Families dealing with loss, injury of TACPs

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Chyenne A. Adams
  • 11th Wing Public Affairs
WASHINGTON (AFNS) --  The Air Force suffered a loss Jan. 3 with news of an attack on a joint tactical air control party team embedded with an Army infantry company in Kandahar, Afghanistan.

The team was ambushed by numerous improvised explosive devices that mortally wounded Senior Airman Bradley Smith and injured Senior Airman Mike Malarsie.

Both TACP Airmen were assigned to the 10th Air Support Operations Squadron at Fort Riley, Kan. This Air Force unit provides combat-mission-ready TACP's for combat maneuver units of the 1st Infantry Division and 1st Armored Division. The TACPs act as the battlefield liaison between ground forces and aircraft weapon systems. A TACP is generally a two-man team working in an Army ground unit and directing close-air-support firepower toward enemy targets on the ground.

Airman Smith's funeral was Jan. 11 in his hometown of Troy, Ill. Airman Malarsie is currently receiving medical care at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington D.C. 

"This experience is something that I obviously wish I'd never had to go through," said Jim Malarsie, Airman Malarsie's father. "But under the circumstances, it could have been much, much worse. The gratitude I have for the support my entire family has received just cannot be put into words."

Mr. Malarsie asks for thoughts and prayers for his son, and for the wife and young daughter of Airman Smith.

"It is a miracle that Michael still has his life," he said. "Our family holds hope that he will recover from these injuries and pick up the pieces of his life. I am 100 percent confident that he will, because he is alive, and because he has his entire family here to make sure that happens.

"But Chloe (the 2-month old daughter of Airman Smith) doesn't have her dad now. Tiffany (Airman Smith's widow) does not have her husband," Mr. Malarsie said. "They will need the support of so many as they move towards the road to recovery and put the pieces of their life back together."

The TACP community immediately banded together to support both families through this time.

"It's hard to understand what we do, what it takes to put bombs precisely on target and conduct close-air support to protect our Army brethren fighting on the ground," said Staff Sgt. Jared Taylor, the TACP association president.

The association began 15 years ago to assist the families of missing, wounded and killed-in-action tactical air controllers.

"We are a very tight-knit community of about a thousand, and we're all hit pretty hard by this," he said. "The only thing we can do right now is try to help Brad and Mike's families, however we can." 

Members of the TACP Association have established a usaftacp memorial Web site to honor these two TACP Airmen and people interested in helping the families of these two Airmen are invited to visit the site.