FORT IRWIN, Calif. – Part of what makes the 4th Infantry Division’s 4th Brigade Combat Team strong are the various teams attached to the brigade.

Among those teams are Airmen from the 11th Aviation Support Operations Squadron, stationed at Fort Hood, Texas, who control the brigade’s airspace and call in air support to aid the ground personnel in completing their missions.

“If it flies and has weapons on it, they can call it in,” said Air Force Capt. Scott Dieringer, an Austin native and an F-16 fighter pilot who is serving as the 4th BCT’s air liaison officer during the brigade’s NTC rotation. “They can call in anything from a Kiowa Warrior, to a Predator unmanned aerial system, through fighters and bombers with 20 or 30 different GPS-guided bombs to the big daddy of air support, the AC-130 gunship with 105mm, 40mm and 20mm guns on board.”

With all the combat weaponry available to the junior Airmen, they know it’s a tough job with little room for error.

“It’s a heavy responsibility, and we have a lot to worry about,” said Airman 1st Class Juan Carreon, a radio operator, maintainer and driver, or ‘ROMAD’ for short, assigned to the 11th ASOS. “We have to prevent fratricide and make sure we’re not dropping ordnance on friendly forces or civilians.”

While the Airmen wear different uniforms than the Cobra Brigade’s Soldiers, they train alongside the Soldiers they will support during combat. The Airmen must pass the same Army Physical Fitness Test, consisting of two minutes of push-ups, followed by two minutes of sit-ups and a timed two-mile run, as their fellow Soldiers. The ROMADs eventually become joint terminal attack controllers, or JTACs, after completing Air Force and NATO courses.

“Our guys have become more and more important to the Army as its leaders have seen what we can bring to them on the battlefield,” said Air Force Master Sgt. Gregory Ray, a Kansas City, Missouri, native, who serves as the noncommissioned officer in charge of the section. “An (Army field artillery forward observer) will provide targeting information to the pilots, but we’re the guys that have the final clearance authority for them to open fire.”

While the Air Force brings the “air power” to assist the Cobra Brigade with accomplishing its missions, it needs personnel with eyes on the ground to command those air assets. The key people moving those aircraft are the JTACs, who use their specialized training to translate the Army’s needs into the Air Force’s and Army rotary-wing aviation’s capabilities.

“It’s really a problem if you’ve never done it before – to explain what you’re seeing and what the pilot understands,” Ray said. “If you’re seeing one dirt road, the pilot may be seeing lots of dirt roads.”
Ray explained that the pilots can’t open fire unless they have confirmation on the target, which the JTACs, ROMADs and Army forward observers coordinate to obtain.

The 4th BCT is using its Air Force assets to entwine America’s military capabilities into a focused and effective force.