq. ‘We so when you was limited, TACAIR in Afghanistan, Marine ‘However, I called the regimental air officer while refuelling, he gave us a battlefield he gave refuelling, air officer while regimental I called the The answer to make history?” ready you then asked me, “Are update and be going to Alpha that we’d us know let He “Sure”. was an inquisitive Their which was in a firefight. 6th Marines, Battalion, 1st Company, a digital execute Capt Alex Ramthun, wanted to battalion air officer, nine-line. since I had started message being transmitted in 1998, the flying the aircraft the equipment via have didn’t FAC/JTACs However, ATHS. via the jet’s fielding of recent digitally until the relatively which to transmit a briefing and F/A-18s routinely Both AV-8Bs system. Link ground-based the Strike at home using and JTACs in training with FACs conducted digital CAS in combat. been used Link, but it had never Strike a digital and he passed us the nine-line data via the battalion air officer locked onto requirements, confirmed it so as to meet theatre We burst. [a a GBU-51 each delivered the target with the Litening II pod and into the blast warhead) low-collateral fitted with a BLU-126 GBU-12 for me personally because it was memorable This event target building. been used in combat, it was was the first time a digital nine-line brief had against the enemy and it was my a bomb the first time I had employed the time I thought At VMA-231 during this deployment. last flight with I would period. Fortunately, it might also be my last flight in combat, detachment in action Kearsarge VMA-542’s the opportunityhave lead to VMA-231 during its of in 2011 and then take command Libya over in 2012-13.’ deployment Camp Bastion VMA-513 in 2006; with seen combat in Iraq having previously a tasking for been may or may not have would take off and there we OIF, was considerably larger – there us. Also, the scale of the operation in Iraq had both in 2006 we I was there When assets in-theatre. a lot more were plenty were at Al Asad, so there squadron unit and a Hornet II a Harrier no tasking received often meant you This assets available. TACAIR of very and the missions soon became when on patrol, repetitive. ten jets were Our got tasked and got on station they had stuff for us to do. checked in they When we in 2009-10. TACAIR to Marine it in regards got a lot better at tasking assignments We nearly always had a target for us. makes it a lot easier for the for ISR. ROVER and with using ROVER as can make better use of you command group and the forces, ground we When I was in Iraq the jet. looking at from are they can see what you limited the which and antenna problems, receiver had analogue ROVER better pods, with to digital ROVER moved 2007 we use. From system’s operational that meant the system’s receivers powerful antennae and more the By asset in-theatre. started to be a real and ROVER range increased was a critical, and reliable, to Afghanistan in 2009 ROVER time I went at ISR. effective tool that made us far more two senior pilots in the same flight, and Toby and I hadn’t flown together together flown and I hadn’t Toby flight, and in the same pilots two senior in Afghanistan. were we while Osprey © 68 CHAPTER FIVE CAS attacks. rounds of25mmammunition,expendedfive LGBs andconducted41 750+ Joint Tactical AirstrikeRequests (JTAR), fired more than4600 hours inAfghanistan.It more hadsupported than100namedoperations, Kandahar inMay 2010,theHarrier IIunithadflown more than8000 being superiortowhatwe couldofferwithaLiteningII-equippedAV-8B.’ on themfortargetIDinparticular, withtheirsensorsanddwell time OIF wastheintegrationofUASs operations. intoeveryday We relied heavily forcing ustocalloffourimpendingattack. us thatfriendlytroops orcivilianshadwalkedintothetargetarea, thus from ourLiteningIItargetingpodinorder real view timeimagery totell ROVER feed. istheguy,was “That strikehim”, ourtargetbeingclearlyvisibleonthe on thebattlefield.Atypicalcallfrom aFAC duringthistypeofengagement and aswe hadROVER we couldwatchthe development ofthesituation on friendlytroops. The FAC woulddrive the approach angletothetarget, effective againstinsurgentscaughtplanting IEDsor Taleban fightersfiring rely almostexclusively onthegun,whichproved tobeparticularly as theROE grew progressively more restrictive. Eventually, we cameto four LGBs, aMaverick missileandthegun,weapons we usedchanged contact callsorinthewakeofIEDattacks.Althoughwe usuallycarried overhead ISAFpatrols. We hadtobeready torespond totroops-in- in Iraq, usingourLiteningIIpodstolookfortheenemyaswe flew unit; his new replacement inFebruary 2010,theOIFveteran quicklyseeingaction with the targetswe were presented with,andwe didwell withit.’ a numberofstrafingattacks. The gunbecametheweapon ofchoicefor low collateraldamageLGBs, ofwhichwe few dropped, butwe didperform we didnotknockdown alotofbuildingsasresult. We carriedplentyof but thingssoongotreally tightastroops cleared Marja, whichmeantthat got intomanynastyfights. The offensive waskineticallyactive atthestart, By thetime VMA-231 wasreplaced by theF/A-18Csof VMFA-232 at ‘Undoubtedly thebiggest difference for meinOEFcomparisonwith ‘Conversely, inothersituations,theFAC usedhisROVER monitorto ‘I foundthatourmissionsinOEFwere similartothose thatIhadflown Maj Joseph Williams joined VMA-231 asMaj Shawn Hermley’s ‘I wasthere duringtheMarine RCT Moshtarak © Osprey Publishing offensive, andthetroops • www.ospreypublishing.com between them( flown hours more than8000 months in-theatre theseMarines had Bucklew. During theunit’s six Fearon, LeeStanbridge andKeith Michael Bell, Adam Campbell, Ross Brian Gerschultz, Eric Scherrer, front row, from left to right, are Capts Nelson andRobert Needham. Inthe Capts MathewSeaviette, William Hutchens, LtColJoseph Williams and Toby Buchan andBenjamin Philip Ash, LtColDavid Forrest, Majs right, are MajDavid Martin, Capt Standing intheback row, from left to the flagshipbird 01 on14 April 2010. Pilots from VMA-231 poseinfront of VMA-231) THE SURGE 69 AV-8B Harrier II+ BuNo 165574 from from II+ BuNo 165574 Harrier AV-8B BuNo Hornet and F/A-18C VMA-513 fly a joint VMFA-122 164255 from Following Afghanistan. over patrol at Kandahar on 21 arrival VMA-513’s the unit flew a number of 2011, May during VMFA-122 missions alongside of the squadron’s days the first three pilots showed as Hornet deployment things how II brethren their Harrier ) Corps done in OEF (US Marine were www.ospreypublishing.com • Publishing Osprey ©

uring a speech given at the US Military Academy at West Point Point West at the US Military at Academy given uring a speech announced that he was Obama 2009, President on 1 December to Afghanistan to 30,000 US troops sending an additional

Providing CAS in-theatre, even with the new restrictive ROE firmly in ROE new with the restrictive even CAS in-theatre, Providing the commitment in share and Hornets ‘The IIs Harrier plan was to have at the seams with aircraft, Kandahar seemingly creaking Despite THE SURGE THE

counter Taleban advances. Included in this number would be 8000 more be 8000 more in this number would Included advances. Taleban counter help would also be committed to OEF to Coalition troops More Marines. and and to expand the training of the ANA maintain security in-theatre the police force. As previously a critical element of the ISAF strategy. place, continued to be VMA-231, MCAS of the departure 2010, following noted, in May unit to be first Hornet-equipped became the VMFA-232 Miramar-based air support to providing Assuming responsibility to Afghanistan. deployed by the unit flew Kandahar until relieved from in-theatre, the Marines 2010. in late November Carolina, MCAS Beaufort, North from VMFA-122 in 2010-11. CO of MAG-13 explained Col Anton Nerad, Afghanistan’, the Hornets while deployments and MEU had Iraq IIs 2003 Harrier ‘From TACAIR with and supportedperformed the US Navy war deployments Marine heavily tasked. However, integration, so both communities were got worse in OIF commitment ceased in 2008-09, just as things TACAIR’s a brief command tour, for to Afghanistan shortly thereafter over I went OEF. and the situation on the in-theatre me to assess conditions which allowed air force at the former Iraqi enjoyed to the facilities we Compared ground. only one runway. with austere, base at Al Asad, Kandahar was far more transports and TACAIR, with busy, the base was incredibly this, Despite all sharing the same runway and its associated facilities’. UASs II unit committed to OEF in a year VMA-513 became the first Harrier VMFA-122 2011 to replace when its ten jets landed at the base in May D 70 CHAPTER SIX centreline modfortheLitening IIpod.ColNerad pushedthismodon This really prepared usforourdeployment. talking through scenarios,tacticsandROE withMCAGCC instructors. Palms withMarine andflew battalions,delivering alotofordnance and with USAF, German andDutch JTACs. We alsowent to Twenty-Nine detachment toNellis AFB,where we honedourCASskillswhileworking personnel. and mysupport We hadafantastictwo-week training critical upgradesandproviding uswithrealistic trainingforbothmypilots in Afghanistan. This includedhelpinguswithaircraft maintenanceand training. The weather isalsoexceptional mostofthetime. todrop liveplenty ofopportunity ordnance duringpre-deployment MGoldwaterRange andtheBarry AirForce Rangeclose by, givingus enough tohave theChocolateMountain Aerial BombingandGunnery and afullsetofmaintainers’, LtColLeeexplained.‘At Yuma, we are lucky that we were goingtodeploy toAfghanistanwithtenofourjets,17pilots uptotheunit’sin therun OEFdeployment. ‘We well knew inadvance paint wasalsoalittlelighteraswell.’ darker shadeofgrey, whichmadethemharder tosee.Asa bonus, thenew intocombat. Wethey couldcarry alsorepainted someofthejetsina in turnmeantthattheseHarrier IIs hadgreater flexibilityintheordnance theLiteningIIpodonbellystation. ten ofitsjetsabletocarry This strength forOEF. In theend, squadronwent toAfghanistanwithall different squadrons at Yuma to VMA-513 inorder togettheunitup 513’s deployment toAfghanistan. 13 tohave upgradedHarrier IIs available forboththeMEUs and VMA- cycled jetsthrough themodificationprocess fastenoughtoallow MAG- as theycouldhandlequicklypossible. inplace,weWith everything readiness centres organisethelabourtomodifyasmanyofaeroplanes Activity] thatsawusbuypylonmodificationkitsearlyandthefleet was tricky. We worked aplanoutwiththePMA[Program Management that gettingmodifiedjetsavailable in timefortheirvarious embark dates ontheboat,youvertically cannothave asymmetricloading. balance issueswhenoperatingofftheboat.Since you alwayshave toland detachments asthecentrallymountedpodhelpedwithweight and in time.My prioritywastogive theupgradedaircraft totheMEU II –we didnothave Digital Improved Triple Ejector Racksatthatpoint the jetwithasingleJDAMbecauseofwiringinstalledinHarrier with. If you carriedatargetingpodunderthewingsyoucouldonlyarm pod wasonawingstation,thatonelessPGMthejetcouldbearmed we were limitedinthemixofordnance we couldcarry. If theLiteningII theLiteningIIpodoncentreline station. modified tocarry IIs toKandaharwe were stillinthemiddleofgettingallourAV-8Bs we were‘When notifiedthatMAG-13 wastosendasquadron ofHarrier squadron foritsAfghanistantourwasachallenge’, ColNerad recalled. as the2ndMAW’s principalfixed wing TACAIR asset.‘Preparing the ‘As previously explained,we alsoreconfigured allofourjetswiththe ‘Col Nerad andMAG-13 didagreat jobofpreparing usforourtime Col Nerad worked closelywiththeCOof VMA-513, LtColPeter Lee, ‘Nevertheless, we hadtotransfer anumberofmodifiedAV-8Bs from MEUunitshadabusydeployment schedule,which inturnmeant ‘The thetargetingpod wasboltedontooneofthewingstores pylons, ‘When © Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com THE SURGE 71 Following VMA-513’s arrival at at arrival VMA-513’s Following cannon is also a much more effective cannon is also a much more the M61 20 mm gun than weapon and the F-16. fitted in the Hornet the GAU-12A from fired Rounds of muzzle velocity a superior have 3700 ft per second, plus they are Although a considerably larger. 25 mm the weapon, devastating cannon is not in the same leagues as 30 mm cannon fitted in the GAU-8 it the A-10 – our gun sits between and the M61.’ 2011, the Kandahar on 21 May unit flew a number of missions during the VMFA-122 alongside days of the squadron’s first three www.ospreypublishing.com • Publishing ‘Thereassociated with the pylon upgrade, as issue was also a perception jets flexibility of the modified weapons with the increased Unfamiliar ‘When load to tanks and an identical weapons flew we with two drop we could now carry could now war bombs and two external tanks – an identical we two that The F/A-18Cs at Kandahar. replacing were we load to the Hornets with in-theatre had arrived 2010 to OEF since May had been committed limited to carrying that were IIs Harrier having replaced this capability, fitted with an underwingonly a single bomb when targeting pod.’ at Kandahar had officers in the MAGTF VMA-513, senior assigned to being were VMFA-122 of that the 12 Hornets concern initially expressed that they thought officers in-theatre ‘Senior only ten AV-8Bs. by replaced as many could not cover capability – we would lose out with reduced CO, I sent an MAG ‘As Col Nerad. recalled time etc.’, stations, response that everything sure to make was set up for a partyadvanced there had things we did a good assessment, made sure We seamless transition. sending them the most were that we and let the leadership know covered told them that we We capabilities. with improved IIs Harrier advanced with ten Harrier could match the sortie thought we rate of 12 Hornets and with the new pylon configuration carry IIs, a similar load of weapons. the same number covered us, but I think we A lot of folks did not believe VMFA-122. as of JTARs which was also carrying did very tanks, we drop well. the Hornet, two about provided in the end we The F/A-18C had a higher dash speed, but we modification II centreline the Harrier With the same target coverage. and could carryhad the targeting pod there a JDAM and two fuel tanks, 25 mm II’s The Harrier plus the gun and a mix of other weapons. a LGB, me, and I was a little reluctant at first to go with the change because “it change because with the first to go at little reluctant I was a me, and minute the last all to avoid hard I had tried game”. in the was late happen due to the to make this mod was required that work maintenance We cycle. training pre-deployment on our have effect it would adverse to work Yuma at and Boeing contractors MAG-13 squadron, needed the the end upgraded in as short the jets to have In a time as possible. hard enjoyed as we for the mod to be done, in pushing was correct Col Nerad with the aircraft once in-theatre. flexibility far more Osprey © The officer cadre of VMA-513 line VMA-513 of cadre The officer whilst photograph a group up for 2011. May on 17 Kandahar to en route Capts right, to left from are, They Tommy and Fry Aaron Dimitruck, Nick (US Navy), ‘Nati’ Paul Lt Ragsdale, Col Peter Lt Defurio, Anthony Capt Capt Paul Relph, Kevin CWO2 Lee, Capts Dan Jacobs, Maj Luke Truog, Mills Derek Sutton, Trevor Fletcher, 1Lt Slay, Maj David Ubhi, and Par Tyler Sanders. and Capt Moore James Behind them is their command jet, ) (VMA-513 BuNo 165580 AV-8B+ 72 CHAPTER SIX were doneinOEF. ‘It deployment asHornet pilotsshowed theirHarrier IIbrethren how things his deputy, ColBen Hancock, madesure thetransitionfrom Hornet to that we have flown mixed Marine TACAIR sections. I know ofinalltheyears we have provided inIraq support andAfghanistan responsibility intheAOR. forairsupport This wasthefirsttimethat conducting themiddayandnightmissions,untilwe tookoverall Hornets were andtheHarrier flyingthemorning andevening IIs sorties of thesquadron turnover. Within daysofusarrivingin-theatre afew the provide training. These missionsmadeabigdifference intheeffectiveness and pilots.LtColBoltthenletusflyseveral mixed to stationsorties learned andreceiving ontheROE instruction by Marine lawyers, FACs Hornet opsforthree days,beingbriefedonthelessonsunithad gone through basicschooltogether in1991. We subsequentlyobserved who wasanoldUSNaval Test Pilots Schoolbuddyofmine–we hadalso arranged thisaftertalkingwiththeCOof VMFA-122, LtColJohn Bolt, procedures, ROE, terrainandthemovement ofground forces. Ihad understanding ofthesituationonground, airtrafficcontrol froman advanced party VMA-513 sothatwe wouldhave abetter VMFA-122 duringthehandover toflythesesorties period; with Iflew no problemsVMFA-122’. atallduringthesorties worked closelywiththeHornet incombatand,personally, Iencountered Capt Andrew Biddell agreed, wasthefirsttimeIhad remarking, ‘That wellboth pilotcommunitiesare versed very inCAS’. VMA-513 pilot Flying amixed sectionpresented noproblems toeitherunit,however, as pilot CaptJonathan Reed. ‘In factIwouldsayitwasamilestoneevent. types toflyasasectionduringcombatoperations’, explained VMFA-122 ‘Lt Gen Glenn Walters, commanderofthe2ndMAW (Forward), and squadron pilotsfrom wouldflysomemissionswith thedeparting ‘The Lt ColPeter inarrangingforhisunitand Leewasinstrumental is unusualfortwodifferent TACAIR fixed wingjet © Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com (US Marine Corps) fuselage oftheaircraft unit, iscentrally mounted underthe a firstfor aUSMarine Corps Harrier II the Litening IIpod. The latter, again in the stores pylon usuallyreserved for a GBU-54 beneathitsright wingon at Kandaharon22July2011, has weapon. This aircraft, photographed by usingthebombasalaser-guided precision strikes onmoving targets GPS technology, aswell asundertake (like aninsurgent stronghold) with the abilityto target fixed positions guided bombgave Harrier IIpilots in combatJuly2011. This 500-lb employ alaser-guided GBU-54JDAM US Marine Corps AV-8B squadron to VMA-513 becamethefirstland-based THE SURGE 73

www.ospreypublishing.com • Publishing ‘When we first got to Afghanistan the operational envelope for ‘When for envelope the operational first got to Afghanistan we and sometimes for the Marines worked we our time in-theatre ‘During a deep understanding of the have we ‘Thanks to this close relationship, at our fired saw any evidence of SAMs or heavy AAA being ‘I never ‘The culmination of all this hard work came in July when VMA-513 when ‘The came in July work culmination of all this hard the GBU-54 500-lb laser JDAM [a GBU-38 JDAM fitted with a laser a laser JDAM fitted with the GBU-54 GBU-38 500-lb laser JDAM [a stationary to engage both the weapon and moving allowing seeker head, risk of collateral damage] was still with a reduced targets on the ground had only Lake, so we China NAWS the specialists at being tested by a limited was plenty of dialogue There capability with this weapon. and and the 2nd MAW, the China Lake test communities between subject matter expert with and worked came to Afghanistan a GBU-54 expanded the fact that this dialogue slowly What was gratifying was us. The situation went there. were we while weapon the capabilities of the if you for the weapon the complicated ROE to know have “You from try it within these limited restrictions” to “Let’s it” want to drop of the weapon’s testing and a better understanding more following each on and a GBU-12 carried a GBU-54 we capabilities. Initially because of their greater to two GBU-54s moved mission, and later we LGB. the standard flexibility over in of our support sorties to the Marines went Most Forces. the Special and flexibility to support had the forces, ground We Province. Helmand what helped us in the performance close integration of this mission was the a common share – we units within the MAGTF of air and ground of our pilots, Capt Daniel One other. each and usually know background 4th Battalion, had gone to a FOB as a battalion air officer with 3rd Fuest, knew everyone in in Afghanistan. He arrived we shortly before Marines for a lot of weapons knew delivered and we him, and we our squadron him during the deployment. had a already at Kandahar we arrived the time we concept. By MAGTF enemy to an respond on the ground Marines good understanding of how on organic – initial reliance escalation stages of force various through threat rotary support and, to artillery, then progression at squad level, firepower also We II. with a bomb or a strafing run a Harrier from TACAIR finally, in Afghanistan. within the ROE worked responses these knew how and my time in Iraq What I did notice from while I was there. TACAIR in OIF encountered Afghanistan was that after 2004 the insurgents we They would set off an ambush or an IED stand and fight. would never could get them. air power that inflicted casualties and then escape before would “shoot, the Iraqis of Fallujah, and during the Battle Both before They seemed to be a little bit smarter than shoot, shoot and then scoot”. they would stay in the When the latter engaged our troops Taleban. the – fight long enough for us to come in and hit them with aviation fires if it was low bombs and guns – which surprised me. I do not know on their part started or a mentality of when you situational awareness to the end. had to see it through the fight you Harrier II went smoothly, and that the Marines were supported properly were the Marines and that smoothly, II went Harrier higher excellent received We period. the handover during ground on the any proposals to be receptive to proving HQ support, MAW with the 2nd in the field. CAS for our Marines provide had that would help we in combat. unit to expend a GBU-54 became the first AV-8B Osprey © 74 CHAPTER SIX synchronised aviation plan’. asked. We are following well avery ground combatelementinanyway thebeen abletoflyandsupport commenting atthetime,‘We have operationofficer,forward Col Robert Finneran, 2ndMAW ground operations,Ltsupported Taleban insurgents. districts, inHelmand Province, of tocleartheSangineffort andKajaki Operation Corps andANAforces commenced most challengingmomentscameinlateOctober 2011whenUSMarine Marines whodidalotmore stuffthanIdid’. important Some ofFuest’s my job’, CaptFuest battalionhadplentyofamazing explained. ‘The VMA-513 duringheavyfightinginHelmand Province. ‘Iwasjustdoing He wasawarded theBronze Star forhiseffective callinginofCASfrom battalion airofficerforthe3rd Battalion, 4thMarine Regiment in2011. I recall justsuch amissiontocover performing aSpecial Forces team.’ need tochangeit. We ifrequired, didflylatenightsorties however – cycle hadbeenadoptedby theHornet unitsbefore us,andwe sawlittle cycle ofoperationstobethere whentheMarines neededusmost. That sunset. littleactionatnight,however.There wasvery We modifiedour darkness, asthe Taleban tendedto bemostactive ataround sunriseand tofive hours. night missionalsorunning We from flew sunrisewell into usuallylasting3-3.5hoursandthe for eachaircraft, themiddaysorties into longmissions,withthemorninglaunchoftenbeingafive-hour cycle midday goandevening go–withtwo aircraft foreachcycle. These turned recruits coming infromnew Pakistan thatdid notknow anybetter. However, theguysinAfghanistanthatwe were hittingmighthave been in Iraq years whatthedealwas. offightingandknew hadsurvived with heavyairpower. Perhaps itwasthe lawofnaturalselection. The guys engage withaviationthaninIraq. The Taleban couldbefixed andkilled MAGTF artillery andHarrier IIsMAGTF artillery As previously notedby LtColLee,CaptDaniel Fuest asthe served ‘Our normalmodewasthree cycles adayinOEF–morninggo, actioncommencedinAfghanistanwe were‘When more likelyto Eastern Storm inan © Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com Marine Corps) Stencel type10B ejectionseat(US Fry isfirmly strapped to aUPC/ clearly visibleabove thepilot’s head. detonating cord canopy breaker is September 2011. The miniature are ‘good to go’ atKandaharon27 his groundcrew thatheandhisjet Capt Aaron Fry of VMA-513 signalsto (US Marine Corps) into theclosestbasket for fuel photograph having yet to plughis jet extended, thepilotwhotook this both ofitsunderwinghoses 30 August 2011. The Hercules has 166472 over Afghanistan atduskon VMGR-252 KC-130Jtanker BuNo Harrier IIreceives fuelfrom A VMA-513 AV-8BNight Attack THE SURGE 75 proved to be the last to be the proved Storm Eastern prior to departing weeks Two major operation supported by supported operation major by unit heading the in OEF, VMA-513 on 15 November Yuma home to 4033.8 then it had flown 2011. By of during the course combat hours The unit had supported 2261 sorties. and expended 81 2145 JTARs had lbs. It PGMs totalling 64,647 of 25 mm 4737 rounds also fired strafing runs. ammunition in 50 had made 59 IIs the Harrier Finally, VMA-513 had flybys. of force show been supported its time throughout MALS-13. by in-theatre 2012 over on 5 February had flown had He valley. River the Helmand overwatch, routine been providing for insurgents scanning routes from placing IEDs, when Marines 4th Battalion, the 2nd Marine had spotted Regiment Marine emplacers in the act and called for The initial plan, as described help. was for unit, the ground to him by to use artillerythe Marines to fire This did not go hit the insurgents. theThe enemy ran from as planned. compound. to a nearby target area www.ospreypublishing.com • Publishing ‘Due to our background and training, we have a good understanding a good understanding have we and training, to our background ‘Due Albright, who Eric pilots to see action was Capt Gore’s of Lt Col One Kandahar, VMA-513’s relief arrived in-theatre in the form of ten jets from in the form of ten jets from in-theatre arrived relief VMA-513’s Kandahar, virtually as soon into action supporting Storm Eastern Thrown VMA-223. VMA-223 had the fastest introduction in Afghanistan, as the unit arrived generated It committed to OEF. II squadron to combat of any Harrier 288 combat sorties first 51 days of totalling 1203 flying hours within the Thomas P Gore, Lt Col The unit was led by the unit arriving at Kandahar. pilot in OEF; II who commented on the role of the Harrier and an absolute on the ground, the Marines of the situation being faced by That’s to help them. commitment to do everything within our powers a bomb and supporting talking about “dropping are easy to say when you the bulk of our time has been spent However, the guys on the ground”. with our Litening II pods road of unpaved kilometres many sweeping something that Marine suspicious – that is looking for things that are supports II, brings to the table. Nobody aviation, not just the Harrier there knew were that we We infantry aviators. Marine like Marine determined were and we outside the wire, specifically to support Marines take the fight to the enemy to see as many of them as possible successfully and then come home safely.’ he Corps public affairs officer about a night mission told a US Marine Osprey © Capt Eric Albright of VMA-223 VMA-223 of Albright Capt Eric missions 159 combat completed Kandahar. whilst flying from first operational his Undertaking enemy engaged Albright deployment, Note occasions. on numerous forces bomb tally on the the impressive behind him jet parked VMA-223 ) Corps (US Marine Avionics technicians from VMA-513 VMA-513 from technicians Avionics verifier utilise a memory loader on the flight controls (MLVS) system routine undergoing AV-8B of an Kandahar on at maintenance loads The MLVS 2011. 28 September essential to software and updates This aircraft pilots flying the aircraft. bombs painted red has seven denoting beneath its cockpit, as expended in combat, ordnance designation as six target well VMA-513 of the the left symbols to ) Corps (US Marine ‘owl’ 76 CHAPTER SIX tracked thevehicle foralmosttwo bystanders’, Gore said.Christ about killingorwoundinginnocent to drop becausehewasworried not dropping whenhewascleared he exercised alotoftacticalpatience mph over undulatingterrain,and machine gun. attacking Marine patrols witha team ofinsurgentswhowere Vehicle a thatwascarrying (SUV) air medalforhittingaSport Utility who received anindividualaction carried outby CaptAndrew Christ, Afghanistan. One suchevent was duringtheunit’sled tosomespectacularstrikesbeingperformed timein the unittoofferMAGTF ‘a rapidkineticstrikeoption’, very andinturn had aHarrier IIoverhead Marines thatwere outonpatrol. This allowed in Afghanistan. 159combatmissionsduringhistour concluded Albright,whodulyflew take ourenemyoffthebattlefieldtheycan’t takeoutourMarines’, the remaining three were captured by Marines ontheground. ‘If we on, ashadhisaim.One insurgent waskilledby thestrafingpassand I wouldhave hitthedeck’. Albright’s intothetargethadbeenspot run the ground whenIpulledup–acouple more seconds inthedive and because atthatspeedIwascuttingitcloseby beingonly1000ftabove of thedive. AllIcouldthinkabout was“shoot andgetoutofthere” – theidealspeedforagunattack.‘Isqueezed thetriggerandpulledout to seebecauseitwaspitchblackoutside.’ had tokeepmoving itasthetargetsranaway. IhadtouseonlymyNVGs enemy, shooting atmywingman’s mark. Isetmytargetingpodupand pod whilehestayed overhead. Iwasgoingtodescendandengagethe fleeing thearea. Albrightquicklylocatedthetargetshidingnexttoashed. fired twoshots,eliminatingoneofthetargetsbutleavingotherfour – theassaultonemplacerswasunderway. The Marines ontheground all Icouldseewasblack’. light Imean,nolight.If Ilookedoutofmyaircraft through thecanopy, up mytargetingpod. We were flyingover alow lightarea, andby low returned withmywingmantoward totheIEDsite.Iflew them,setting in’, voice ontheradiosaidinsurgentshad Albrightexplained.‘The he waswaitingfor. ‘Iwasabout20milesawaywhenanothercallcame chance tostrike.Finally, asherefuelled forasecondtime, hegotthecall and thenreturned tothetargetarea, circling overhead andwaitingforhis surrounding area, theground troops calledofftheartillery. Due damagetothe totheincreased chanceofcausingunnecessary ‘That thingwasgoingat20-25 ‘That Lt ColGore pridedhimselfinthefactthat VMA-223 almostalways Albright commencedhisdive andreached aspeedof about550knots planwastohave mywingmanmark thetargetswith histargeting ‘The impactsontheground As Albrightarrived onscene,hesawtwoartillery Having by now low run onfuel,Albrightleftthearea togetrefuelled © Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com at itscontrols (VMA-223) Province, unitCOLtCol Thomas Gore flying over KajakiDam, inHelmand photographed on20November 2011 Craparotta. The jet was (Forward), Brig GenLewis A Leatherneck/2nd Marine Division Commanding General of Task Force also bearsthenameof from thisunitwhilstin-theatre –it VMA-223 providing CAS for troops of the2ndMarine Divisiononthefin, colourful markings was theemblem the USMarine Corps. Amongst its remanufactured Harrier IIdelivered to AV-8B+ BuNo166288, thevery last unit’s 2011-12 OEFdeployment was VMA-223’s commandjetduring the THE SURGE 77 www.ospreypublishing.com • Publishing VMA-223 enjoyed outstanding serviceability its ten Harrier rates from VMA-223 enjoyed anytime and be there one goal was to support number ‘Our the Marines ‘The kept the Marines was that we helped our squadron thing that really in the the sergeants and NCOs to make sure tried very hard ‘We hours as it went from village to village in northern Helmand Province, Province, village to village in northern from Helmand hours as it went a difficult presented ‘It waiting for it to get clear of populated areas. to innocent women and proximity tactical scenario because of the SUV’s it time they got close to a compound, Christ explained. ‘Any children’, want to risk hurting to abort me forced attack because I didn’t the to enter an irrigation ditch before Christ waited for the vehicle civilians’. it with a GBU-54. destroying giving by that this was achieved believing Lt Col Gore on deployment, IIs out facing were Marines his maintainers an insight into what their fellow on patrol; of our to the limit went We that they needed support. and anywhere that I also made sure to go. ready our ten jets were ability to make sure so continual contact with the battalions on the ground in our pilots were we day so that what they would be doing on any given understood we could help them if they needed it. it is in Afghanistan dangerous of how on the jets abreast who worked on infantry out there and patrols, were Marines Fellow the wire”. “outside I talked to our maintainers about every operation the unit was supporting, of our jets help to protect and rearming repair their and explained how had security in the squadron All of the Marines the guys outside the wire. to our base ops the maintainers in small groups brought clearances, so we who was also a pilot, discussed our operations duty officer, Here, centre. also showed and our air support.in detail the activities on the ground He them Litening II pod and HUD imagery of the attacks we had made on directly This helped our maintainers understand that they were the enemy. contributing to saving the lives and limbs of the infantry Marines. importantmaintenance department it was to keep the understood how unprecedented were in return rates they achieved and the readiness jets up, Osprey © ) VMA-223 The personnel of VMA-223 came VMA-223 The personnel of 2012 April at Kandahar on 8 together returned they before – just days Both Point. Cherry MCAS home to the command jet and the CO’s non- wore (BuNo 165384) aircraft the latter markings, standard the unit aircraft featuring machine in 1942. its formation since had flown the its OEF deployment During than 4000 flew more hours, squadron flying an aircraft ten of its with each The of 71 hours per month. average for 2070 requests to unit responded 61,500 lbs and delivered air support The 67 attacks. during of ordnance crews support hardworking maintained a full-mission-capable VMA-223’s for percent of 76.5 rate attacks rocket numerous jets despite on the base ( 78 CHAPTER SIX much closeroncewe moved toCampBastion, aswe were now living to secure approval troops-in-contact. tosupport communications from ourJFACs toAfghancommandcentres inorder ANA begandoingmore andmore oftheoperations. We hadtorelay radio roughly onekineticevent perweek. Asthedeployment progressed the Province. At thistimewealotofISRfortheMarines, flew aswell as ofMarineoperating frombaseinsupport operationsinHelmand thenew Bastion, thisbasebeingclosertothefight. We were thesole TACAIR unit 3rd MAW completedthebuildingofourspacesandfacilitiesatCamp busy base. ISAF.units supporting With justasinglerunway, Kandaharwasavery July. At Kandaharwe were justoneofanumberfixedwing androtary andoperatedfrom thereto Afghanistanwithtankersupport untilearly tasking from VMA-223 atKandaharon1May. We tenaeroplanes flew inApril,the advancedandwe teamin-country tookover the TACAIR had ahandfulofsenior, experienced,aviators.Iled a lotofourpilotswere junior, very althoughwe also Twenty-Nine Palms. This proved tobeinvaluable as multipleexercisesour trainingby undertaking at time in-theatre; Havener, recalled VMA-211’s preparations forits deployment intenyears. The unit’s XO, Maj John by itsfirstOEF VMA-211, whichwasundertaking field available duetopoorweather.’ we couldnotflyatallsincewe didnothave adivert were there inthewinter, where, foreighttotendays, our deployment. This waspretty amazingsincewe more than4000flighthourswithradarjetsduring we enjoyed were allthemore astonishing. We tallied than Night Attack Harrier IIs,rates theserviceability radar jets,andwiththesebeingharder tomaintain for wartime. We went over toKandaharwithten ‘Our relationship withtheMarines of Taskforce Leatherneckbecame ‘In earlyJuly we shutdown Marine Corpsoperationsthere afterthe ‘In January 2012we commencedthefinalphaseof In April 2012 VMA-223 wasreplaced atKandahar © Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com (US Marine Corps) VMA-513 inJuly2011 OEF following its combatdebutwith weapon ofchoice for AV-8B unitsin bombquickly500-lb becamethe 1 September 2012. The dual-mode Harrier IIatCampBastionon JDAM to theunderwingpylon ofhis inspects fittings holdingaGBU-54 Capt Kevin Smalley of VMA-211 (US Marine CorpsVietnam War) attack onaUSairbasesincethe described asthemostdamaging badly damaged inwhathasbeen AV-8Bs were destroyed andtwo personnel were wounded. Finally, six and ninemilitarycivilian Atwell from MALS-13alsoperished, attack onCampBastion. SgtBradley September 2012 during the Taleban was killedonthenightof14 from 2001 onwards, LtColRaible multiple OEFandOIFdeployments Kandahar in April 2012. A veteran of from VMA-211, LtColChris Raible, to (right) welcomes hiscounterpart VMA-231 COLtCol Thomas Gore THE SURGE 79 Boeing airframe specialist and Boeing airframe specialist and amongst “our own” once again. The once again. own” “our amongst Marine into the divided up base is airfield the the and Corps area, airfield – the fact is in area British an I had completed British-run. I with the RAF so tour exchange to work had we how understood along. Flying to get together in order be based at thethe first fighter jets to airfield, got a lot of support we from everyoneat Camp Bastion.’ was Walker former Willie Marine part of a small team of civilian ‘tech VMA-211’s who helped reps’ keep their maintenance personnel in the air in 2012; IIs Harrier www.ospreypublishing.com • Publishing ‘The main problem we faced in Afghanistan was the fine, powdery, sand ‘The was the fine, powdery, faced in Afghanistan we main problem CO, Lt Col Chris VMA-211’s 2012, of 14 September the night On Lt Col Raible and his and explosions, the noise of gunfire Hearing had just come off maintenance, and all the jets for the next missions ‘We that plagued Helmand Province. It would find its way into everything would – It Province. that plagued Helmand systems, bearings, bell cranks, landing gear seals, nozzles, and their drive us into having to perform forced a lot of ECS systems, everything. It the mechanics knew their aircraft maintenance. Nevertheless, preventative shape – they spent long hours keeping them in excellent and they well, The jets flew a lot due to the heightened to a high level. groomed were operational tempo expected in combat.’ mission and had just completed a routine Smalley Raible, and Capt Kevin of a force came under attack from jets when Camp Bastion their parked penetrated Having in US Army uniforms. insurgents dressed Taleban 15 of groups split into three the outer perimeter of the base, the insurgents in their temporary hangars on Lima Ramp, the AV-8Bs and attacked five near VMA-311 personnel in tented areas stations and refuelling aircraft the flightline. back Chambliss, drove Greer officer (AMO), Maj maintenance aircraft the operations hut and organised a counter attack. to the flightline from quick reaction and a 15-strong troops VMA-211, regular from Personnel with air vehicles, patrol their Jackal gunners in Regiment of RAF force and a US Apache WAH-64 Army Air Corps support a British (from attack team of an AH-1W and UH-1Y) Corps aviation Marine engaged killed all bar one of them and eventually – the sole survivor Taleban the Lt Col Raible and technician Sgt the fighting During was captured. and a other Marines killed, several of MALS-16 were Atwell Bradley and two more destroyed civilian technician wounded and six AV-8Bs witnessed the attack; Walker Willie badly damaged. as in the airframes I was workshop, to go. fuelled, loaded and ready were We repaired. had one jet in phase inspection having its blast shield we which I thought the first explosion, then a second and then a third, heard two guys ran into the hangar shouting about that time RPGs. At were actually F-1 anti-personnel grenades], [they were rockets that they weren’t Osprey © ) Corps US Marine The AV-8B requires regular regular requires AV-8B The also periodic and maintenance an As seen here, engine changes. II is a in the Harrier engine change as the wing has major undertaking and the engine lifted be removed to This crane. out with an overhead one was jet (BuNo 165422) VMA-211 an engine have to AV-8Bs of the first at Camp Bastion following change Corps of US Marine the transfer from there II operations Harrier This Kandahar in July 2012. on 2 taken was photograph the aircraft later days – 12 September attack Taleban in the destroyed was on Camp Bastion ( 80 CHAPTER SIX we created flightline. anew The 2ndMAW was already remaining ordnance. Ordnance Disposal] cameandhelpeduscleanupthe ordnance wassomethingI’ll never forget.EOD[Explosive were everywhere. The smellfrom theburningjetsand were justburnt-out shells. Fragments from theexplosions stomach, assomeofthejetswere stillsmokingandothers see theflightlineinthatstatemademefeelsicktomy attack. wasstillclosedwhenwe arrived.The airfield To C-12 totakecommandoftheunitmorningafter by the Taleban. backtoCampBastion Iflew inaUSAF here exercising whentherest ofthesquadron wastargeted Middle East[atAlUdeid airbase,inQatar]. We were still we hadarrangedtospendsometimetraininginthe aircraft andMarines to Yuma. During ourflighthome, deployment. Iwouldoversee thereturn ofthesurplus eight jetsand140personnelforthefinalsixweeks ofthe the time oftheattack,thisdetachmentbeingledbyMaj John Havener; flightline sothatitwasready forthereplacement aircraft.’ October 2012]. We worked hard tocleanupthemessandextend PointCherry [aheadoftheunit’s OEFdeployment scheduledfor attack camebacktoCampBastion, and VMA-231 sentsixjetsover from VMA-211 jetsthathadbeenondetachmentinQatar atthetimeof to getthemprepared Point. forshipmentbacktoCherry The two andworked withtheMarines assessment onthetwojetsthathadsurvived, overhead andtheycontainedtheenemythreat. firing from theditches.Eventually, several helicoptergunshipsappeared outside foughtback,andtheguysinsidepassedtheirammunitiontothose in thepowerline [engine]shop. We justhunkered down whiletheguys detonated whenithitadoor, oftheMarines woundingafew whoworked point hegothit. Then anRPGcameinoursideofthehangarand surrounding theLimaRampinan attempttofightback.It wasatthis Lt ColRaiblecameinandordered theMarines outintotheditches up totheworkshop inavehicle, and CO, AMOandotherMarines raced stations andnoprotection. The workshop, withdividersforwork We were inametal-covered then flyingouttheoppositewall. through thesideofhangarand doors, there were rounds comingin for one. minute later, whichleftmelooking was notarifleintherackone were underattack.Believe methere the Taleban wasonbaseandwe ‘The twojetswe hadintheMiddle Eastcamebackand ‘The ‘In midAugust we received orders toreduce ourdetcommitmentto As notedby Willie Walker, twoof VMA-211’s jetswere inQatar at ‘In thedaysfollowing theattackwe helpedwithbattledamage ‘As theMarines covered the © Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com (US Marine Corps) for SgtBradley Atwell ofMALS-13 similar memorial was created nearby fallen CO, LtColChris Raible. A 2012 by VMA-211 to honourtheunit’s at CampBastionon19 September The temporary memorial constructed grenades (USMarine Corps) armed withF-1 anti-personnel were blown upby Taleban insurgents Bastion’s LimaRamp. The aircraft damaged two othersonCamp destroyed sixHarrier IIsandbadly September 2012 attack that 165568 themorning after the14 The charred remains of AV-8B BuNo THE SURGE 81 www.ospreypublishing.com • ]. From early February we had just eight months we early February ]. From Bold Alligator Publishing Lt Col Troy M Pehrson, former CO of VMA-214, was rushed to VMA-214, was rushed to former CO of M Pehrson, Troy Lt Col to Afghanistan was a challenging one from to deployment road ‘Our for training deployment a four-week executed the squadron March, ‘In of training and preparation in the final stages were we early September ‘By working on getting us replacement jets, and less than a week after the attackand less than a week jets, on getting us replacement working it had before missions per day than flying more were had taken place we the from a lot of support all of the Marines, from received We happened. in Afghanistan and at home.’ both to all the other groups wing down to assume permanent command the end of September Afghanistan before operations in OEF VMA-211 and lead the unit in its continued of 2012 the unit 1 November On to the end of its deployment. through its six-month assignment to having completed Yuma, to MCAS returned VMA-231, which was taken by place at Camp Bastion Its MAW. the 3rd Hermley; Lt Col Shawn was led by 2012 the squadron early February an operational tempo standpoint. In detachment after a ten-month our 22nd MEU AV-8B home welcomed underway since 1972-73. deployment – the longest US Navy deployment aboard deployed the squadron from IIs That same month eight Harrier in support peacetime amphibious exercise Kearsarge of the largest ever [Exercise two simultaneous to execute in order and train the squadron to rebuild to Afghanistan to support – eight aircraft OEF and deployments overseas a six-jet detachment in support in Kearsarge of the 26th MEU, embarked demanded before This was an operational tempo never VMM-266. with for OEF. preparing squadron of an AV-8B Weapons for Air” “Blue with the purpose of providing Centro to NAF El Air Combat as MAG-31’s as well course 2-12, Instructor Tactics and supported months later the squadron Three certification exercise. Element long Large Force , a two-week Fist Mailed Exercise the 2nd MAW’s mid July to train to fight as a whole. In that enabled the MAW Exercise to Palms Twenty-Nine to weeks for five deployed squadron the entire (EMV)Viper 7-12 – the final participate Mojave the Enhanced in live weapons for OEF and the last heavy assessment of the squadron training opportunity for the 26th MEU detachment. ordnance [eight strength to Afghanistan in squadron for our planned deployment Osprey © US ) Corps Marine AV-8B BuNo 165572 returns to Camp to BuNo 165572 returns AV-8B this 2012, September Bastion on 18 only two being one of aircraft to VMA-211 jets from deployed on attack the 14 September survive The unit had been ordered the base. to back of its aircraft send two to of a force as part Yuma MCAS and the jets were in OEF, reduction in Qatar at the time the exercising were They struck. Taleban Camp to back ordered immediately a joined were they where Bastion, party an advanced by later days few ( VMA-231 from of six aircraft 82 CHAPTER SIX mission andtoget towork. Within 48hoursof VMA-211 havingbeen I couldexplainwhathadoccurred inAfghanistan, tocommunicateour scheduling asquadron formationonthemorningof16September sothat several jetstomakeupthenumbers. as requested. Fortunately, sister-squadron VMA-223 wasabletosource movement, butnotenoughtoprovide allsixcombatreplacement aircraft aircrafthad afew thatcouldbeimmediatelylaunchedontransatlantic our MEUdetachmentandcontinuingtotrainpilots. This meantthatwe grooming” ofoureightOEFaircraft, transferringandacceptingjetsfor ordered backfrom AlUdeid. Camp Bastion toflyalongsidethetwo VMA-211 aircraft thathad been replacements forthesixdestroyed jets. These aircraft wouldbesentto for allpossiblerequests, we hadbeennotifiedtoprepare AV-8Bs ascombat required pre-deployment training.By theendofourfulldayplanning month oftheplanneddeployment dateandwe hadcompletedallofour VMA-231 wouldbedirected todeploy early, sincewe were withina Southwest missioninAfghanistan.Our initialassumptionwasthat AV-8B capabilitiesto3rd MAW oftheRC(SW) insupport Command MAG HQtodevelop acourseofactionforanexpectedrequest torestore day we assembledkeystaffmembers from VMA-231, VMA-223 andthe Point]MAG-14 atCherry afterithadhappened. shortly The following conducting CarrierQualificationtraining. three personnelaboard aircraft andsupporting Wasp to VMM-266. Specifically, onthatnight,we had involving thetransferof84personnel andsixAV-8Bs prepare theMEUdetachmentforitsdeployment, Afghanistan. We were alsocontinuingtotrainand prepare theaircraft andequipmentformovement to squadron whiletheremaining Marines continuedto deployment leave periods,sendingouthalfofthe thefirstoftwopre-VMA-231 hadjuststarted accordingly. this significantmanningandaircraft adjustment only recently beenmade,and VMA-231 reacted to to reduce theMarine TACAIR footprintinOEFhad Bastion to126peopleandeightaircraft. The decision US inorder tolower theirmanninglevel atCamp redeploying personnelandtwoaircraft backtothe reductions inOEF, VMA-211 wasintheprocess of ofUSforceAfghanistan inearly2009.Aspart reintroduction ofMarine fixed wingjetsto AV-8B squadrons basedin-theatre sincethe unit haddeployed withtenaircraft, ashadallprevious end ofSeptember toreplace VMA-211. The latter were scheduledtoflyCampBastion atthevery personnel assignedtotheMEUdetachment. We aircraft and180personnel],minusthesixjets84 ‘I recalled theentire unitfrom thedayafterattack, leave andliberty ‘At thetimeofattack we were inthemiddleofconducting“final ‘I wasnotifiedoftheattackby my boss, ColRobert Sofge [theCOof ‘On thenightofattackonCamp Bastion, © Osprey Publishing

• www.ospreypublishing.com landing gear door)( and SgtBradley Atwell (onthe Chris Raible(beneaththecockpit) aircraft bearsthenamesofLtCol September 2012. Note thathis Spain, and Al Udeid, inQatar, on26 to CampBastion, viaMoron, in of hisflightfrom MCAS Cherry Point aircraft after completingthefinalleg climbs outofthecockpit ofhis Capt Stephen White of VMA-231 US Marine Corps) THE SURGE 83 www.ospreypublishing.com • Publishing ‘With the movement conducted over three legs – Cherry Point to to legs – Cherry three Point over conducted ‘With the movement to support allocated OEF IIs the final two Harrier 11 October ‘On the attack was damage from and seeing the Bastion in Camp ‘Arriving counter-insurgency especially during our recent ‘Sometimes, had significant improvements in Camp Bastion, arrived the time we ‘By had We II+ radar jets in-country. Harrier eight AV-8B ‘We deployed Moron, Spain, Moron to Al Udeid, Qatar, and Al Udeid to Camp Bastion to Camp Bastion Al Udeid and Qatar, to Al Udeid, Moron Spain, Moron, on in-theatre VMA-231 arrived from – six jets and 26 Marines 26 to its aircraft immediately transferred The squadron September. and CAS to the Marines to provide Aviation VMA-211, enabling Marine of RC(SW). Coalition Partners first six, while the as the the same route following departed Cherry Point VMA-231 to transferred were aircraft remaining seven squadron’s MEU. Some with the 26th deployment A for its early 2013 Detachment as per the at Camp Bastion caught up with their aircraft 130 Marines for on schedule in Afghanistan on 16 October planned timeline, arriving VMA-211 and between of Authority Transfer the originally planned VMA-231 nine days later. briefs on the attack, and received had all seen pictures We very sobering. Marines accounts from the first-hand but seeing it in person and receiving the all over of the attack were The scars something else. VMA-211 was in once stood, the an AV-8B where concrete place – the burned and cratered the two bullet-ridden the aircraft, of the sunshades that covered remnants in the maintenance building and small shrapnel and bullet holes AV-8Bs, the attack helicopter that by fired rounds craters in the ramp from supported the fight against the insurgents. a forward- living on Marines and Afghanistan, commitments in Iraq of the violent the true from nature been removed airbase have deployed of the seriousness They need to be reminded been fighting. have conflict we being effectiveness squadron’s of the mission, and the possible costs of the I had planned on addressing to the attack on Camp Bastion, Prior reduced. to pass on my perspective in-theatre arrived once we squadron the entire we of the “why reiteration on combat and to set the stage for a continued after the attack I at Camp Bastion arrived When we mantra. here” are mistake the fact one could No to make such a speech. have knew I didn’t trying actively to and that people were in a combat theatre, were that we face and a constant reminder in your – the scars of the attack were kill you of the seriousness of our profession. VMA of the base and to the posture protection been made to the force to the After the attack and prior to our full movement flightline area. protection force to our own also made some improvements we theatre, Throughout planning. reaction capability and overall training, weapon was constantly evolving posture protection force the base our deployment, us to focus on the air support mission while allowing for the better, maintaining confidently vigilant to the possible threats. that all of our to ensure and coordination detailed planning executed hit, we had prepared six mission-capable combat replacement aircraft, aircraft, replacement combat six mission-capable had prepared hit, we . By on Wasp qualifications carrier to conduct continuing while go, but to ready aircraft fully combat-capable had eight we 18 September to available were strategic tankers a further pass before four days would support the deployment. Osprey © 84 CHAPTER SIX refuellings duringthedayfora five-hour mission,andnormallyasingle Ourour routine standard nightsorties. flow wastoconducttwoaerial and largeday/nightoperations, andUSAF/NATO strategictankersfor long missionsby utilisingKC-130Js forbothnormaldayaerialrefuelling ISAF.night, dependinguponidentified needstosupport We were flying Harrier IIs tobeavailable onarotating basisthroughout thedayand extra weapons thatcouldhavebeencarriedintheirplace. the extrafuelfrom theexternalfueltankswasmore usefulthanthetwo insurgency fightwe rarely cleanedoffthewings[ranoutofordnance], so the otherexecuted aerialrefuelling. In thislatestageofthecounter- we’d keeponeaircraft overhead ofacriticalsituation ontheground, while damage concernsandtheassociatedelevated approval chainofauthority. we waitedforapproval slow –aprocess thatcouldbevery duetocollateral the probability thatwe’d stillhave gasavailable toexecute anattackwhile environment. When kineticfires were requested, theextrafuelincreased the fueltanks,ourendurancewouldhave beenreduced toanhourinthis one hourand45minutestimeonstationover thetargetarea. Without insurgency mission. With theexternalfueltanks,we couldeasilyprovide to provide more on-stationtime,whichwascriticalforthecounter- cover precluded ofthetargetfrom direct higheraltitude. aerialobservation provided more optionstotheGround Force commanderwhencloud on onestationandaGBU-54 ontheother. This configuration also depending upontheweather, we carried an AGM-65E LaserMaverick wasrequiredweaponry according tothelocationoftarget.Sometimes, for theGround Force commanderwhen itcametodecidingwhat amixofbombbodiesprovided Carrying more[GBU-54(V)4]. options approximately 500lbsbutwasonlyfilledwith27ofhighexplosive BLU-126/B low collateraldamagebombbody, whichstill weighed andtheotherwitha with anMk82500-lbbombbody[GBU-54(V)2] use bothGPSandlaserguidance.Often, we carriedamixofoneGBU-54 two externalfueltanksandapairofGBU-54 LaserJDAM,whichcan systems. flexibility againstallthreat anti-air 47 provided greater capabilityand the threats in-theatre, andtheALE- expendable loadswere tailored to ALE-39. Asexpected,our a majoradvance over theolder countermeasures system,whichwas to deploy withtheALE-47 upgrade, ourjetswere alsothefirst under thewing.Asidefrom this additional PGMstationforuse centreline pylon4,openingupan mount theLiteningIIpodon 479 carriedout,whichallowed usto Change aircraft hadAirframe ‘Our dailyoperationswere scheduledtoallow forsections of two extrafuelalsoprovided more‘The optionsfor“yo-yo tanking”, where ‘Our standard configurationwastoflywithexternalfueltanksinorder ‘Most ofthetime wewiththeLiteningIIpod,25mmgun, flew © Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com centreline stations ( carrying Litening IIpodsontheir 25 mm cannonpods. They are also GBU-54 laserJDAM andGAU-12 with AGM-65E LaserMavericks, Afghanistan. Bothjetsare armed 11 December 2012 missionover a KC-130J tanker during an and Eric Scheibe closeupbehind flown by CaptsJonathan Lewenthal Two VMA-231 AV-8B Harrier II+s US Marine Corps) THE SURGE 85

C-130Js, Hawk Harvest www.ospreypublishing.com • Publishing ‘Together, all of these weapons systems were synergistic, and it was the systems were all of these weapons ‘Together, ‘The with it some unique aviation capabilities II also brought Harrier used the Lantirn II pod time we flight VMA-231’s much of ‘During has dramatically ‘ISR and the collection of battlefield information and aviation MIR/ISR aerostats ‘The number of video receivers, increased ‘Other attack air assets under the control of the 3rd MAW at this time at this MAW of the 3rd under the control attack air assets ‘Other II – the Harrier and limitations advantages have ‘Each of these systems job of the Tactical Aircraft Command Center of the 3rd MAW and the MAW Command Center of the 3rd Aircraft Tactical job of the that ensure to Center [COC] within the RC(SW) Combat Operations complementary these systems and all aviation assets remained in response to dynamic situations on the battlefield. assets during our RC(SW) other deployed duplicated by that weren’t ordnance in the form of heavyweight – aerial interdiction deployment warfare. anti-air defence, and electronic delivery, the latter With CAS. provide for MIR while waiting to be called on to either diverted arisen or hostile to a situation that had were mission, we with the Lantirn II that then led to a CAS attack. detected actions were a lot more are There in Afghanistan. during our many years increased in in support operations than when I was in Iraq of battalion-level UASs time in Afghanistan in 2009-10. than my previous more 2007, and even equipment – ROVER, the required have now and JTACs Almost all FACs Link and other systems – to view the sensor video of multiple Strike targeting tactical time, including the feeds from airborne platforms in real the majority of the ISR platforms. Additionally, and other pods, UASs balloon to hoist a camera for an aerostat employ positions in-theatre fixed viewing the battle space. in of battlefield awareness to the battalion has raised the level assets available efficiency when it comes to targeting the COCs, and this has improved can loiter for hours without refuelling and can deliver many small-warhead and can deliver can loiter for hours without refuelling of a large area across it is less nimble when reacting weapons, precision responsibility. included Marine Corps AH-1Ws, UH-1Ys and Corps AH-1Ws, included Marine UASs Corps-controlled Marine Apaches. WAH-64 Army as British as well while not attack assets, also balloon cameras, aerostat and ground-based and identification of the in the detection, tracking a critical role played the headquarters kinetic attacks. RC(SW), enemy that in turn facilitated Afghanistan, also had in southwest for ISAF operations responsible and Artillery rockets System] Mobile Rocket HIMAR [Highly Marine 155 mm artillerysupport capabilities to the kinetic fight. to the large battle space in response traverse has the speed to quickly Surface- when required. heavy firepower situations and provide developing a but have and all-weather, precise to-surface are GPS-guided rockets helicopters are Attack shorter to coordinate. range and take the most time very for close in combat, close to the action, are effective forward deployed and can loiter for long periods. well can see activities on the ground through to the enemy and announce their presence slow they are However, Hawk C-130J Harvest Corps’ although the Marine noise. Finally, excessive aerial refuelling at night for a 3.7-hour mission. Our primary Our mission. for a 3.7-hour at night refuelling aerial was mission called to perform to be waiting were while we CAS, and on-call airborne II pod to scan areas utilise the Litening we’d MIR, where execute this, we’d in support forces. of the ground of interest Osprey © ) Corps US Marine OIF and OEF veteran Lt Col Shawn Lt Col Shawn OIF and OEF veteran its final during VMA-231 led Hermley Afghanistan in 2012- to deployment holding a plaque He is seen here 13. on Boeing the unit by to awarded had VMA-231 after 2013 17 June passed 30,000 mishap- consecutive first the This was flight hours. free that it had history time in the unit’s of this a milestone achieved taking a decade VMA-231 magnitude, the 30,000 hours accrue flight to ( 86 CHAPTER SIX assaults andraids. standpoints,coveringattack assetandassaultsupport heli/tiltrotor-borne especially Marine Special Operations Regiment teams–both from aerial much more toUSandNATO support Special Operations Forces – Marine JTACs whenproviding themwithCAS.In 2013we alsoprovided Georgians andsomeAfghanunits. This meantthatwe gottooperatewith theattached tonon-USCoalitionbattalions,primarilysupporting that were assignedbattlespacewithinRC(SW)’s AO. battalions –theirAOs were active –andtroops very from theBritish Army US andNATO forces from Afghanistan. We alsohadtwoGeorgian Security Forces oftheplannedtransitionandeventual departure aspart of AO in2012-13were role oftheAfghanNational operatinginasupporting our customerswere quitedifferent. Marine The few battalionswithinthe constantly patrolling theirbattlespace. During our2012-13deployment, almost allofourmissionsindirect ofMarine support battalionsthatwere video feedviaROVER. accustomed totheJTAC conductingthetargettalk-on bythepilot’s viewing situations aswe toohave become the cockpitalsosuffersinsuch instead. To be fair, ourproficiency in onto apossibletargetviaradio In such situationstheyhave totalkus the availability ofthesevideotools. pinpoint anenemypositionwithout and stunned iftheyhave totry fires. Now, JTACs are almost of correlation andincreased accuracy detection rates,timelytarget non-lethal force –through improved enemy–witheitherlethalor the ‘Marine JTACs from theAir Naval Gunfire LiaisonCompanywere ‘In 2009-10,whenIwaslastinAfghanistan[with VMA-231], we flew © Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com tanks ( and thelightgrey gunpodsanddrop replacement panelontheintake lip titling onitsfin. Note the Spades full colourunitmarkings and Shawn Hermley, thisaircraft featured Assigned to theunitCO, LtCol tanker on11 December2012. 164562, takes onfuelfrom aKC-130J Capt Eric Scheibe, flyingBuNo US Marine Corps) andTheFirsttheFinest Ace of

THE SURGE 87 www.ospreypublishing.com • in Marja), our squadron had only executed one 25 mm one 25 only executed had squadron our in Marja), Moshtarak Publishing ‘Despite the increased focus on collateral damage, I’d attribute the damage, I’d focus on collateral the increased ‘Despite fortunate the to have VMA-231 was extremely 2013 February ‘In ‘This particular operation had been on and off again multiple times and UASs other aircraft up by attack was followed ‘The AV-8B ‘With the increased ISAF focus on the elimination of collateral damage of collateral the elimination focus on ISAF ‘With increased the continued kinetic strikes across all aviation assets in-theatre to the larger aviation assets in-theatre all across continued kinetic strikes US/ reduced With in-theatre. and video receivers number of airborne sensors were we Finally, to cover. area also had more now we levels manning NATO Forces. Operation air support to Special increased providing event, a mission that would be the most significant opportunity to execute And, asduring our deployment. impact on the enemy, the greatest and have can determine, it made history aviation Corps far as we the largest Marine as get into Although I can’t strike during US combat operations in Afghanistan. the pertinent portions of the execution. all of the mission details, I can provide conducting starting were all the way back when we during our deployment, VMA-211. After multiple iterations of posturing for with the turnover the mission, and standing alert finally we during those time periods, out of had seven we the day of execution, On order. the execute received awaiting parts for the were – we to fly the mission ready our eight AV-8Bs launched as planned, we order, the execute received we eighth jet. Once an hour Within carrying aircraft with all seven four 1000-lb GBU-32s. within a three- 27 GBU-32s employed we to “go”, the order of receiving effects. in devastating which resulted minute window, carrying up some of the missiles to clean small warhead precision – amongst both civilians and their property – I was rather surprised by just their propertycivilians and both – amongst by surprised – I was rather in time at Camp Bastion during our executed attacks we many CAS how (prior to of our 2009-10 deployment the first four months 2012-13. In Operation and one pre-planned unit in supportgun attack an engaged Marine of in 2012, the responsibility day after assuming the second On JDAM attack. startThis was just the of a attack. conducted its first GBU-54 squadron at least one per week. of attacks, averaging steady execution Osprey © The personnel from VMA-231 come VMA-231 The personnel from photograph a squadron for together 2013. March at Camp Bastion on 19 Afghanistan the in operations During a for 778 sorties completed squadron and of 2825.5 flying hours, total lbs of ordnance 107,432 delivered ) (VMA-231 88 CHAPTER SIX units, even though we had onlyradar-equippedjetsin-theatre thathad command staff. We didnothave timetodoanythingtwice. six-aircraft MEUdetachment,althoughofcoursewe hadtheCOandhis VMA-231’s presence atCampBastion wasonlyalittlelarger thanatypical so we hadtowork hard tohave jetsready forsustainedoperations. would flyfrom 0700hrstoperhaps0200thefollowing daynon-stop, Lt ColHermley wantedtoflyatwo-ship launcharound theclock. We go forthefollowing missions. The remaining twowouldbeinmaintenance. done toensure thattheunithadtwoflyingatalltimesandfourready to to pullanengineforFOD. FOD prevention. AndwhileIwaswith VMA-231 theunitdidnothave the latterbase.Now, we weren’t havingtospend300hoursamonthon nearly thesameelevation, theweather wasbetter–nodrivingwindsas and even thoughwe were onlyabout60milesfrom Kandahar, andat stir upFOD. They hadcementramps,ratherthanAM-2steelmatting, better thanKandaharbecausethere were noheavyaircraft operationsto troubleshooting engines.Conditions atCampBastion were somuch by civilian‘techsupported reps’, includingChuckDowdle from Rolls-Royce; aircraft thankstothework putinby itsmaintenanceteam,whowere flying hours. (76 percent duringthedayand the rest atnight), totalling2825.5 Some 107,432lbsofordnance hadbeenexpendedduring778sorties 1164JTARs.warfare missionsandperformed 36 namedoperations,conducted31electronic in April 2013,by whichpointithadsupported tangible.’ made theeffectvery butthesetwostrikes combat flightwe performed, flawlessly. We were makingadifference onevery together duringacriticaltimeandperforming execution ofthismission,onceagainpulling aspectoftheplanningand outstanding jobinevery impact ontheenemy. My Marines didan the bombshavingasignificantandfarreaching within afive-minute window duringtwomissions, window, of24weapons. seeingthedelivery second attackwascompletedwithinatwo-minute matched tothespecifictargetsbeattacked. This mixture of500-and1000-lbJDAMweapons launched allsixavailable AV-8Bs, armedwitha had onthetargetsthatremained. The nextdaywe due tothelimitedeffectfollow-on airassetshad asked toconductasimilarattackthefollowing day collateral damageconcern. smaller targets,andtargetsclosertoobjectsof ‘Nevertheless, we ratesachieved exceededby previous theserviceability ‘With VMA-231 deploying withonlyeightjets,alotofwork hadtobe ‘In December 2012Ireturned toAfghanistanforathird time, VMA-231 hadenjoyedratesfrom itseight outstandingserviceability VMA-231 completeditsfinalOEFdeployment ‘In all,thesquadron hademployed 51JDAM ‘Unexpectedly, latethatsameevening, we were © Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com front ofhishelmet(USMarine Corps) Note theNVG attachment onthe at CampBastionon9 August 2013. conducts hispreflight cockpit checks Lt ColScott Mitchell, COof VMA-311, THE SURGE 89 www.ospreypublishing.com • Publishing ‘Over the years a lot of work has been done to keep the AV-8Bs as up keep the AV-8Bs has been done to a lot of work the years ‘Over to Afghan skies for the first time returned VMA-311 2013 17 April On in order VMA-231 conducted left seat/right seat rides with initially ‘We fitted with (one load-out continued to be two GBU-54s standard ‘Our to date as possible, both within the squadrons and at depot level. The and at depot level. the squadrons possible, both within to date as had have that the jets to make sure pushed hard have II MAGs Harrier flight programme and operational mission computer the latest mods, to carry wiring systems and the newest weapons, improved upgrades and operational effectiveness.’ II pod for increased iterations of the Litening its CO, by led to Camp Bastion when the unit was than 11 years in more Lt Col Scott Mitchell; assuming before Province, operations in Helmand to get up to speed on quickly established The squadron on 25 April. for the AOR responsibility as as well supportingan operational rhythm JTARs, priority and routine sets changed veryThe assigned mission little with the named operations. the hours of moderated and VMA-231, but as the weather of departure of a three-vul Instead the sortie modified we daylight lengthened, flow. for providing responsible are on patrol [vulnerability period, when aircraft morning launch and a two-vul afternoon CAS in their assigned AO] supporting two-vul launches, each flew up to four launch, we three the challenge for the maintenance Although this increased planned JTARs. surge capability to fatigue and provided aircrew department, it reduced and aircraft. aircrew rapidly meet pop-up tasking with fresh II damage warhead), the 25 mm gun and the Lantirn a low-collateral in the gun for targets commanders preferred targeting pod. Ground in Targets reasons. for both collateral damage and political built-up areas occasion, we On with a single GBU-54. prosecuted usually the open were VMA-231 conducted in strike, like the one assigned a pre-planned were with multiple 2013 when a large target set was prosecuted February multiple bombs.’ dropping aircraft more systems in them to go wrong when compared to Night Attack Attack to Night compared when to go wrong in them systems more IIs. Harrier Osprey © A pair of VMA-311 AV-8Bs fly over fly over AV-8Bs VMA-311 A pair of tanking to prior Helmand Province June 2013. a KC-130J on 10 from with two armed Both jets are IIs Eight Harrier GBU-54 laser JDAM. at Camp arrived VMA-311 from the unit 2013, April Bastion on 17 the first Afghan skies for to returning (US years than 11 time in more ) Corps Marine 90 CHAPTER SIX in Afghanistan. the finalshore-based AV-8B squadron toengageincombatoperations operator oftheHarrier IItoleave AlAsadairbaseinIraq) by being as ithaddonefive years earlierwhenthesquadron becamethelast headed hometo Yuma on20September, (just VMA-311 madehistory of 15,000lbsordnance. CampBastionWhen theunitdeparted and totallingmoresorties than2700flighthoursandemployed inexcess there wasnothingbutacrater.’ once there wasastructure ontopofwhatlookedlikeananthill,now time seemedtoslow down. AssoonasIlookedoutsawthehits,where used by theinsurgents.AsIfelt thumpofthebombscomingoff, employ ordnance onanoldSoviet postthatwasfrequently observation remembered themission; position. One ofthesquadron’s mostjuniorpilots,call-sign‘Shakin’, of OEF, employing two500-lbJDAMonanunoccupiedenemyfiring on Americansoil– itsfinalcombatmissioninsupport VMA-311 flew assigned combatmission.’ AV-8B unitsinOEF, andthesquadron an never failedtosupport being talliedeachmonth,readiness ratesmetorexceeded allprevious sustained combatoperations,withmore than500combatflighthours beyond expectations.Duringcontinually performed five monthsof utilisation, butourmaintenanceMarines ensured oursuccessasthey Indeed, we were flyingmore thanthree timesourbudgeted airframe with thewithdrawalofUSforces, our operationaltemporemained high. role platformcapableofdelivering ordnance withunparalleledprecision. sets inOEF. It basingcapabilityinamulti- expeditionary brought true unidentified aircraft, theAV-8B wastherightaircraft forthemission aconvoy,conducting astrike,escorting providing CASorintercepting combat elementduringcoordinated raidsonenemypositions. Whether organic electronic warfare platformthatcouldbeusedby theground II provided adefensive air-to-aircapabilityandwasemployed asan role asaCASplatform,theHarriercampaign. Asidefrom ourprimary the Harrier II; on Fallujah by someofthelastOEFmissionsundertaken in2004,flew During VMA-311’s five-month combatdeployment 750+ itflew ‘I wasintheoverhead above aFOBBase receiving anine-lineto On 11September oftheterrorist attacks 2013–the12thanniversary ‘Despite the2ndMAW reducing itsforce strength inOEFline ‘We priortoourarrival knew thatitwouldnotbeahighlykinetic VMA-311 pilotMaj Ben Beard, intheassault whohadparticipated © Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com of ordnance ( and employed lbs inexcess of15,000 totalling more flighthours than2700 deployment ithadflown 750+sorties During theunit’s five-month combat combat missioninsupport ofOEF. VMA-311 hadcompleted itsfinal 14 September 2013, three days after This photograph was taken on VMA-311) APPENDICES APPENDICES

AV-8B HARRIER II UNIT VMA-223 ‘Det A’, 26th MEU-SOC/HMM-365, USS Bataan (LHD-5), 9/01-4/02 DEPLOYMENTS TO OEF BuNos 163876, 164126, 165384, 165385, 165386, 165387

VMA-211 ‘Det A’, 13th MEU-SOC/HMM-165, USS Bonhomme Richard VMA-211 ‘WAKE ISLAND AVENGERS’ (LHD-6), 12/01-6/02 BuNos 164119, 164128, 165397, 165424, 165427, 165567 1 December 2001 to 18 June 2002 – VMA-211 ‘Det A’, 13th MEU-SOC/ HMM-165, USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD-6) VMA-542 ‘Det A’, 22nd MEU-SOC/HMM-261, USS Wasp (LHD-1), 2-8/02 14 April 2012 to 25 October 2012 – VMA-211, Kandahar and Camp Bastion 164551, 164554, 164559, 164567, 165310, 165311

VMA-214 ‘BLACK SHEEP’ VMA-513, Bagram, 10/02-9/03 163867, 163868, 163883, 164127, 164141, 164146 14 May to 14 November 2009 – Kandahar VMA-542 ‘Det A’, 22nd MEU-SOC/HMM-266, USS Wasp (LHD-1) and VMA-223 ‘BULLDOGS’ Kandahar, 2-9/04 164014, 164015, 164551, 164559, 165004, 165309

20 September 2001 to 20 April 2002 – VMA-223 ‘Det A’, 26th MEU-SOC/ VMA-542 ‘Det A’, 24th MEU-SOC/HMM-365, USS Iwo Jima (LHD-7), HMM-365, USS Bataan (LHD-5) 6-12/06 30 June 2007 to 1 February 2008, VMA-223 ‘Det A’, 22nd MEU-SOC/ 163876**, 163880, 164140, 164569**, 165001, 165004, 165005*, 166288 HMM-261 USS Kearsarge (LHD-3) *lost in accident on 2/7/06 31 October 2011 to 7 May 2012 – VMA-223, Kandahar **attrition replacements from 21/7/06

VMA-231 ‘ACES’ VMA-223 ‘Det A’, 22nd MEU-SOC/HMM-261 USS Kearsarge (LHD-3), 6/07-2/08 5 November 2009 to 9 May 2010 – VMA-231, Kandahar 163864, 163876, 164387, 164562, 165357, 165385 16 October 2012 to 22 April 2013 – VMA-231, Camp Bastion VMA-542 ‘Det A’, 24th MEU-SOC/HMM-365, Kandahar, 2-10/08 VMA-311 ‘TOMCATS’ 163380, 164119, 164556, 165001, 165307, 166288

13 August 2001 to 4 March 2002 – VMA-311 ‘Det B’, 15th MEU-SOC/ VMA-214, Kandahar, 5-11/09 HMM-163, USS Peleliu (LHA-5) 163868, 163870, 164134, 164143, 164154, 164545, 165311, 165389, 17 April 2013 to 20 September 2013 – VMA-311, Camp Bastion 165421, 165574

VMA-513 ‘NIGHTMARES’ VMA-231, Kandahar, 11/09-5/10 164551, 164552, 164554, 164569, 165004, 165306, 165312, 165355, 165356, 165594 2 October 2002 to 30 August 2003 – VMA-513, Bagram

21 May to 15 November 2011 – VMA-513, Kandahar VMA-513, Kandahar, 5-11/11

163883, 164128, 164159, 164571, 165380, 165567, 165574, 165580, VMA-542 ‘TIGERS’ 165591, 165595

22 February to 30 August 2002 – VMA-542 ‘Det A’, 22nd MEU-SOC/ VMA-223, Kandahar, 10/11-5/12 HMM-261, USS Wasp (LHD-1) 165307, 165309, 165357, 165384, 165386, 165388, 165593, 165596, 17 February to 18 September 2004 – VMA-542 ‘Det A’, 22nd MEU-SOC/ 165597, 166288 HMM-266, USS Wasp (LHD-1) and Kandahar 6 June to 6 December 2006 – VMA-542 ‘Det A’, 24th MEU-SOC/HMM-365, VMA-211, Kandahar and Camp Bastion, 4-10/12 USS Iwo Jima (LHD-7) 164562**, 164570*, 165308*, 165356**, 165383**, 165387**, 165390**, 20 February to 15 October 2008 – VMA-542 ‘Det A’, 24th MEU-SOC/ 165422*, 165568*, 165570*, 165572, 165578*, 165583, 165588, 165594 HMM-365, Kandahar *aircraft destroyed by Taleban on 14/9/12 **aircraft borrowed from VMA-231 post-14/9/12 AV-8B HARRIER IIS INVOLVED IN OEF VMA-231, Camp Bastion, 10/12-4/13 164556, 164557, 164562, 165356, 165383, 165387, 165390, 165556

VMA-311 ‘Det A’, 15th MEU-SOC/HMM-163, USS Peleliu (LHA-5), 8/01-3/02 VMA-311, Camp Bastion, 4-9/13 BuNos 164142, 164152, 164566, 165398, 165430, 165573 164556, 165382, 165419, 165425, 165569, 165581, 165585, 165587 91

APPENDICES 1 and delivered to VMA-211 at MCAS Yuma on 1 May 1990. This jet AV-8B BuNo 164142 of VMA-311 Detachment B, was the oldest of the six Harrier IIs deployed by VMA-223’s ‘Det A’ 15th MEU-SOC/HMM-163, USS Peleliu (LHA-5), aboard LHD-5 for Bataan’s OEF cruise, and it is also depicted here Arabian Sea, November 2001 with two AIM-9Ms, two 1000-lb GBU-16 LGBs and a pair of AV-8B build number 215, BuNo 164142 was constructed as a 300-gallon external fuel tanks. The aircraft later served with the Night Attack aircraft and delivered to VMA-311 at MCAS Yuma on unit at Al Asad in 2005-06 during OIF III, and returned to Iraqi skies 28 July 1992. In August 2001 this aircraft was one of six jets with VMA-223’s ‘Det A’, embarked in LHD-3 as part of HMM-261, deployed by VMA-311 ‘Det B’ with HMM-163 as part of the 15th in September-October 2007 – ‘Det A’ also participated in OEF from MEU-SOC embarked in LHA-5. The detachment subsequently Kearsarge on this cruise. Subsequently passed on to VMA-542, flew the first missions performed by the Harrier II in OEF while BuNo 163876 is presently assigned to VMA-223 once again. Peleliu sailed off the coast of Pakistan. The aircraft were armed exclusively with Mk 82 500-lb GP ‘dumb’ bombs during these early sorties over Afghanistan, the jets also carrying two 5 300-gallon external fuel tanks. This aircraft later operated with AV-8B BuNo 165397 of VMA-211 Detachment A, VMA-311 in OIF I off Bonhomme Richard, served with VMA-211 13th MEU-SOC/HMM-165, USS Bonhomme Richard and VMA-513 and was flying with VMA-214 in 2013. (LHD-6), Arabian Sea, March 2002 AV-8B build number 308 was the 25th remanufactured AV-8B Harrier II+, which used parts from AV-8B BuNo 161580. Initially 2 delivered to VMA-214 at MCAS Yuma on 8 July 1999, it was one AV-8B BuNo 164566 of VMA-311 Detachment A, of six VMA-211 jets embarked in LHD-6 as ‘Det A’ in December 15th MEU-SOC/HMM-163, USS Peleliu (LHA-5), 2001. Supporting OEF operations during the first half of 2002, Arabian Sea, November 2001 ‘Det A’ was particularly busy during Operation Anaconda in March AV-8B build number 251 was delivered to VMA-223 at MCAS of that year. The jet is depicted here in typical OEF configuration Cherry Point on 29 July 1994. It was later transferred to VMA-311, for that period, carrying two 500-lb GBU-12 LGBs and a pair of and in August 2001 this aircraft was one of six jets deployed by 300-gallon external tanks. This aircraft later saw combat in OIF I VMA-311 ‘Det A’ with HMM-163 as part of the 15th MEU-SOC with VMA-214, flying from Ahmed Al Jaber air base in Kuwait. embarked in LHA-5. The aircraft also saw action in OIF I with Returning to Iraq (Al Asad) in November 2004 with VMA-311 for a VMA-311, again being flown by ‘Det A’ as part of the 15th six-month deployment, BuNo 165397 is presently still assigned to MEU-SOC/HMM-161, but this time from the deck of USS Tarawa this unit. (LHA-1). Indeed, it was assigned to detachment commander, Maj Bradford Gering. This aircraft subsequently served with VMA-513 at Al Asad between March and September 2006, before being 6 transferred to VMA-211 in-country when it replaced the AV-8B BuNo 165311 of VMA-542 Detachment A, ‘Nightmares’ – all ten jets from the latter unit were handed over 22nd MEU-SOC/HMM-261, USS Wasp (LHD-1), to the ‘Wake Island Avengers’. BuNo 164566 is presently serving Arabian Sea, July 2002 with VMA-231. AV-8B build number 311 was the seventh remanufactured jet, which used parts from AV-8B BuNo 162074. It was delivered to VMA-542 at MCAS Cherry Point on 7 November 1997, and was 3 one of six jets deployed by the unit’s ‘Det A’ aboard LHD-1 that AV-8B BuNo 165385 of VMA-223 Detachment A, flew over Afghanistan in July 2002. These aircraft were the first 26th MEU-SOC/HMM-365, USS Bataan (LHD-5), Harrier IIs to deploy with the Litening II targeting pod, which Arabian Sea, December 2001 allowed them to self-designate targets when performing PGM AV-8B build number 301 was the 18th remanufactured AV-8B attacks with weapons such as the GBU-12 depicted in this Harrier II+ to be completed, the aircraft using parts from AV-8B artwork. BuNo 165311 saw combat in OIF I in 2003 with BuNo 162946. Delivered to VMA-223 at MCAS Cherry Point on 15 VMA-542 from Bataan, returning to Iraq (Al Asad) for OIF II in May December 1998, the aircraft deployed with five other AV-8Bs as of the following year. VMA-223 deployed with it to Al Asad for OIF VMA-223’s ‘Det A’ within HMM-365 as part of the 26th MEU- III in 2005-06, and in 2009 BuNo 165311 was one of ten aircraft SOC embarked in Bataan from September 2001. Arriving off the taken by VMA-214 to Kandahar. The aircraft was in depot overhaul coast of Pakistan two months later, the unit supported the ground in 2013. war in Afghanistan in the early stages of OEF. It is depicted here armed with AIM-9M IR-guided air-to-air missiles and a pair of 1000-lb GBU-16 LGBs. This aircraft subsequently saw combat in 7 OIF I with VMA-223, and returned to Afghan skies with this unit’s AV-8B BuNo 163867 of VMA-513, Bagram, May 2003 ‘Det A’ embarked in Kearsarge in 2007-08. Later assigned to AV-8B build number 175 was a Night Attack aircraft that was VMA-214, BuNo 165385 is presently serving with VMA-211. delivered to VMA-214 at MCAS Yuma on 18 December 1989. It was one of six aircraft deployed to Bagram by the unit from October 2002 through to September 2003. A typical mission load 4 for aircraft from VMA-513 while in-theatre was a GBU-12 beneath AV-8B BuNo 163876 of VMA-223 Detachment A, one wing, an LAU-10D/A pod with four 5-in rockets beneath the 26th MEU-SOC/HMM-365, USS Bataan (LHD-5), opposite wing, GAU-12 25 mm cannon pods on the centreline Arabian Sea, January 2002 and two 300-gallon external fuel tanks. BuNo 163867 is presently 92 AV-8B build number 184 was produced as a Night Attack aircraft assigned to VMAT-203.

© Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com APPENDICES 8 12 AV-8B BuNo 164551 of VMA-542 Detachment A, AV-8B BuNo 165421 of VMA-214, Kandahar, May to 22nd MEU-SOC/HMM-266, USS Wasp (LHD-1), November 2009 Arabian Sea and Kandahar, April to July 2004 AV-8B build number 314 was the 31st remanufactured jet, using AV-8B build number 293, a radar-equipped Harrier II+, was parts from AV-8B BuNo 162731. This radar-equipped Harrier II+ delivered to VMA-542 MCAS Cherry Point on 8 July 1993. This jet was delivered to VMA-214 at MCAS Cherry Point on 10 February first saw action in OEF with VMA-542 from Wasp in 2002, then 2000. The aircraft flew with the unit from Ahmed Al Jaber during participated in the unit’s OIF I deployment the following year, flying OIF I and saw combat with VMA-211’s ‘Det A’ from both the off Bataan. It returned to OEF with Wasp in 2004, ‘Det A’ putting all flightdeck of Tarawa and ashore at Al Asad during OIF III in 2005- six of its jets ashore at Kandahar in April – they would remain here 06. BuNo 165421’s solitary OEF deployment came in 2009 when until late July. BuNo 164551, which returned to Kandahar with it served as the mount of VMA-214 CO, Lt Col Eric Schaefer, VMA-231 in November 2009, presently serves with VMA-223. during the unit’s six-month tour at Kandahar. The aircraft wore colourful markings (including bearing the name of the unit’s first CO, Maj ‘Pappy’ Boyington, beneath the cockpit) throughout its 9 time in-theatre. The jet is presently assigned to VMA-231. AV-8B BuNo 165004 of VMA-542 Detachment A, 24th MEU-SOC/HMM-365 USS Iwo Jima (LHD-7), Arabian Sea, September 2006 13 AV-8B build number 260 is a radar-equipped Harrier II+ that was AV-8B BuNo 165389 of VMA-214, Kandahar, May to delivered to VMA-231 at MCAS Cherry Point on 31 May 1995. The November 2009 jet performed several combat deployments with VMA-542, AV-8B build number 305 was the 22nd remanufactured jet, using including its OIF I cruise aboard Bataan in 2003. BuNo 165004 parts from AV-8B BuNo 162744. It was delivered to VMA-542 at was committed to OEF IV from LHD-1 the following year, and MCAS Cherry Point on 7 April 1999. The aircraft participated in also saw 12 days of action from LHD-7 and Kandahar in VMA-214 ‘Det A’s’ OIF II deployment aboard LHA-3 in 2004-05, September 2006. During this period VMA-542 ‘Det A’ jets were spending time ashore at Al Asad. It was also sent to Kandahar usually loaded with GBU-38 JDAM (a first for the Harrier II) and with the unit in 2009. BuNo 165389 is presently assigned to GBU-12 LGBs, the GAU-12 25 mm cannon pods on the centreline VMA-211. and two 300-gallon external fuel tanks. Each aircraft was also equipped with a Litening II targeting pod. The following month ‘Det A’ briefly participated in OIF IV, again from LHD-7. Later 14 transferred to VMA-231, BuNo 165004 deployed with the unit to AV-8B BuNo 164551 of VMA-231, Kandahar, November Kandahar in November 2009 for six months. The jet is presently 2009 to May 2010 assigned to VMA-542. Radar-equipped AV-8B build number 293 was delivered to VMA-542 at MCAS Cherry Point on 8 July 1993. This jet initially saw combat in OEF in 2002 with VMA-542’s ‘Det A’, flying from 10 LHD-1. The following year it embarked in LHD-5 with 15 other AV-8B BuNo 165357 of VMA-223 Detachment A, Harrier IIs from VMA-542 for OIF I. In 2004, while still assigned to 22nd MEU-SOC/HMM-261, USS Kearsarge (LHD-3), VMA-542, the aircraft embarked in LHD-1 once again and Arabian Sea, October 2007 participated in OEF. BuNo 164551 subsequently joined VMA-231 AV-8B build number 295 was the 12th remanufactured aircraft and was deployed to Kandahar with the unit in November 2009. delivered, which used parts from AV-8B BuNo 162086. This jet The jet is presently assigned to VMA-223. was delivered to VMA-223 at MCAS Cherry Point on 13 June 1998, and it first saw combat with the unit’s ‘Det A’ in OIF III in 2005-06 flying from LHA-4 and Al Asad. The aircraft also 15 participated in VMA-223’s 2007-08 ‘Det A’ deployment aboard AV-8B BuNo 164552 of VMA-231, Kandahar, November LHD-3, seeing combat in OIF V in September 2007 and then 2009 to May 2010 spending a week flying OEF missions the following month. BuNo AV-8B build number 227, a radar equipped AV-8B Harrier II+, was 165357 returned to Kandahar with VMA-223 in October 2011, and delivered to VMA-542 at MCAS Cherry Point on 29 July 1993. This it is presently still assigned to this unit. jet later moved to VMA-231, and it served in Afghanistan with the unit in 2009-10. Repainted in the newly introduced, more tactical, darker shade of grey, this aircraft was assigned to the squadron 11 CO, Lt Col David Forrest – hence its full-colour unit markings, AV-8B BuNo 164119 of VMA-542 Detachment A, including battle honours on the fin. VMA-231’s jets also had the 24th MEU-SOC/HMM-365, Kandahar, February to capability to mount the Litening II pod on their centreline stores October 2008 pylon, as depicted in this artwork. BuNo 164552 is presently AV-8B build number 196 is a Night Attack aircraft that was delivered assigned to VMA-542. to VMA-311 at MCAS Yuma on 10 December 1990. This aircraft flew in OEF with VMA-211 ‘Det A’ from LHD-6 in 2001-02, saw combat in OIF I with the unit from Bonhomme Richard in 2003 and 16 deployed again to OIF II in 2004-05 with VMA-211 ‘Det A’, flying AV-8B BuNo 165574 of VMA-513, Kandahar, May to from LHD-2 and Al Asad. In 2008 it was one of six VMA-542 jets November 2011 sent to Kandahar to serve with the newly formed MAG-40, ‘Det A’ AV-8B build number 332 was the 49th remanufactured jet, which remaining in-theatre for six months. BuNo 164119, still assigned to included parts from AV-8B BuNo 162726. It was delivered to VMA-542, was lost on 18 July 2010 while attacking the Pinecastle VMA-513 at MCAS Yuma on 31 July 2001. The aircraft served with bombing range in Florida. The aircraft was flying from LHD-3 in the VMA-311 aboard Bonhomme Richard during OIF I, deployed to final stages of the 31st MEU-SOC/HMM-262’s pre-deployment MCAS Iwakuni in 2005-06 with VMA-214, joined VMA-311 upon work-ups at the time. The pilot ejected safely. returning to MCAS Yuma and was then transferred to VMA-513 in 93

© Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com 2007. It deployed with VMA-214 to Kandahar in May 2009 and Bastion because it was one of two Harrier IIs that were en route returned to the base exactly two years later with VMA-513. BuNo back to MCAS Yuma when the Taleban struck. Sent back to Camp 165574 is depicted here armed with a GBU-38 JDAM under its Bastion to help VMA-211 rebuild in the wake of the attack, BuNo left wing (typically, a GBU-12 or a 5-in rocket pod would be carried 165572 is still assigned to the unit. beneath the right wing) and 25 mm gun pods. The aircraft also

APPENDICES has its Litening II pod centrally mounted. BuNo 165574 remained with VMA-513 until the unit was deactivated on 12 July 2013, 21 after which it was passed on to VMA-214. AV-8B BuNo 165588 of VMA-211, Kandahar and Camp Bastion, April to September 2012 AV-8B build number 346 was the 63rd remanufactured jet, 17 which included parts from AV-8B BuNo 162730. It was delivered AV-8B BuNo 165580 of VMA-513, Kandahar, June 2011 to VMA-513 at MCAS Yuma on 31 July 2001. A veteran of no AV-8B build number 338 was the 55th remanufactured jet, and it fewer than four OIF deployments, the aircraft initially included parts from AV-8B BuNo 163675. The aircraft was delivered participated in OIF I with VMA-211, flying from LHD-6. It to VMA-214 at MCAS Yuma on 22 January 2002, and it went to war returned to Iraq with VMA-211 ‘Det A’ in September 2004, flying with the unit from Ahmed Al Jaber during OIF I. The jet was based missions both from LHD-2 and Al Asad. BuNo 165588 was at Al Asad for OIF II in 2004, flew OIF IV missions in 2006 from assigned to VMA-513 when the unit deployed to Al Asad in LHA-5 and returned to Iraqi skies with the latter vessel in 2008 for March 2006 for OIF IV, and it was transferred to VMA-211 when OIF VI – indeed, it performed some of the last Harrier II missions of the unit arrived in-theatre six months later. Sent to Kandahar the campaign. BuNo 165580’s solitary OEF deployment came with with VMA-211 in April 2012, the aircraft was badly damaged in VMA-513 from Kandahar in 2011, the aircraft having distinctive the Camp Bastion attack of 14 September. artwork applied to its fin by Sgt Edwardo Amor in June of that year. Note the GBU-54 500-lb laser JDAM (a GBU-38 JDAM fitted with a laser seeker head) attached to the outer underwing pylon. This 22 weapon was given its combat debut with the Harrier II during AV-8B BuNo 165383 of VMA-231, Camp Bastion, VMA-214’s 2011 deployment. BuNo 165580 is still presently September 2012 to April 2013 assigned to VMA-214. AV-8B build number 299 was the 16th remanufactured jet, and it included parts from AV-8B BuNo 162959. Delivered to VMA-223 at MCAS Yuma on 29 September 1998, it completed a single 18 deployment to Iraq with VMA-223 from August 2005. The aircraft AV-8B BuNo 165307 of VMA-223, Kandahar, October was sent to VMA-211 as an attrition replacement in the wake of 2011 to April 2012 the 14 September 2012 attack on Camp Bastion, having already AV-8B build number 386 was the third remanufactured jet, and it been prepared for the deployment of VMA-231 at the end of that included parts from AV-8B BuNo 161583. Delivered to VMA-231 at same month. MCAS Cherry Point on 25 September 1996, the aircraft flew with VMA-542 off Bataan in OIF I and served with the unit at Al Asad in 2004 during OIF II. It was part of VMA-542’s ‘Det A’ based at 23 Kandahar with MAG-40 in 2008, and it returned to Afghanistan with AV-8B BuNo 165390 of VMA-231, Camp Bastion, VMA-223 in October 2011. BuNo 165307 is presently still serving September 2012 to April 2013 with the unit. AV-8B build number 306 was the 23rd remanufactured jet, which included parts from AV-8B BuNo 162741. Delivered to VMA-231 at MCAS Cherry Point on 18 May 1999, it embarked in Nassau with 19 the unit’s ‘Det A’ for OIF I and flew from Al Asad again with VMA-231 AV-8B Bu No 165386 of VMA-223, Kandahar, October and VMA-542 in 2007-08 during OIF V. Like BuNo 165383 seen in 2011 to April 2012 the previous profile, this aircraft was sent to VMA-211 by VMA-231 AV-8B build number 302 was the 19th remanufactured jet, which as an attrition replacement in the wake of the 14 September 2012 included parts from AV-8B BuNo 161583. It was delivered to attack on Camp Bastion, and it subsequently reverted back to the VMA-223 at MCAS Cherry Point on 16 February 1999. This jet flew unit’s ownership once VMA-231 commenced its OEF deployment. from Bataan with the unit’s ‘Det A’ at the very start of OEF in 2001- The aircraft is still presently assigned to VMA-231. 02, and then saw further combat from LHD-5 during OIF I. It returned to Iraqi skies for OIF III in 2005-06 during VMA-223 ‘Det A’s’ embarkation aboard Nassau – the aircraft also spent time 24 ashore at Al Asad during this deployment. BuNo 165386 was sent AV-8B BuNo 165425 of VMA-311, Camp Bastion, April to Kandahar with VMA-223 in October 2011, and it is presently still to September 2013 serving with this unit. AV-8B build number 318 was the 35th remanufactured jet, and it included parts from AV-8B BuNo 162950. The aircraft, which was delivered to VMA-311 at MCAS Yuma on 10 May 2000, served with 20 VMA-211 embarked in LHD-6 in OIF I. Still serving with the unit in AV-8B BuNo 165572 of VMA-211, Kandahar and Camp 2005-06, it supported OIF III from both LHA-1 and Al Asad during a Bastion, April to October 2012 six-month deployment with ‘Det A’ as part of HMM-163. BuNo AV-8B build number 332 was the 49th remanufactured jet 165425 was one of eight jets sent by VMA-311 to Camp Bastion to produced, and it included parts from BuNo 162726. The aircraft perform the final Harrier II deployment to OEF in April 2013. Assigned was delivered to VMA-513 at MCAS Yuma on 31 July 2001 and it to unit CO Lt Col Scott Mitchell, it wore one-off tail artwork inspired deployed to OIF I with VMA-311 ‘Det A’ embarked in Tarawa. It by the squadron’s World War 2 heritage – it had received its first participated in OIF IV on two occasions, deploying to Al Asad with fighters, F4U Corsairs, in April 1943. And although known for many VMA-513 in March 2006 and remaining in-theatre when VMA-211 years as the ‘Tomcats’, the squadron’s nickname had originally been 94 took over six months later. This aircraft survived the attack at Camp the ‘Hell’s Belles’ – hence the titling at the base of the fin.

As with my previous two volumes on the AV-8B Harrier in the Osprey Combat CFAAC – Col Ben Hancock Aircraft series, many individuals have supported the development of this book, MAG-13 – Col Anton Nerad including Charles Dowdle at Rolls-Royce, Michael Forbes, Roxanne Kaufman AV-8B Requirements – Lt Col William Maples and James R Casey of the Marine Corps Aviation Association, Pat Wilson, Willie VMA-211 – Lt Col John Havener Walker, Hank Cole, Ted Herman, Vlado Zavich, Boeing and Dr Fred Allison. VMA-214 – Lt Col Eric Schaefer and Maj James T Bardo I would also like to thank the US Marine Corps aviators from the following VMA-223 – Lt Col Thomas Gore (also MAG-40), Maj John K Adams and units for their support; Capt Eric Albright 13th MEU – Col Michael Gough VMA-231 – Lt Cols David Forrest, Shawn Hermley and Joseph Williams 15th MEU – Lt Col John Thomas and Capt Keith Bucklew 22nd MEU – Lt Cols Sean Blochberger and Michael Perez and Capt VMA-311 – Lt Cols Michael Gettings and Jason Maddocks Edward Miller VMA-513 – Cols Marcus Annibale, James Dixon and Lt Cols Mike Franzak, 26th MEU – Col Mark Werth and Maj Nathan Berryman Andrew Heino and Peter Lee Team Fires Lead, US Marine Corps Systems Command – VMA-542 – Maj Pete Lee and Capt James Tanis Maj Brian Newbold and Capt Ryan Ward

INDEX

References to illustrations are shown in AV-8B Harrier II aircraft Charles De Gaulle 14 bold. Plates are shown with page and aerial refuelling 15, 16, 23, 28, 33, Christ, Capt Andrew 76–77 caption locators in brackets. 53, 59 CJTF see Combined Joint Task Force camouflage 70 (CJTF) A-10 Thunderbolt aircraft 26, 47, 48 design and specification 6, 8–12 Claypool, Lt Col Robert 9–10 28, aerial refuelling 15, 16, 23, 33, 53, ECS failures 28 Close Air Support (CAS) 7, 22, 26, 27, 59 modifications 70, 71 29, 43, 44, 45, 48–49, 51, 52, 55, 90 Afghan National Army (ANA) 22, 53 Operational Flight Programme 6 Combined Air Operations Center AH-1W Super Cobra attack helicopters technical faults 15–16 (CAOC) 15 8, 23, 49, 85 upgrades 8–12 Combined Joint Task Force (CJTF) 26, aircraft see also AV-8B Harrier II aircraft 27, 43–44, 48 A-10 Thunderbolt aircraft 26, 47, 48 Bagram 23, 25–26, 26, 27, 33, 48 3 4 AH-1W Super Cobra attack Bataan, USS (34, 92), (35, 92), 14, 21 helicopters 8, 23, 49, 85 18, 19, 19, 20, 20–21, 21, 22, 31 DeJong, Capt Dwight 20, C-130 Hercules aircraft 51, 85 Bell, Capt Michael 4, 68 design and specification 6, 8–12 26 CH-46 medium lift helicopters 8, 55 Berryman, Capt Nathan 20, 21 Dixon, Lt Col Jim 25–28, CH-53 heavy lift helicopters 8, 18, bin Laden, Osama 13, 21 Dowdle, Chuck 9, 88–89 23, 56 Blake, Lt Col Peter 54–55 Dutch Forces 52, 53, 55, 56, 70 F-14D Tomcat aircraft 20 Blochberger, Lt Col Sean 31–47, 33, 43 F/A-18 Hornet aircraft 7–8, 69, Bonhomme Richard, USS 5 (35, 92), 22, Enterprise, USS 14 71–72 22, 23, 63 Expeditionary Strike Group (ESG) 8, 22 KC-10 tankers 16, 26, 28, 43, 53 Boxer, USS 57 KC-130 tankers 15, 18, 33, 56, 59, British Forces 13, 14, 15, 23, 25, 50, 52, F-14D Tomcat aircraft 20 64, 66, 74, 84 53, 55, 56, 59, 85, 86 F/A-18 Hornet aircraft 7–8, 69, 71–72 MH-47 Chinook helicopters 23 Buchan, Maj Toby 66–67, 68 FAC see Forward Air Controller (FAC) 68 MV-22 Osprey aircraft 56 Bucklew, Capt Keith 67–68, Fallujah 60, 65, 73, 90 P-3C Orion aircraft 21 Bush, President George W 13 Foreign Object Debris (FOD) 28, 33, 48, Predator drones 21 58, 62, 88 Tristar KC-1 tankers 23, 25, 53 C-130 Hercules aircraft 51, 85 68 20 21 Forrest, Lot Col David 61–63, UH-1Y liaison helicopters 8, 85 Camp Bastion (40, 94), (40, 94), Forward Air Controller (FAC) 16, 20, 30, V-22 tilt-rotor aircraft 8 22 (41, 94), 23 (41, 94), 24 (41, 94), 44, 45, 46, 47, 48–49, 54, 55, 68 VC10 tankers 15 59, 66, 67, 78–81, 79, 80, 81, 82, Franzak, Lt Col Michael 25, 26, 29, 30 al-Qaeda 13, 21, 23, 26 82–83, 87, 87, 88, 88, 89 Albright, Capt Eric 75, 75–76 Canadian Forces 51, 52 Fuest, Capt Daniel 73, 74 AN/AAQ-28(V) Litening II FLIR/laser CAOC (Combined Air Operations designation pod 6, 8, 10, 10, 12, 16, Center) 15 Garibaldi 18 24, 25, 25, 26, 29, 43, 44, 64 Carl Vinson, USS 14 Garmsir 54, 55 AN/APG-65 radar 6, 9, 11 CAS see Close Air Support (CAS) German Forces 53, 70 ANA (Afghan National Army) 22, 53 CH-46 medium lift helicopters 8, 55 Gore, Lt Col Thomas 23–24, 59–61, 75, Armée de L’Air 14, 17 CH-53 heavy lift helicopters 8, 18, 76, 76–78, 78 Atwell, Sgt Bradley 78, 79, 80, 82 23, 56 Gough, Maj Michael 22, 23 95

© Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com Hancock, Col Ben 56–57, 72–73 Mitchell, Lt Col Scott 88, 89–90 Tanis, Capt James 55–56 Havener, Maj John 78, 80–81 MV-22 Osprey aircraft 56 Tarawa, USS 2 (34, 92), 31

INDEX Heino, Maj Andrew 28, 28–29 Thomas, Maj John 14–15, 17, 18, 19 Helmand Province 4, 54, 58, 60, 63, Nassau, USS 54 Tristar KC-1 tankers 23, 25, 53 73, 76, 78 NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Hermley, Lt Col Shawn 4, 63–67, Organization ) 52, 53, 63–64, 86, 87 UH-1Y liaison helicopters 8, 85 81–88, 85, 86, 88 Nerad, Col Anton 69–72 US Air Force (USAF) 14, 26, 46, 70 High Density Airspace Control Zone Nicholson, Brig Gen Larry 57, 58 US Army 21, 56 (HIDAZ) 65 US Marine Corps (USMC) see Hutchins, Maj Benjamin 62, 68 Obama, President Barack 56, 69 also under individual squadron OFP see Operational Flight Programme designations IEDs see Improvised Explosive Devices (OFP) aircraft numbers 10 (IEDs) Operation Anaconda (2002) 5 (35, 92), OEF 2001–02 13–21 Illustrious, HMS 14 23–24 OEF 2002–03 22–30 Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) 54, Operation Azada Wosa (2008) 54–55 OEF 2004–06 31–52 55, 64, 68, 76 Operation Cobra’s Anger (2009) 60–61 OEF 2007–10 53–68 intelligence, surveillance and Operation Desert Storm (1991) 8 organization and strength 7–8 reconnaissance (ISR) 6, 47 Operation Eastern Storm (2011) 74–75 reconnaissance missions 47, 47, International Security Assistance Force Operation Iraqi Freedom I (2003) 10 63–64 (ISAF) 7, 85, 87 Operation Khanjar (2009) 60 “show of force” flybys 30 4 65, Italian Forces 18, 52, 53, 56 Operation Moshtarak (2010) , 61, the surge 69–90 Iwo Jima, USS 9 (36, 93), 50, 50, 52 65–68 US Navy (USN) 7, 9, 14 Operation Sinbad (2006) 52 US Special Forces 52 Kandahar 8 (36, 92–93), 11 (37, 93), 12 Operation Southern Watch (2002) 25 (37, 93), 13 (38, 93), 14 (38, 93), 15 Operational Flight Programme (OFP) 6, V-22 tilt-rotor aircraft 8 (38, 93), 16 (39, 93), 17 (39, 93–94), 11, 24 VC10 tankers 15 18, 18 (39, 94), 19, 19 (40, 94), 20, 20 Vest, Col Kevin 56, 57 P-3C Orion aircraft 21 (40, 94), 21 (40, 94), 32, 33, 42–43, Vicksburg, USS 54 Peleliu, USS 1 (34, 92), 2 (34, 92), 14, 44, 46, 47, 48, 51, 52, 54, 58, 59, 60, VMA-211 ‘Wake Island Avengers’ 5 14, 15, 16, 17, 17, 18, 18, 21 62, 64, 69, 71, 72, 74, 75, 78, 79 (35, 92), 16, 20 (40, 94), 21 (40, 94), Perez, Capt Michael 24–25 KC-10 tankers 16, 26, 28, 43, 53 22, 22–23, 23, 57–60, 78, 79, 79–83, Predator drones 21 KC-130 tankers 15, 18, 33, 56, 59, 64, 80, 81 66, 74, 84 VMA-214 ‘Black Sheep’ 12 (37, 93), 13 radar 6, 11 KC-135 tankers 53 (38, 93), 56, 57, 57, 59, 59–60, 60 3 10 RAF see Royal Air Force (RAF) 3 4 Kearsarge, USS (34, 92), (37, 93), Raible, Lt Col Chris 21, 78, 79–80, VMA-223 ‘Bull Dogs’ (34, 92), (35, 53, 53, 54, 55, 81 80, 82 92), 10 (37, 93), 18–21, 18 (39, 94), 19, 19 20, 21, 53, 54, “Keyhole CAS” 49 reconnaissance missions 47, 47, 63–64 (40, 94), 53–54, 75–78, 76, 77 Restricted Operating Zone (ROZ) 65 4, 14 15 L3 Remote Operational Video Enhanced ROE see Rules of Engagement (ROE) VMA-231 ‘Aces’ (38, 93), 11, 22 23 60, Receiver (ROVER III) 11, 67, 68 Rolls-Royce Pegasus F402-RR-408 (38, 93), (41, 94), (41, 94), 71, 62, 64, 65, 66, 68, 78, Lee, Lt Col Peter 51–52, 70–71, engines 6, 9 60–68, 81–89, 82, 84, 85, 87 72–74 ROVER see L3 Remote Operational 1 2 Lively, Larry 28 Video Enhanced Receiver (ROVER III) VMA-311 ‘Tomcats’ (34, 92), (34, 15, 17, 18, 19, 24 Lwara 27, 29 Royal Air Force (RAF) 14, 15, 23, 25, 92), 14–18, (41, 88, 89, 90 50, 53, 59 94), 89–90, 19 7 10, Maddocks, Capt Jason 15–16, 18–19, ROZ (Restricted Operating Zone) 65 VMA-513 ‘Nightmares’ (36, 92), 16 17 Marine Air-Ground Task Force (MAGTF) 8 Rules of Engagement (ROE) 16, 63, 64, (39, 93), (39, 93–94), 25–30, Marine Aviation Logistics Squadron 69, 72, 73 26, 27, 30, 63, 69, 69–75, 71, 72, (MALS) 58 74, 75 Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) 6, Schaefer, Lt Col Eric 57–58 VMA-542 ‘Tigers’ 6 (35, 92), 8 (36, 14, 33, 42, 43–44, 45–48, 51, 52, 53, Scheibe, Capt Eric 84, 86 92–93), 9 (36, 93), 11 (37, 93), 24, 55, 70 “show of force” flybys 30 24–25, 25, 31, 31–50, 32, 33, 43, 47, Marja 61, 65, 66, 68 Smalley, Capt Kevin 78, 79 49, 50, 51, 54–56 McCorkle, Lt Gen Frederick 9–10 STOVL AV-8B Harrier II see AV-8B MEF (Marine Expeditionary Force) 8 Harrier II aircraft Walker, Willie 79–80 MEU (Marine Expeditionary Unit) 6, Stricker, Capt Jarret 28 Walters, Lt Gen Glenn 72–73 14, 33, 42, 43–44, 45–48, 51, 52, 53, Strike Link 54 Wasp, USS 6 (35, 92), 8 (36, 92–93), 55, 70 24, 24, 25, 31, 31, 33, 49, 50 MH-47 Chinook helicopters 23 Taleban, the 4, 13, 18, 22, 26, 29, 43, Werth, Maj Mark 18, 19–21, 21 96 Miller, Capt Edward J 47–48 50, 53, 55, 58, 61, 63, 73, 74, 80 Williams, Maj Joseph 68, 68

978 1 84176 801 4 Combat Aircraft 46 US Navy Hornet Units of Operation Iraqi Freedom (Part One)

978 1 84176 802 1 Combat Aircraft 47 F-15C/E Eagle Units of Operation Iraqi Freedom

978 1 84176 803 8 Combat Aircraft 52 US Navy F-14 Tomcat Units of Operation Iraqi Freedom

978 1 84176 847 2 Combat Aircraft 56 US Marine Corps and RAAF Hornet Units of Operation Iraqi Freedom

978 1 84176 848 9 Combat Aircraft 57 AH-64 Apache Units of Operations Enduring Freedom & Iraqi Freedom

978 1 84176 885 4 Combat Aircraft 58 US Navy Hornet Units of Operation Iraqi Freedom (Part Two)

978 1 84176 909 7 Combat Aircraft 59 F-15E Strike Eagle Units in Combat 1990–2005

978 1 84176 994 3 Combat Aircraft 61 F-16 Fighting Falcon Units of Operation Iraqi Freedom

978 1 84603 205 9 Combat Aircraft 70 F-14 Tomcat Units of Operation Enduring Freedom

978 1 84908 444 4 Combat Aircraft 90 AV-8B Harrier II Units of Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm

978 1 78096 304 4 Combat Aircraft 98 A-10 Thunderbolt II Units of Operation Enduring Freedom 2002-07

978 1 78096 310 5 Combat Aircraft 99 AV-8B Harrier II Units of Operation Iraqi Freedom I-VI

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© Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com Front Cover First published in Great Britain in 2014 by Osprey Publishing On 13 February 2010 the US Marine PO Box 883, Oxford, OX1 9PL, UK Corps’ 2nd Marine Expeditionary PO Box 3985, New York, NY 10185-3985, USA Brigade (Task Force Leatherneck) commenced Operation Moshtarak as part of the ISAF pacification offensive E-mail: [email protected] in the town of Marja, in Helmand Osprey Publishing is part of the Osprey Group Province. Involving 15,000 American, Afghan, Canadian, Estonian, Danish © 2014 Osprey Publishing Limited and British troops, it constituted the largest joint operation of the war in All rights reserved. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study, Afghanistan up to that point. Its aim research, criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright, Design and was to remove the Taleban from Marja and eliminate its last Patents Act 1988, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a stronghold in central Helmand retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, Province. VMA-231 XO Lt Col Shawn electrical, chemical, mechanical, optical, photocopying, recording or otherwise Hermley was providing close air without prior written permission. All enquiries should be addressed to the support for ISAF troops on the first morning of Moshtarak; publisher. ‘I flew a strafing run mid-morning of the first day of the Moshtarak ISBN: 978 1 78200 344 1 operation. Marja, which is PDF e-book ISBN: 978 1 78200 345 8 surrounded by farmland, boasts numerous roads and a number of e-Pub ISBN: 978 1 78200 346 5 canals, most of which are tree-lined, with compounds spread about the Edited by Tony Holmes town. My target was an enemy Cover Artwork by Gareth Hector machine gun position situated in the courtyard of a mud-walled Aircraft Profiles by Jim Laurier rectangular compound, with open Index by Sandra Shotter ground in the middle. There were Originated by PDQ Digital Media Solutions, UK also a couple of small mud-walled dwellings sharing a wall with the compound, which was on an east- © Osprey Publishing. Access to this book is not digitally restricted. In return, west running road in the town. The we ask you that you use it for personal, non-commercial purposes only. Please Marines that needed my help were don’t upload this ebook to a peer-to-peer site, email it to everyone you know, or approximately 800 m to the southwest of the target, taking cover resell it. Osprey Publishing reserves all rights to its digital content and no part of on the south side of an east-west these products may be copied, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any running agricultural berm that was in form by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording or otherwise (except as between two fields. There was open permitted here), without the written permission of the publisher. Please support ground of agricultural fields between the enemy machine gun position and our continuing book publishing programme by using this e-book responsibly. the Marine positions. ‘Our attack run was executed from Every effort has been made by the Publisher to secure permissions to use the south to north, with the Marines on images in this publication. If there has been any oversight we would be happy to the left side of the cockpit (west side) as we executed our 25 mm gun rectify the situation and written submission should be made to Osprey attacks. The enemy machine gun was Publishing. firing on a Marine unit to the south of the target. On that first day of www.ospreypublishing.com Operation Moshtarak, every AV-8B section executed strafing attacks. During VMA-231’s 2009-10 time, we didn’t have tracer rounds in like a sparkler – upon each impact, deployment we did not employ any our standard ammunition load-out. spreading shrapnel. rockets or AGM-65s. Therefore, the Tracers are “visible”, and without ‘I led the attack followed by my only low-altitude dive attacks we them we can’t see where the rounds wingman, Capt Michael Bell, 30 executed were 25 mm gun runs. are until they impact the target. seconds in trail. We couldn’t confirm ‘We were carrying 25 mm High Tracers produce a reddish glow from enemy killed or wounded in action, Explosive Incendiary rounds. When firing to impact, and they are but the attack was effective as the viewed from outside the cockpit, all typically loaded into the magazine friendlies were no longer receiving expended 25 mm rounds produce a as every fifth round. When the HEI fire from that location after our visible yellow-orange flame as they rounds impact they explode, strafing pass’ (Cover artwork by cycle out of the Gatling gun. At that producing a small white glow – much Gareth Hector)