Guard officer model for new Air Force career field Published Aug. 5, 2009 By Master Sgt. Mike R. Smith National Guard Bureau ARLINGTON, Va. (AFNS) -- Can an Airman who never flew a combat sortie give expert advice to an Army commander on the use of airpower in battle? That question has been the focus of study and debate for nearly two decades in the Air Force. But Lt. Col. William Wheeler and nine others in the Air National Guard showed it could work, and a change has followed. Now Airmen will have the opportunity to serve their military careers as air liaison officers. The Illinois Air National Guard officer recently participated in a corporate study to investigate the possibility of training non-rated officers -- those not in flying careers -- to become ALOs. The result was the recent establishment of the ALO career field, or Air Force specialty code 13L. Colonel Wheeler, the 168th Air Support Operations Squadron commander at Peoria Air National Guard Base, Ill., served as a nonrated ALO for nearly two decades; therefore, he said, he was a good candidate for the study. Air liaison officers are the Air Force's representatives to Army commanders in the field, from corps to battalion. They draw upon their knowledge of the tactical use of Air Force weapon systems to best support ground forces in a battle space. They help plan battles, and they work with forward air controllers to coordinate and control aerospace operations. "He is the face of the Air Force that also has a certain number of joint terminal attack controllers that go out with the Army into the field," Colonel Wheeler said. Years ago, Colonel Wheeler said you had to be an aviator with a tactical background to serve as an ALO. The Air Force filled its ALO billets by landing its rated officers on tours with tactical air support groups. But when those groups went away in the late 1980s, it left the Air Guard without that resource to support its Army battalions, he said. The Air Guard was a leading proponent in adding the other-than-aviators authorization, he said. Its test program at Peoria -- started in 1989 -- did it by commissioning and training a select group of enlisted Airmen. Colonel Wheeler walked off the flightline where he was working as an enlisted F-4 Phantom crew chief. He received his commission and joined a group of nine new officers who wanted to be ALOs. "I went out with the Army to all of their field training exercises ... as many as I could," he said. After his training, Colonel Wheeler served as an ALO in Bosnia and there again as an air support operations center director. Since Sept. 11, 2001, he further proved his position by serving three tours in Afghanistan and one tour in Iraq, exclusively with active-duty Army units. He said his group, and the nonrated Air Guard ALOs who followed, proved over the years that they do the job just as well as their rated counterparts and fill a valuable shortfall. Today, Colonel Wheeler is the last of that original ALO group that stepped forward for the "betterment of battlefield Airmen." "So it kind of makes sense that they looked to me as part of their study on developing the nonrated ALO in the Air Force," he said. "This is an Air National Guard initiative that has an impact Air Force-wide," said Colonel Wheeler about the "Guard-championed" program. The ALOs serve at ASOSs, of which 18 are in the Air Guard. These squadrons include tactical air control party members, who are the close-air-support coordinators for destroying enemy targets on a battlefield. The squadrons need more ALOs, Colonel Wheeler said. The new AFSC will open up doors, not only for enlisted tactical air control party members, who want to work in the career field as commissioned officers, he said, "but it will allow us to recruit to it too, which was long overdue. "But in order to be successful you have to have an A-type personality, because that's what you are going to be dealing with," he said. "You must be able to think three-dimensionally, and you have to want to be there." This month, Colonel Wheeler is slated to be awarded the ceremonial first ALO AFSC. It seems fitting he should lead the way, once again. Those who follow in his footsteps may find themselves in the middle of the nation's battles with a new and changing military career. "It's not all about close air support anymore," Colonel Wheeler said. Because of an increase in intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft engagements overseas, "you have that broad range of systems that the Air Force brings to today's fight, but make no mistake, the primary focus remains close air support." It's that constant monitoring and adjusting of those air assets to help that Army commander that makes an ALO career field so critical, he said.