TACP: Joint effort puts bombs on target

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Daniel Phelps
  • 20th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
SHAW AIR FORCE BASE, S.C. --  In the joint forces war that is fought today, the tactical air control party is the glue that brings air and ground power together.

TACP Airmen serve as liaisons between Army ground commanders and pilots to coordinate close air support for ground forces with which they're embedded.

"Our overall role is to provide all of the airpower support to the ground commander," said Lt. Col. Dale Sinnott, the 682nd Air Support Operations Squadron commander. "So, any airpower that integrates into the Army or ground community, we're a part of."

When TACP Airmen deploy, they generally go out with Soldiers and make calls for support for anything from fixed wing, rotary wing, unmanned aerial vehicles and even Army artillery to naval gunfire, said Senior Airman Michael Munson, of the 682nd ASOS.

Becoming a joint terminal attack controller was not easy, Airman Munson said.

He trained with a class of 47, but only eight Airmen graduated. He went through his original technical school at Hurlburt Field Fla., for four months and then went to Fairchild Air Force Base Wash., for survival training. He then attended combat mission readiness training at Fort Campbell Ky. before taking a temporary duty assignment for close air support training, which was the building block of the program.

The training didn't stop there.

Afterwards, he was sent to Nellis Air Force Base Nev., for the JTAC aerial support operations squadron qualifications course, where he was evaluated and officially became a JTAC.

On top of all that, Airman Munson said he's been through air assault, Ranger, Airborne and Marine hand-to-hand trainer schools.

"It's a very physically and mentally demanding job," the TACP Airman said. "You have to learn all of the equipment and how to move and shoot in combat."

The 682nd ASOS's TACP Airmen also have different career fields that are assigned to them, said Staff Sgt. James Poole, a TACP Airman assigned to the 682nd ASOS. The Airmen from these career fields will also go through the same air assault and airborne schools.

The 682nd ASOS has 23 separate career fields in the squadron that support the mission of an Airman communicating with an aircraft to put bombs on a target, Colonel Sinnott said.

"Usually, with every slot we get at those schools, per two TACP, we'll send a support guy as well," Sergeant Poole said. "Coming to an ASOS -- the vehicles, equipment and missions -- is a big change from what they usually do. They have to learn a new system, new mindset and mission. But, it's a career broadening experience."

Very few Air Force bases have a TACP squadron.

Colonel Sinnott said, Shaw AFB is the only active Air Force base in the continental U.S. with a combat mission ready TACP unit. There are a few overseas, but all the other TACP units in the CONUS are on Army posts.

"It's a long history of why we've been here," Colonel Sinnot said. "It dates back to the years when we had air divisions and tactical air control wings. The 682nd (ASOS) has always been here."