A
LTHOUGH THE MEDIA
tends to focus on the
aircraft that are dropping
precision weapons and
directly engaging so-called
Islamic State (IS) forces,
few realize that much of their success
wouldn’t be possible without a select
group of dedicated and highly trained
airmen on the ground who direct their
strikes. Maximizing the impact on the
enemy, while minimizing collateral
damage, is the job of the joint terminal
attack controllers (JTACs) within the Air
Support Operations Squadrons (ASOS).
ASOS units help co-ordinate and direct
tactical air support of land forces and
provide fast response to ground units
that require close air support. Combat
Aircraft visited the 227th ASOS, a unit
of the New Jersey Air National Guard’s
177th Fighter Wing, at its Atlantic
City headquarters. The unit’s call sign
‘Berserk’ follows the tradition of Norse
warriors who worked themselves into
frenzy before battle and fought with
‘reckless savagery and insane fury.’ The
squadron’s patch depicts the Vegvisir,
or runic compass — a magical
device used to aid in sea navigation
and provide protection to those
Norse warriors.
The squadron’s mission is
to organize, train and equip
forward air control personnel
to integrate with army units,
specializing in directing air
strikes against enemy targets. It
does so by providing air support
expertise to ground commanders.
At the time of Combat Aircraft’s visit,
the squadron commander was Lt
Col Al ‘Moe’ Danza. Born in Brooklyn,
Danza started his career as an enlisted
airman serving in intelligence. After
becoming an o cer, he went through
pilot training and ew F-16s. In 2007,
he became an air liaison o cer (ALO)
with the Idaho ANG and came to the
177th FW in 2011. The levels of expertise
here are easy to see. Lt Col Scott ‘SOJO’
Michalowski is also an ALO and is the
director of operations (DO) here. He
ew A-10s for a decade and joined the
177th in 2011.
MSgt Patrick Donohoe has been in
the US Army and now the ANG, and
with 20 years in the military he joined
the 227th at its inception. ‘The 227th
ASOS began as a paper idea and in 2009
the rst personnel were assigned to
the operations group commander, ColBradford Everman, who gave them a desk
in an operations building closet, from
there we transitioned into trailers and
then in 2011 to this [dedicated] facility,’
explains Donohoe. The rationale for its
creation as part of the 177th FW was the
bene t of the co-location with the wing’s
ghter squadron and bombing range.
‘Other ASOS units are not as fortunate
at having this combination. Some are
just on a remote bombing range, others
are associated with a speci c air force
or army unit. Most have to travel for
everything, but here we have one of the
best set-ups.’
Danza says, ‘There are ANG units in
all 50 states plus the territories, with 65
Guard ying units, but there are only 16
ASOS units. As the army puts it, ‘we are
a high-demand but low-density asset.’
Not every state has one, so a prospective
trainee can’t just go to his state unit.’ An
added bene t of the 227th’s location is a
large local population and the entire east
coast to draw talented people from. ‘Even
though we are part of the New Jersey
ANG, more than 50 per cent are from
other states,’ he adds.A tough career
The pace of operations for a JTAC is pretty
intense. According to Michalowski, ‘The
amount of time you must put into this
career eld is much greater than most
other parts of the Guard. On paper,
it is the standard one weekend per
month and two weeks a year, but due
to the amount of currencies we must
maintain and the TDYs [temporary duty
assignments] to support the army, at
least an additional 30 days per year are
required. In the group, about half are in
college; half have families and all have
jobs. So when they sign up we have that
hard conversation along the lines of,The close team
between the
joint terminal
attack controllers
(JTACs) and the
airborne assets is
key to successful
close air support.
USAF/SrA Kevin
Tanenbaumhttp://www.combataircraft.net // February 2018 37
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