First enlisted-to-officer air liaison officers receive Air Force commissions

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Melissa Copeland
  • Air University Public Affairs
MAXWELL AIR FORCE BASE, Ala. (AFNS) --  The Air Force's newest officer career field welcomed its first five former enlisted tactical air control party Airmen after receiving their Air Force commissions Sept. 9 from Officer Training School here.

Effective Aug. 1, the Air Force dedicated air liaison officer as a specific officer career field in the classification directory 13L.

The primary role of an ALO is to provide expertise to Army ground commanders of all available air, space and cyber assets to assist ground troops while in conflict. ALOs have existed in field combat roles since World War II, but primarily as fighter pilots.

The five prior NCOs were notified in March that the program was accepting applications. After completing the Air Force Officer Qualifying Test and submitting officer packages to a board, those accepted were notified less than two months later.

"It's an honor to be the first ones to go through this program," said 2nd Lt. Dennis Seay, a former TACP technical sergeant. "It's another thing to be one of the first to actually represent our career field from within our career field. Now it's kind of in the family -- we get them from the inside and promote within."

One former TACP instructor at Hurlburt Field, Fla., echoed Lieutenant Seay's sentiment.

"It's a huge honor to be selected," 2nd Lt. John Grucella said. "It's opening a lot of doors to a career field that was all enlisted. For myself, I really had no aspirations to become an officer just because I enjoyed TACP so much. Now I have the chance to be an officer in the same career field that I really enjoy."

The establishment of the ALO career field follows in the creation of other officer classifications, which were once enlisted-only career fields such as the combat rescue officer for enlisted pararescue Airmen, special tactics officer for enlisted combat controllers and combat weather officers for enlisted battlefield weather Airmen.

"We have a lot of motivated enlisted folks who have somewhat put off trying to get a commission because of the fact they were going to have to leave the career field," said 2nd Lt. Michael Hoffman, a former TACP who will be assigned to Fort Hood, Texas. "Now with the availability of this job, in this career field, I think we're going to find more motivation out of some of our enlisted."

Lieutenant Seay said he believes it will also provide an incentive for those working toward a degree, an officer career advancement option as an ALO.

For the five former TACPs, the most important result of the establishment of the ALO career field is continuity.

"I think the Air Force [created ALOs] for continuity purposes," Lieutenant Seay said. "The ALO career field is going to give us pride in our jobs, pride in our career field and is going to allow us to be an ALO longer."

In addition, the liaison officer career field will produce experienced leaders.

"With the ALO career field, we now have the continuity for the joint terminal attack controllers or Airmen to go to," said 2nd Lt. Matthew Willey, a former JTAC with the 2nd Air Operations Support Squadron in Germany. "We'll still have the ALOs who come in for the two year process, but now we'll have those who will always be in place, who know the process so we can build a better career field."

With one training school completed, the newly-commissioned ALOs will continue along the training pipeline to the ALO Qualification Course at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., which began Sept. 14. From there, the lieutenants will head to Fort Sill, Okla. to complete the Fire Support Coordinator and Joint Fires Observer Courses. Finally, they will attend the Joint Air Operations Command and Control Course at Hurlburt Field.

The course schedule is designed to provide the new ALOs defined responsibilities as they transition from an executor, to a manager and leader.

"My biggest role as an ALO is to be an advocate for the Airmen and NCOs who work for me," said 2nd Lt. Brandon Pinto, a TACP enlistee who later retrained into the Office of Special Investigations. "Also to ensure that they have all the training, equipment and funding they need to be effective. We will be their top cover."

Lieutenant Seay said he believes the ALO position will require him to serve in an oversight position and require him to maintain broader focus on the collective effort of all team members.

Once training is complete, the second lieutenants will spread throughout the country report to some of the largest Army air operation support squadrons in the U.S., at Fort Stewart, Ga., Fort Carson, Colo., Fort Bliss and Fort Hood, Texas and Fort Lewis, Wash.

"As far as working with the Army, we are, if not, the top force multiplier when it comes to bailing people out of trouble," Lieutenant Grucella said. "We have the ability to use precision strike without having to lobby a lot of weapons or artillery."

One lieutenant said he believes the dedicated ALO officer track will provide the level of expertise Army commanders need.

"Having officers in our career field, I believe, will help support the Army better in that you have an officer who spends his lifetime in the close-air-support world," Lieutenant Hoffman said. "Whereas, you have pilots come down for a few years and, while they know their aircraft very well and how to employ its tactics, they might not necessarily know the ground situation as well as we would."

Air Force officials hope to commission at least three ALO officers per month to reach an end strength of 259 career ALOs.

Any Airman, enlisted or officer, interested in becoming an ALO should be prepared for the physical and mental demands of the job. The training pipeline can last up to 10 months.

"It's definitely not going to be a standard officer job," Lieutenant Grucella said. "[Interested persons] need to make sure they're working out and have the heart to see it all the way through. This is a great opportunity to do something different, but still be part of the United States Air Force."

Lieutenant Pinto said he also welcomes those interested in becoming an ALO.

"It's a new career field and we're not going anywhere, so we're going to make this a success," Lieutenant Pinto said. "We're always going to be looking for some hard-charging, motivated people to fill the ranks in the future. So if you're interested, take the challenge and come out."