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A simulated Army platoon cautiously approaches a quiet urban village, their senses are heightened, no friendlies are in the area, but they know they have a target to take care of.
The ground commander stops everyone at a safe distance. He hears the enemy and tells everyone to take cover. He takes a look back at his Air Force guy carrying 25 pounds worth of radio equipment on his back. He wants to move in, but needs to first know where his air power is.
“You’re holding up my mission, JTAC.”
The Joint Tactical Air Controller calls into his radio once more, describing the target, surrounding landmarks and hazards, and position of the unit to the invisible bird in the sky. He needs to be accurate, regardless of his impatient Army brethren.
Moments pass as the JTAC continues giving directions to a crackling radio. He looks up into the sky, hoping the A-10 comes from the right direction. The unit lead gives a hard stare.
“Do you have eyes on, JTAC?”
The JTAC holds his thumb in the air, marking the position of the plane in the sky, assuring himself that bombs will be dropping on the target and not on the unit. The plane is in position; the unit hears the engine roar as the Warthog flies directly over the targeted village. Cat calls come from all the ground-pounders.
“Oh boy, that is beautiful.”
The described scenario took place in order to train Joint Tactical Air Controller students March 21 in Baumholder. The JTAC course is a five-week program that includes academics, on-site live control training in the U.K. and Czech Republic, and scenario training in its last week.
JTAC qualifies both U.S. and international Airmen to be either air liaison officers or tactical air control party Airmen; the location here is one of two U.S. JTAC training areas in the world.
The U.S. Forces in Europe Air Ground Operations School is unique from its sister school at Nellis Air Base, Nevada because its student body tends to be more internationally varied. The most recent class to receive training had a total of 13 NATO students from Norway, Belgium, Croatia, Greece, U.S., Latvia, Germany, Slovenia and Finland.
“The training is already difficult, but on top of it we have students learning with a second language,” said Capt. Amy Bates, AGOS instructor and flight commander. “It is beneficial to have international students working together, especially (in preparation) for a deployed situation.”
“It’s kind of exciting,” said Sgt. Modris Circenis, JTACQC student, Latvia, speaking on his choice to pursue the TACP career field. “In this job, there is no easy thing to do. There are a lot of things to coordinate and to take care of.”
Circenis was one of the 13 students who graduated from the JTAC qualification course March 23 at Einsiedlerhof Air Station. Their class was one of the few to graduate all of its original students — a feat which hasn’t been accomplished since early last year.
“We typically average 80 to 85 percent graduation rate,” said Lt. Col. Allen Roberts, AGOS commander. “What’s good is the success story when most of them go home, I will typically let their leadership know we want them to succeed … my recommendation is give them more training on these areas and send them back. And every single one that is sent back has made it through with all kinds of success.”
Continued success of the course and its students is what USAFE AGOS strives for, especially this year, as they prepare for accreditation by NATO. This June, AGOS will have two of its courses inspected: the JTACQC and the Joint Fire Observers course. Passing the inspection will result in the first NATO accreditation of a U.S. JTAC school, and the second joint accreditation for a JFO course.
Accreditation will ensure mission essential Airmen and Soldiers receive qualification and continue to assist joint and international partners.
“(Airmen) do a great job of integrating with the Army, and the Army really embraces them because they know how important the JTAC is to winning this fight,” said Roberts. “Everybody wants a JTAC; in fact, they want more than one.”
