Nothing in Afghanistan is easy, but airpower makes it possible. Grinding Out Success By Marc V. Schanz, Senior Editor combat forces of- said, noting that Paktika’s mountains and ten describe Af- valleys are prime movement areas for ghanistan as the groups coming and going from Pakistan. hardest place on Whether tracking individuals or putting USthe planet to fight a war. Without air- firepower on top of the enemy, air as- power, that task would be almost in- sets are critical to the balance of power conceivably more difficult and deadly. between the coalition and the enemy. “The fight is, I think, ... easier than Talking with airmen across Afghani- Iraq,” said Army Maj. Gary Pina, the stan, stories vary, but all contain a chief of fires for Task Force Currahee, common thread: This conflict is now based at Forward Operating Base Sha- a part of their lives. Deployment after rana, Paktika province, and composed deployment, for nearly a decade, has of elements of the 4th Brigade Combat made the mission intensely personal. Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air In the mountains of Paktika province Assault), from Fort Campbell, Ky. It is by mid-March, the spring and summer rare to see the close combat and pitched fighting season was already ramping street battles many remember from up for the troops and airmen at another places such as Ramadi or Fallujah, he forward operating base, Orgun-E. noted. Afghanistan is a large and not By then, SrA. Eric Shaner, a joint very dense country—and offers a lot terminal attack controller with 2nd of space for the enemy to hide and to Battalion, 506th Infantry Regiment, carry out operations. 101st Airborne, could cite some of the “We don’t really have a population developing threats. Reports from the issue. ... We have a terrain issue,” he FOBs and outposts nearby suggest the SrA. Kendall Wilson watches for trouble in the desert sur- rounding a runway in Afghanistan. Wilson is part of a Fly Away Security Team, which provides security for aircraft in remote, unsecured locations. 30 AIR FORCE Magazine / July 2011 USAF photo by TSgt. Emily F. Alley AIR FORCE Magazine / July 2011 31 Battle of Margah, a firefight at a small combat outpost, on the eastern side of the province, between Army troops and well-armed insurgent fighters swarming the position. The Taliban had counted on catch- USAF photo by Capt. Erick Saks ing the outpost by surprise, and waited for weather the enemy thought would affect air support, several JTACs and Currahee officers noted. But a pitched battle followed, with mortars, artillery, small arms, and air strikes from USAF fighters and Army helicopters holding back the horde. By the next day, five Americans were wounded (none were killed), while 92 enemy fighters lay dead. Capt. Leif Nordhagen, an A-10 pilot and flight commander with the 74th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron at Kandahar Airfield, is one of the pilots An HH-60G Pave Hawk returns from a mission at a forward operating base. Rotary frequently called on to defend ground lift in Afghanistan is an in-demand commodity. forces under attack, such as the one at Margah. Taliban are gearing up, he said. “[FOB] they said. But their role is to link the Nordhagen and the rest of his squadron Tillman took several rounds today, and efforts in outposts and FOBs across the arrived mere weeks before describing they’re not far from a pretty major traf- country with the airpower flying high the pace of operations to a reporter. The ficking route.” overhead—and it is demanding work. 18 Warthogs in Nordhagen’s unit were Soon, patrols would be going out to steadily ramping up operations, and contact tribal officials and find out if A Small Community each of the unit’s pilots would fly three any local villages had received “night A JTAC’s typical physical mission to five sorties a week. Often they were letters” from Taliban militants—basi- load is between 80 to 90 pounds of flying routine top cover missions, only cally threats against cooperating with equipment. This includes everything to be chopped off to respond to troops- the Afghan government and coalition from spare radio batteries to mortar in-contact calls at some point in their forces, and a prime measurement for tubes, and most of the JTACs have four- to five-hour missions. tracking enemy influence in the region. multiple leg and ankle injuries over their Warthog pilots and support crew are JTACs will often accompany troops into deployments to show for it. closely associated with this war. Most the villages, or stake out the high ground, Both Shaner and Eggleston count of these airmen have been in Afghani- to help maintain a good connection with friends and fellow JTACs among the stan before, many several times—both aerial assets and watch for any trouble. killed and injured in this war, and pointed at Bagram up north and at Kandahar. Shaner is assigned to the 817th Ex- out that the enemy continues to find “It’s a small community, and we’ve peditionary Air Support Operations ways to combat the upsurge in troops. all done this before,” Nordhagen said. Squadron supporting Task Force Cur- Army officers and JTACs in Paktika “We do this a lot, but we all love this rahee in Afghanistan’s restive east and frequently mentioned last October’s mission—the maintainers, the pilots, moves around to support units wherever he and his fellow JTACs are needed. There are never enough JTACs to go around to meet the requirement for clearing missions, air assaults, and even engaging tribal leaders. “It’s not easy.We’re roving assets; we move around to where we are needed. Sometimes they need us on an operation USAF photo by MSgt. Adrian Cadiz in the field. Sometimes we’re back a bit farther from the fight,” said SSgt. James Eggleston, a 10-year veteran JTAC and enlisted battalion air liaison for the White Currahee element at Orgun-E. Shaner and Eggleston are dots of blue in a sea of green, and both simultane- ously professed their love of the job while also noting its difficulties. Being physically isolated from their support structure takes a toll, and cultural clashes Capt. Travis Kuenzi and 1st Lt. Alexander Hanna run the engine start-up procedure with senior Army NCOs are routine, on a C-17 before an air delivery mission in Afghanistan. 32 AIR FORCE Magazine / July 2011 USAF photo by SrA. Sheila deVera everyone.” Over years of combat, rela- honoring Pedro 66—the call sign of Two F-16s on the flight line at Bagram tionships have developed between the an HH-60 Pave Hawk that crashed in Airfield, Afghanistan. Expeditionary air- A-10 community and the JTACs on the June 2010 during a sortie in Helmand men are familiar with both Bagram and Kandahar from repeated deployments. ground who often have to dial up pilots province. Five airmen died. The A-10 when faced with difficult circumstances. community works closely with rescue In Afghanistan, the A-10 fleet is in crews and the pararescue jumpers who Expeditionary Rescue Squadron com- high demand, as one of USAF’s premier man the often dangerous casualty evacu- mands the detachment of HH-60s at close air support platforms. The aircraft ation and combat search and rescue mis- Kandahar standing alert for combat rack up a lot of flight hours and expend sions across the country. search and rescue and medical evacua- a large number of munitions. tion missions daily. The “Pedros” of the A typical deployment to Afghanistan Things Will Blow Up 26th ERQS, along with the “Guardian will add 800 to 1,000 flying hours to Just down the way from Nordhagen’s Angels”—the PJs and rescue specialists every aircraft, noted 1st Lt. Michael squadron, the new barracks of the 55th of the 46th ERQS—are on call daily Murphy, the officer in charge of the Expeditionary Helicopter Maintenance to respond to scenarios ranging from 74th Expeditionary Aircraft Mainte- Unit is home to a memorial for Pedro 66: combat medical evacuation missions, to nance Unit. A prior-enlisted airman who The Pave Hawk’s wheel chocks hang on a extracting wounded from an overturned came from a background in munitions, wall in the squadron’s break room, above armored vehicle, to transporting Afghan Murphy pointed out the long line of 30 a list of the crew who died in the crash civilians for medical care. mm shells from the Warthog’s famous last summer. First Lt. Andrew Marsh, the Trained in the specialized mission seven-barrel gun that ring the top of OIC for the maintenance shop, said the area of personnel recovery and combat the walls in the EAMU’s shop just off Pave Hawks are put through the wringer search and rescue, often these airmen the flight line. daily, as rotary lift in Afghanistan is are pressed into rotation along with “They were from the last deployment,” an in-demand commodity and the dry, Army helicopters to perform casualty said Murphy, who deployed from Moody dusty environment makes keeping these evacuation missions (CASEVAC) across AFB, Ga. Each shell signified 1,000 aircraft healthy even more challenging. Afghanistan. rounds fired in combat, with the previ- The dust in Afghanistan is finer than the “Some days, it will be quiet. Days on ous rotation firing off approximately sand ginned up back at Davis-Monthan end, even. Then things will blow up,” 147,000 rounds. “They stay busy,” AFB, Ariz., he noted, and engines will Richardson said of the 12-hour-at-a- Murphy said, adding that each aircraft wear out much faster, having to work time watch he and his crews perform.