Fighter Wing: A Guided Tour of an Air Force Combat Wing tcml-3

by Tom Clancy

  Over the next five decades, its strength rose and fell, based on the perceived Soviet threat as well as its overseas commitments (Korea, Vietnam, the Persian Gulf, etc.). At the end of 1994, the Air Force consisted of 81,000 officers and 350,000 enlisted personnel; a ratio of one officer to every 4.3 enlisted, compared to an Army/Navy/Marine Corps ratio of about 1 to 10 or 12. More than half the officer corps consists of captains (O-3s) and majors (O-4s), ranks that have been especially hard hit by recent cutbacks. Under present downsizing plans, the active-duty Air Force will bottom out at around 400,000 people by 1996. There will also be about eighty thousand Reserve, 115,000 Air National Guard, and 195,000 civilian Air Force personnel working within the force. The Reserves consist of veterans who have completed their active duty and are available for recall in a national emergency on order of the President. The National Guard units evolved from the state militias of Colonial and Civil War times. Nominally under the command of their respective state governors (or commonwealth in the case of Puerto Rico), they can be called into federal service by a Presidential executive order. Many of the flight crews and maintenance personnel of U.S. commercial airlines serve in Reserve and National Guard units, and a major mobilization would wreak havoc on airline flight schedules, much as it did in 1990 during Operation Desert Shield.

  The average age of USAF personnel is thirty-five for officers and twenty-nine for enlisted airmen. There are 66,000 women in the Air Force, some 15 % of the officers and also 15 % of the enlisted force, a proportion that has doubled since 1975. There are about three hundred female pilots and one hundred female navigators. In case you were wondering, an enlisted woman is addressed as "Airman." Only 17 % of the officers were commissioned through the Air Force Academy, while 42 % percent are Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) graduates. (The ROTC program is offered by a diminishing number of U.S. colleges and universities; in exchange for a commitment to take military science courses, attend summer training camps, and serve for a stated number of years, graduates receive a small stipend and a commission as a second lieutenant on graduation.) The rest are commissioned through Officer Candidate School (OCS) or other special programs such as the military medical recruiting program. Today's Air Force has approximately sixteen thousand pilots, seven thousand navigators, and 32,000 non-rated line officers in the grades of lieutenant colonel and below. There are almost three hundred generals (O-7s to O-10s) and about four thousand colonels (O-6s). Including National Guard and Reserve units, the Air Force operates about seven thousand aircraft, a number that is rapidly shrinking as entire types are taken out of service.

  During World War II, when the U.S. Armed Forces were racially segregated, top Army Air Corps generals resisted the creation of "colored" flying units, arguing that "Negroes had no aptitude for flying." It took the personal intervention of Eleanor Roosevelt to force the creation of a black fighter squadron, which was trained at Tuskeegee, Alabama, and served with distinction in Italy. With major bases and senior officer hometowns heavily concentrated in the Southern states, the Air Force had a poor integration record, and for years the handful of black cadets admitted to the Air Force Academy and other training programs suffered extreme harassment and ostracism with quiet determination. Two of America's first black generals, Benjamin O. Davis and the famous "Chappie" James, came from the USAF — a tribute to the toughness of the men, and the system that created them. Things are a bit better today, though the Air Force remains the least ethnically diverse of the services. In 1994, Air Force officers were 89 % Caucasian, 6 % African-American, 2 % Hispanic, and 3 % Other, mainly Asian-Americans. Enlisted ranks are a bit more diverse, with the breakdown being 76 % Caucasian, 17 % African-American, 4 % Hispanic, and 3 % Other. About 77 % of officers and 67 % of enlisted personnel are married, supporting a total of 570,000 dependent family members.

  By law the Air Force is under the authority of a civilian Secretary of the Air Force, appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate. Currently, this is the Honorable Sheila E. Widnall, the first woman to ever head a military service department. The highest ranking officer is the Chief of Staff of the Air Force, a four-star general appointed by the President to a three-year term and confirmed by the Senate. The present Chief of Staff is General Ronald R. Fogleman, who was previously the head of Air Mobility Command.

  The Air Force is divided into eight Major Commands, each of which may include several numbered Air Forces. In 1995 the Major Commands were:

  • Air Combat Command (ACC)—Formed by the 1992 merger of the Tactical Air Command, the Strategic Air Command, and elements of the Military Airlift Command, ACC, based at Langley AFB, Virginia, controls most of the fighter and bomber squadrons in service. Major components include the 1st Air Force (Tyndall AFB, Florida), 8th Air Force (Barksdale AFB, Louisiana), 9th Air Force (Shaw AFB, South Carolina), and 12th Air Force (Davis-Monthan AFB, Arizona). It also controls the Weapons and Tactics Center at Nellis AFB, Nevada, and the Air Warfare Center at Eglin AFB, Florida.

  • Air Education and Training Command (AETC)—Based at Randolph AFB, Texas, AETC was established in 1993 to provide unified management and direction to a vast infrastructure of schools, training squadrons, and advanced technical and professional programs, including the Air University at Maxwell AFB, Alabama. It has responsibility for the USAF Recruiting Service, but not for the Air Force Academy, at Colorado Springs, Colorado, whose superintendent reports directly to the Air Force Chief of Staff.

  • Air Force Material Command (AFMC)—AFMC was established on July 1st, 1992, from what was previously the Air Force Systems Command, and is based at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio. AFMC is responsible for research, development, test, acquisition, and sustainment of weapons systems. It operates four major laboratories, the five air logistics depots, the School of Aerospace Medicine, the Test Pilot School, and many other centers and bases.

  • Air Force Space Command (AFSPC)—Established on September 1st, 1982, AFSPC is based at Peterson AFB, Colorado. Major components include the Fourteenth Air Force at Vandenberg AFB, California (missile testing and some military satellite launches), the 20th Air Force at Francis E. Warren AFB, Wyoming (management of Minuteman and Peacekeeper ICBM squadrons, which come under the Operational Control of U.S. Strategic Command when they are on alert), and the Air Force Space Warfare Center at Falcon AFB, Colorado (management and tracking of defense-related satellites and space objects). AFSPC is a major part of U.S. Space Command, a unified command led by either an Air Force general or a Navy admiral.

  • Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC)—Based at Hurlbut Field, Florida, AFSOC was established on May 22nd, 1990, as the Air Force component of the unified U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM). Primary missions include unconventional warfare, direct action, special reconnaissance, counterterrorism, and foreign internal defense support. Secondary missions include humanitarian assistance, personnel recovery, and psychological and counternarcotics operations. AFSOC's main operational units are the 16th Special Operations Wing, split-based at Hurlbut Field and Eglin AFB, the 352nd Special Operations Group at RAF Alconbury, Great Britain, and the 353rd Special Operations Group at Kadena AB, Japan. These units operate small numbers of AC-130 gunships, MC-130 transports, EC-130 electronic warfare birds, and night-capable helicopters like the MH-53 Pave Low and MH-60 Pave Hawk.

  • Air Mobility Command (AMC)—AMC, which is based at Scott AFB, Illinois, was established on June 1st, 1992, replacing the Military Air Transport Command, while acquiring most of the tanker assets of the former Strategic Air Command. Major components are the 15th Air Force at March AFB, California (six wings), and the 21st Air Force at McGuire AFB, New Jersey (eight wings). The Commander of AMC also serves as Commander of U.S. Transportation Command (TRANSCOM), a unified command controlling America's military airlift, sea-lift, truck, and rail transportation assets.

  • Pacific Air Forces (PACAF)—Based at Hickam AFB, Hawaii, near Pearl Harbor, PACAF is responsible for air operations in the vast Pacific and A
sian theater. It includes the 5th Air Force at Yokota AFB, Japan; the 7th Air Force at Osan AB, South Korea; the 11th Air Force, at Elemendorf AFB, Alaska; and the tiny 13th Air Force at Andersen AFB, Guam. The loss of Clark AFB in the Philippines, which was damaged by the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo, and then abandoned after U.S. failure to negotiate an extension of the lease with the Filipino government, was a major setback to PACAF's forward presence in the Western Pacific. PACAF conducts most of its training exercises with Navy, Marine, and allied forces.

  • US Air Forces in Europe (USAFE)—Headquartered at Ramstein AB, Germany, USAFE was a major element in the NA TO defense structure that preserved the peace in Europe for over forty years. USAFE is coping with the effects of drastic force reductions resulting from the end of the Cold War, even as the operational demands of peacekeeping and humanitarian operations in Africa, Iraq, and the former Yugoslavia have increased. USAFE includes the 3rd Air Force at RAF Mildenhall, UK, 16th Air Force at Aviano AB, Italy, and 17th Air Force at Sembach, Germany.

  In addition to the Major Commands, there are also many specialized agencies, services, and centers, such as the Air Weather Service, Air Force Safety Agency, Air Force Security Police, Air Intelligence, and medical services.

  The basic operational unit of the Air Force is the wing, which typically occupies its own dedicated air base. Until recently most wings were commanded by colonels, but the more important wings are increasingly commanded by brigadier generals. A wing typically includes an operations group, which includes aircraft, aircrews, command and staff officers; a logistics group, which contains the maintenance and supply units; and a support group, which can include communications, security, engineering, finance, and other services. Most officers and airmen are assigned to smaller units called squadrons within each group. A wing can include any number of squadrons, from one to seven or more. A flying squadron typically includes eighteen to twenty-four fighters, eight to sixteen bombers, six to twelve tankers, or anything from two to twenty-four aircraft of other types. A large squadron may be divided, permanently or temporarily, into several flights or detachments. Several squadrons or detachments from several wings may be temporarily grouped into a provisional wing, as was often done during Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm.

  THE GUNFIGHTERS GET READY: THE ROAD TO GREEN FLAG

  How does a commander like Brigadier General Dave McCloud get his wing ready to go to war? You don't just slap together a bunch of people and aircraft, hand them a mission, and then expect them to do it without any training or experience. The USAF, insufficiently trained and lacking the experience that a previous war might have given, learned that lesson in the skies over North Vietnam. Never again would American pilots go into battle, only to have their ghosts taunt the survivors with the chant "You did not train me well enough."

  When General McCloud took over the wing from General Hinton, he initiated an almost continuous, year-long schedule of training exercises, designed to prove the composite wing concept and to sharpen the skills of the personnel who had to make it work. Some difficulties had to be overcome to conduct effective training for the wing. These included:

  • The limited range facilities at Mountain Home AFB for large composite-force training.

  • Defining the 366th Wing's structure, particularly in the bomber, Eagle, and Strike Eagle squadrons.

  • Reducing the wing's requirements for strategic airlift to deploy to a crisis area.

  • The loss of the wing's standoff (AGM-142 Have Nap) and maritime (AGM-84 Harpoon and mining) capabilities when the B-52Gs of the 34th BS were retired in November 1993.

  • Handling the transition of the F-16 squadron to the new Block 52 model Falcons, with the ASQ-213 HTS pods and AGM-88 HARM missiles for the SEAD (Suppression of Enemy Air Defense) mission.

  "Marshal" McCloud and the wing staff plunged into their jobs with almost fanatical determination, and the results rapidly began to show.

  In recent years, declining budgets and downsized forces have provided less and less money for flying hours. Most units of the USAF are desperately trying to hold the line at just twenty hours per month for proficiency and tactical training. When we visited the wing at Mountain Home, we heard a young fighter captain complaining that he had to fly over fifty hours the previous month, and he was tired! The 366th enjoys a high priority at ACC headquarters, and it shows up as extra money for flight hours, fuel, and spare parts. Another sign of the wing's high priority is the enlargement of the 390th (F-15C Eagle) and 391st (F-15E Strike Eagle) FSs to eighteen PAA aircraft each. Those birds are worth their weight in gold these days; to get more of them is unheard of. High priority also provides the wing with important little extras, like JTIDS terminals for the F-15Cs, and stressed steel Ro/Ro floors and satellite terminals for the KC-135R tankers of the 22nd ARS.

  While General McCloud did wonders for the material side of the wing, it takes more than money and hardware to build a combat unit, especially when that unit is made up of five squadrons, all from different communities within the USAF, split between two separate bases. So General McCloud began a program of goodwill and coalition building among the five squadrons of the 366th. Where previously the personnel of a squadron spent their leisure time with members of their own little circle, now they were encouraged to mingle, to share ideas and experiences, and build the kind of comradeship that you need when you go to war. In the 366th command briefing (a presentation given to VIP visitors) you hear, "We live together. We train together. We play together. And we fight together!" This is more than just rhetoric. The very survival of the wing depends on working together.

  The first real test of the new wing organization and its concept of operations (CONOPS) came in the fall of 1993, when the 366th Wing was chopped to CENTCOM to become the core air unit for Operation Bright Star-93, the yearly Middle East exercise. General McCloud deployed an A+ Package to North Africa, with the fighters, tankers, and command elements going to Cairo West Air Base in Egypt, and the bombers going to Lajes Air Base in the Azores. Over the next several weeks, the wing exercised with elements of several air forces, including Egypt's, and some U.S. Navy air units. Two important lessons learned were the need for more F-15 aircraft in the 390th and 391st FSs, and the urgency of reducing the amount of heavy airlift required to move the wing overseas.

  In late 1993 came the announcement by Secretary of Defense Les Aspin that the entire fleet of B-52Gs would be retired within a matter of months. By November 1993, the last of the — G model BUFFs were history, and the 366th was without a long-range bomber component, or any maritime or standoff weapons capability. This hurt a lot, and ACC went to work to find a solution, not only for the Gunfighters, but for the whole Air Force. Soon after, the 389th FS began to take delivery from the Lockheed Fort Worth factory of their brand-new Block 52 F-16Cs, with the powerful new F100-PW-229 engines.

  Good news arrived early in 1994, when ACC announced the formation of a new squadron of B-1B Lancers, the reborn 34th BS, to be co-resident with the 28th BW at Ellsworth AFB, South Dakota. While General McCloud still lacked the mining, maritime strike, or standoff weapons capabilities he had lost with the retirement of the B-52Gs, the B-1B squadron would bring some new capabilities to the wing. The work on reducing the number of C-141 loads required for deployment began to yield results, as sergeants at the squadron level found ways to leave more stuff behind and share resources among units. While the Air Force may look like an officers' club, without the work of the enlisted personnel, not one bomb would be loaded, not one plane fueled, not one engine changed.

  During the winter, the Gunfighters went on a pair of deployments. One of these was a mobility exercise to Michigan, and the other to Alaska. This second one, dubbed Northern Edge, sent an A Package north to Elmendorf AFB, to play the role of an aggressor force in a large PACAF exercise. This let the 366th practice cold weather operations skills. Since they do not have any particular regional focus, just a fast response time, one week they may need to be ready to go
to a desert environment, and the next week a jungle.

  When they returned from Alaska, the Gunfighters threw themselves into the biggest challenge of 1994, getting ready for Operation Green Flag 94-3, the largest, most expensive, and most realistic annual training exercise in the Air Force. Run out of the huge range complex north of Nellis AFB in Nevada, Green Flag is the closest thing to war you're likely to run into, without actually having the other guys shoot back with live ammunition. The 366th Wing would make up the core force for this Green Flag exercise, with numerous other units plugging in under General McCloud's command. It was going to be a critical test of the Gunfighters and the composite wing concept. The entire wing began the move down to Nellis AFB in mid-April of 1994.

  NELLIS AFB: THE BIG SKY

  Once upon a time, Las Vegas was just a dusty stop on the railroad across the desert from southern California. Later, after Bugsy Siegel started the gambling resort boom in the late '40s, it became a place where people went to escape. Today it is America's fastest-growing city, thanks to a construction boom brought on by an influx of retirees and tourism. Up on the north side of town, just off Interstate 15, is Nellis AFB, the USAF's biggest and busiest air base. Started during World War II as the Las Vegas Gunnery Range, Nellis was renamed to honor a local P-47 pilot who died during the war. After World War II, it remained a primary gunnery training center, with its complex of ranges to the north heavily used to teach pilots the art of shooting straight and true. It also has been home to combat units like the 474th TFW, which flew F-111s, F-4s, and F-16s during the Cold War before it was disestablished. Nellis is a unique center for training, testing, and competition, with large, trackless desert ranges to the north, closed to civilian air traffic, and providing room for almost any kind of flying.