Posted on 10/14/2001 12:38:19 PM PDT by Pokey78
Editor’s note: This is the second in a series of five articles on special forces troops in the U.S. military.
U.S. Air Force special operations commandos and pararescuers may not share the notoriety of the Green Berets or Navy SEALs, but they’ve quietly prepared for the coming battles against terrorism.
The group of skilled pilots and commandos traces its roots to before there was even an Air Force — piloting troops and supplies over enemy lines, often under fire. They’ve played instrumental roles in the Grenada invasion and the Persian Gulf War. And, of course, they’ve also continued to earn the respect and trust of every pilot who could get shot down.
"The best thing they do is search and rescue. And in any sort of operation, search and rescue is sometimes what can make or break you," said Darrin Wright, of the Rand Corporation, a Washington, D.C., public policy think tank.
Pulling people out of troubled spots is one thing, Air Force special forces also train to put people in those same areas.
They serve as forward observers and scouts to guide reinforcements into an area and skillfully win over or confuse the enemy through psychological operations.
"Don’t just think aircraft and helicopters," said retired Air Force pararescuer Don Crane. "The Air Force has always been creative. They are mobile and fast. They do things you wouldn’t think the Air Force would be doing."
If something goes wrong during the prolonged campaign to track down Osama bin Laden and parts of his terrorist organization, Crane said, Air Force special operations crews most likely will come to the rescue.
"People will get into trouble. It’s part of a war," he said. "And the pararescuers and the commandos will go in after them. There’s nowhere they’re not trained to go."
Or work from. Pararescuers can work from Navy ships or just about any other platform large enough to land a helicopter. For example, the USS Kittyhawk left port this week without a full crew of aircraft, indicating, like during the Persian Gulf War, it might be used as a staging area for special forces.
"These guys are well-trained as any special forces personnel," said James Phillips, a terrorism expert at the conservative Heritage Foundation. "They can sneak in and out. They can do recon. They can take out targets. They can rescue fallen fighters."
Twice during Operation Allied Force, the 1999 NATO bombing campaign in Kosovo, the 352nd Special Operations Group out of RAF Mildenhall in the United Kingdom slipped behind enemy lines to pull out downed pilots.
In one rescue, pararescuers snatched up a downed F-117 pilot just outside Serbia, and a month later, members of the 352nd SOG rescued a F-16 pilot shot down in Serbia.
During Allied Force, members of the 7th Special Operations Group, also out of RAF Mildenhall, dropped more than 100 million leaflets in 81 different targeted areas in Serbia and Kosovo.
Air Force special operations forces, just like their counterparts in the Navy and Army, conduct humanitarian aid missions such as Operation Shining Hope in Albania and Operation Atlas Response in Mozambique.
In Atlas Response, aircraft from the 352nd helped deliver more than 1.5 million pounds of cargo and transport more than 1,100 people displaced by flooding.
In Operation Shining Hope, the 352nd delivered relief supplies to Kosovar refugees at isolated mountain camps. In just five days, Air Force special operations personnel delivered 40 tons of food, water, medical supplies and shelter materials to Tirana, Albania. They used MH-53 Pave Low helicopters from the 21st Special Operations Squadron and -130P Combat Shadows from the 67th Special Operations Squadron.
Qualifying
 U.S. Air Force The mission of the MC-130E Combat Talon I and MC-130H Combat Talon II is to provide global, day, night and adverse weather capability to airdrop and airland personnel and equipment in support of U.S. and allied special operations forces. |
Pararescuers carry a list of credentials that can put them just about anywhere. They can scuba dive and parachute — with training to return gunfire from the air — and can live alone on the ground for days if necessary, can fire almost anything with a trigger and know how to protect downed pilots from advancing enemy troops. And if a downed pilot is injured, these highly trained men have undergone intensive medical training.
But earning the right to be part of the elite group is difficult. There are only about 400 of them from among the more than 350,000 U.S. Air Force personnel — only about 35 of every 350 men who start the rigorous training at the U.S. Air Force Pararescue School in Kirtland, N.M., complete it.
Air Force Lt. Col. MJ Jadick, the U.S. Special Operations Command Europe spokeswoman, said the training for Air Force special operations is some of the most intense in the military.
"The washout rate can reach as high as 90 percent," she said in an e-mail response to questions.
Many serve in regular search and rescue units but a few get more-specialized training and carry a dual assignment with air commandos.
While pararescuers often pull pilots out of hot spots, air commandos help take special forces to them.
They typically fly secret missions, such as ferrying Navy SEALs, Green Berets and Army Rangers behind enemy lines in long-range, heavily armed helicopters. Air commandos learn to fly high-tech helicopters at Kirtland Air Force Base, getting what they call the toughest flight training in the U.S. Air Force.
History
| AFSOC at a glance ...Commander: Lt. Gen. Maxwell C. Bailey Headquarters: Hurlburt Field, Fla. AFSOC is America’s specialized air power. It provides Air Force special operations forces for worldwide deployment and assignment. AFSOC has about 12,500 active-duty, Reserve, National Guard and civilian personnel; about 20 percent of its forces are stationed overseas. The command has three active-duty flying units composed of more than 100 aircraft. Most of its fleet will be replaced with CV-22 Ospreys by the year 2010. ¶ 16th Special Operations Wing: Based at Hurlburt Field, it includes the 4th Special Operations Squadron, which flies AC-130U gunship. ¶ 352nd Special Operations Group: Based at RAF Mildenhall, England, it is the Air Force component of the Special Operations Command Europe. ¶ 353rd Special Operations Group: Based at Kadena Air Base, Japan, it is the Air Force component for Special Operations Command Pacific. ¶ 720th Special Tactics Group: Based at Hurlburt Field, it has special operations combat controllers and pararescuemen who deploy in teams by air, land and sea into forward, non-permissive environments. ¶ Air Reserve components are from the 919th Special Operations Wing at Duke Field, Fla.; the 193rd Special Operations Wing at Harrisburg, Pa., International Airport; the 123rd Special Tactics Flight, Standiford Field, Ky.; the 107th Air Weather Flight, Selfridge Air National Guard Base in Michigan; the 146th Air Weather Flight, Pittsburgh, Pa.; the 181st Air Weather Wing, Dallas, Texas; and the 280th Combat Communications Squadron at Dothan, Ala. |
The U.S. Air Force special operations wings trace their origins to the 1st Air Commando Group formed during World War II. (The Air Force wasn’t formed until 1947.)
The group had about 500 men, 1,500 less than a conventional wing, and roughly 350 aircraft that included P-51 Mustangs for fighter and attack cover, B-25Hs for heavy attack, C-47 and CG-41 Waco Gliders for assault and supply missions, and four YR-5 helicopters. The unit was the first to use the helicopter in combat, and they perfected the "glider snatch" technique where a loaded glider on the ground would be "grabbed" and towed aloft by a low-flying C-47 cargo plane.
The unit’s first mission was Operation Thursday, a disruption action in early March 1944 that successfully stopped the Japanese invasion of India.
On the first night, the commandos delivered 500 men and 15 tons of supplies to a jungle clearing behind Japanese lines. At the mission’s peak, aircraft landed every four minutes.
Other victories of the 1st Air Commando Group included smuggling a captured German V2 rocket out of Sweden; airlifting 2,500 gallons of fuel to Gen. George Patton’s tanks when they ran out of supplies on their conquest of Germany; and bombing 885 rail lines and destroying 322 locomotives that German troops used to supply and move troops prior to the D-Day invasion in France.
After World War II, the air commando pilots were either discharged or sent to conventional units, leaving the United States with no group dedicated to resupplying forces behind enemy lines.
When the Korean War began in 1950, there was no airborne special operations roles but the Air Resupply and Communication Service was launched to pick up where the commandos had left off.
The Vietnam War saw the rebirth of the Air Forces special operations forces.
U-19 Helio Courier aircraft were used to transport personnel and materials into virtually any airfield or dirt road in Vietnam and Laos. The U-10s also were used in psychological operation to drop propaganda leaflets and broadcast messages over loudspeakers as the aircraft flew low and slow over the jungle. The Air Force also began using helicopters to rescue men trapped and injured behind enemy lines.
After the war, Air Force special operations personnel increasingly became involved in rescue missions. They were critical in the Grenada invasion when a combat controller inserted along with two Navy SEAL teams.
The controller radioed back that the airport would need to be cleared before troops landed. From the air, Air Force teams protected SEAL teams by providing groundcover.
During the 1989 Panama invasion, Air Force special operations crews dropped Army Rangers on the airfield and provided in-air, round-the-clock air refueling and ground cover.
During the Persian Gulf War, they helped maintain King Fahd Airfield and helped take out two long-range radar complexes in Operation Eager Anvil.
But like many special operations maneuvers, the general public will most likely end up hearing of just a few of the many missions Air Force commandos and pararescuers conduct during America’s war on terrorism.
"We do what we do quietly and efficiently," Crane said. "That’s the way we like it."
Part 3: Navy SEALs' intensive training is by no means limited to the water
I spent two years as an Armor Platoon leader before I was branch detailed to the MP Corps...During the last REFORGER, Operation Certain Caravan, in '92, I pulled my M1A1 over a ridgeline at Hoenfehls. There in front of me was an A-10. It seemed to hover there momentarily, with it's gatling pointed straight at my panzer. My only thought at the time was, "I'm busted." This was training. May such fear now permeate the hearts of our foes for real!
Thank God for em !......Stay Safe !
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.