Joint fires observers rule the sky

Photo By Capt. James Robertson | Sgt. Mykel Bull, a Durant, Okla., native and joint fires observer with A Troop 1st Squadron, 180th Cavalry Regiment, works with Lt. Aaron Carlson, a forward air controller with the U.S. Navy, while giving a close-air support request to an F/A-18 Super Hornet aircraft flying overhead. Carlson, stationed aboard the aircraft carrier USS John Stennis, was in Kuwait to conduct CAS training at Udairi Range near Camp Buehring. Bull and his unit helped conduct this training to improve their skills as JFOs.  

UDAIRI RANGE, KUWAIT

12.01.2011

Story by Capt. James Robertson 

1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 34th Red Bull Infantry Division

UDAIRI RANGE, Kuwait - Sgt. Mykel Bull watched the target in the darkness through his night vision goggles as Lt. Carlson, the naval aviator, said “Cleared hot,” into the radio. Seconds later, the F/A-18 Super Hornet dropped out of the sky and fired its guns, lighting of the dark sky before pulling up and returning to the heavens.

Sgt. Bull is a joint fires observer and this is becoming second-nature to him.

Joint fires observers are specially trained artillery forward observers who can use a radio to call in artillery strikes, naval gunfire, Air Force fighter jets or attack helicopters to attack enemy targets that are in close proximity to friendly forces. Forward observers like Bull must have some experience in artillery calls for fire before attending the joint fires observer school in Fort Sill, Okla.

While this was the first time that Bull and other joint fires observers of the 180th Cavalry have used their special skills in Kuwait, they have conducted this type of training before. This spring, after mobilizing for this deployment, the joint fires observers received advanced training in close air support at the Joint Readiness Training Center at Fort Polk, La., where they worked with joint terminal attack controllers of the Oklahoma Air Guard’s 146th Air Support Operations Squadron. The 180th maintains a close working relationship with these JTACs and have also conducted training with them in Arkansas late last year.

Joint fires observers like Sgt. Bull help U.S. forces bring an unparalleled edge to the battlefield, which often helps pull their units out of dire circumstances against the enemy.

Now, more than ever, this skill is critical to a unit’s success in combat. Through training like this, the 180th’s joint fires observers maintain the edge that they need to step up to the plate whenever called upon.

• Date Taken: 12.01.2011
• Date Posted: 12.29.2011 05:59
• Story ID: 81845
• Location: UDAIRI RANGE, KW