Photo By Staff Sgt. Joseph Morgan | Tactical air control party Airmen with the 124th Air Support Operations Squadron...... read more read more
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Special warfare tactical air control party Airmen with the 124th Air Support Operations Squadron practiced mountain operations with dismounted movements to include surveillance near Pine, Idaho, August 20, 2022.
“It’s tough to say that there’s one role that we fill,” said Tech. Sgt. Matt Phillips, a special warfare air control party Airman with the 124th Air Support Operations Squadron. “This training ensures that we’re not just a one-trick pony. All of your equipment has to fit into a single bag and be self-sustaining for several days. We’re practicing with long-haul communications, team communications and utilizing digital spectrums to prepare ourselves for peer and near-peer adversaries in the future.”
The ASOS can best be described as the swiss-army knife of forward operations. TACP Airmen embed with deployed units acting as the liaison between their accompanying troops and available air support. To do this, they train for interoperability, focusing broadly on shooting, moving, communicating and practicing combat medicine.
“For this training we were dropped off about two kilometers out and then had to navigate our way to the objective area to get eyes on the adversary,” said Tech. Sgt. Dennis Furgeson, a special warfare air control party Airman with the 124th Air Support Operations Squadron. “We had to use all of our land navigation skills and stay hidden from the enemy – considering things like avenues of approach and sight-lines. Once we’d found a secure location from which to observe the enemy, we crept forward into the final surveillance position.”
From there, through the use of digital mesh networks, high frequency and ultra high frequency radios, TACP Airmen were able to covertly locate the enemy, conduct surveillance, acquire intel, and then relay that back to higher headquarters.
“This training enables us to mesh with anybody, any team, any force and in any country and be a force multiplier to the highest degree,” said Phillips. “It’s a requirement of the job to be multifaceted and operate in any environment, any temperature and at any time.”
| Date Taken: | 07.02.2022 |
| Date Posted: | 09.16.2023 17:29 |
| Story ID: | 453603 |
| Location: | IDAHO, US |
| Web Views: | 146 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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