Raven Claw forges future warrior-diplomats

  • Published
  • By Rachel Arroyo
  • Air Force Special Operations Command Public Affairs
DUKE FIELD, Fla. (AFNS) --  Trainees faced decisions ranging from eating fish heads full of teeth to providing the host nation with night-vision goggles and satellite imagery.

Nineteen Airmen tested their powers of diplomatic negotiation and combat readiness in Raven Claw, a week-long exercise devoted to preparing future combat aviation advisors for situations they may face downrange.

Raven Claw immerses trainees in a counterinsurgency scenario. The team is tasked to assist the "Palmetto Land" forces in enhancing the tactical employment of its aircraft, which the host nation will employ against a fledgling insurgency.

The exercise, conducted by the 371st Special Operations Combat Training Squadron, involved about 60 active role players on any given day.

The extensive manpower and planning dedicated to Raven Claw is essential to training select groups of combat aviation advisors who operate in some of the world's harshest environments, said Vincent Milioti, director of field skills training for the 371st SOCTS.

"The SOF combat aviation advisor environment is one in which a country is teetering on full-out civil war or is in the midst of a full-blown counterinsurgency," Mr. Milioti said. "We are politically, socially, culturally and language-capably trained to operate in the most complex asymmetrical warfare environments."

Raven Claw creates these environments for students by drawing on the experience of active-duty and retired combat aviation advisors who craft scenarios based on real circumstances brought back from the field.

It is the culmination of phase one and two in a four- phase pipeline. Raven Claw marries academic groundwork laid in phase one with field skills garnered in phase two.

"Raven Claw is the capstone event for our CAA Mission Qualification Course," said Lt. Col. John Trube, the commander of the 371st SOCTS. "Unlike any other command in the Air Force, the Air Force Special Operations Command Training Center has the capability to deliver the SOF-peculiar training so vital to meeting AFSOC mission requirements."

After 57 training days on topics such as defensive driving, land navigation, shooting, coalition support and counterinsurgency theory, trainees were dropped into Palmetto Land.

"We are watching you very closely because how you respond now is exactly how it is going to be downrange," Mr. Milioti told the trainees.

From the moment they met with officials of the Palmetto Land government, students were challenged to navigate requests for night-vision goggles, satellite imagery and gunship support.

Cadre members assessed the team's ability to constantly balance U.S. interests with those of the partner nation as they communicated their team mission and responded to initial equipment requests.

The team immediately faced the challenge of communicating a rank structure that has NCOs serving as leaders and subject-matter experts within the advisory group.

In some partner nations, the enlisted ranks are categorized as being uneducated, Mr. Milioti said.

Enlisted personnel training officers is a shock to systems in which enlisted ranks are not afforded the same level of professionalism as they are in the U.S., he said.

"How you address each other in front of the host nation is just as important as how you address the host nation officials," Mr. Milioti said. "We show that professionalism in our interactions with one another."

The presence of women on the team can also serve as an initial shock to some partner nations.

Capt. Jaime Crossler, who is one of six women to enter the combat aviation advisor pipeline since 2006, said she is not concerned by the fact that she may face gender inequality in the field.

"Our job is to show nations how to run a professional military," she said. "We do it well, and we do it with women."

In the midst of teaching Palmetto Land forces how to best employ their MI-17 helicopters and DH-C6 Twin Otters, the team witnessed the bloody caning of a partner nation airman and had to determine whether the situation constituted a human rights violation.

They came under the microscope as international news media broadcasted live interviews with the team members and were on alert as captured insurgents were brought into the U.S. camp by partner-nation forces, creating a security threat.

Combat aviation advisors lay much of the groundwork for relationships with partner nation officials through social interaction that takes place outside of duty hours.

Toward the close of the exercise, trainees participated in a dinner with the host nation and were treated to a feast of boiled beef tripe, fish heads, chicken feet and a rice concoction mixed with beef blood and squid.

No matter how exotic, students are expected to eat the food served to avoid offending their hosts, said Rodney Rapp, the combat aviation advisor mission qualification course director for the 371st SOCTS.

"Their own kids may go without food, but you're going to get the very best they have to offer," Mr. Rapp said.

All of the trainees in the combat aviation advisor pipeline are already leaders in their respective fields. To be selected for training, candidates must be instructors. Enlisted personnel must have a rank of staff sergeant or higher and have obtained their 7-level. The average combat aviation advisor is 34 years old.

Candidates must have the experience that allows them to critically compare the U.S. military with partner-nation forces and suggest means of improving efficiency, said Rodney Rapp, the mission qualification course director.

This perspective allows trainees to come up with tangible solutions to problems.

"If you're going to build something, it needs to be viable," Mr. Rapp said. "CAAs need to be able to accomplish something specific in a set amount of time."

Following Raven Claw, trainees will enter the language phase of the pipeline before they head to the 6th Special Operations Squadron to shadow a senior advisor for about a year.

To Mr. Milioti, the time and money invested in each step of the pipeline, including Raven Claw, is well worth it.

"Where combat aviation advisors have the most utility is prior to open hostilities," he said. "We can send in 15 CAAs to prevent sending 15,000 troops later. Those 15 SOF operators have the ability to influence and shape the environment in monumental ways."