TACP

TACP (JTAC) Overview

Advise, Assist, Control

A TACP is a Tactical Air Control Party. It is comprised of a JTAC (Joint Terminal Air Controller) and a ROMAD (essentially a JTAC in training, though the reality is ROMADs are frequently seasoned operators in their own right, having completed lengthy and arduous blocks of training and lacking only the final JTAC certification). JTACs direct the action of combat aircraft operating in CAS (Close Air Support) and other offensive operations, calling in airstrikes and gun runs like an FO or an ANGLICO Marine calls in artillery or naval gunfire. The NATO is Forward Air Controller. A typical TACP (JTAC or ROMAD or both) might be on an infantry patrol one day to coordinate immediate CAS and attached to an ODA the next day for the same reason.

The whole TACP/JTAC/ROMAD (and CCT) series of monikers often creates confusion, which isn’t surprising. A TACP is a Tactical Air Control Party. It is comprised of a JTAC (Joint Terminal Attack Controller) and supporting personnel, typically a ROMAD; though with the high demand for JTACs in the field with conventional units, many patrols are actually supported by ROMADs. They are usually a 2-man team and usually assigned to a conventional infantry patrol (usually platoon size or smaller) though they will frequently support SOF forces as well. TACP personnel are usually collocated with the unit they are supporting, so for instance you might find 2 Airmen bunked down at a COP with a particular platoon or perhaps company sized element, and those Airmen may only rarely encounter anyone else from their “own” unit during the deployment.

The difference? A JTAC is has completed JTACCQC. A ROMAD has not, although with the high operational tempo their squadrons experience, many ROMADs have a great deal of combat experience “on call”. Technically speaking, the primary difference between a JTAC and a ROMAD is that a JTAC is legally allowed to say CLEARED HOT on the radio and direct aircraft to drop their ordnance on target. ROMADs can and do talk the aircraft into position and frequently just hand control authority to a JTAC that may be miles away who (essentially relying on the ROMAD to do his job right) stays on the line long enough to clear the aircraft hot and then goes back to doing whatever he was doing (which is frequently talking CAS missions in wherever he is, if he’s not in the TOC).

The JTAC motto is ADVISE, ASSIST, CONTROL

Check out this story about a 13 hour engagement with TACPs calling in CAS Danger Close.
Look at some of the specialized gear they are issued (when they’re not required to wear whatever the units they’re attached to wear).
Look at how TACPs change the tide of battle.

Meet Special Reconnaissance, a new career field in Air Force Special Operations

In a major development, the Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC) changed the Special Operations Weather Technician (SOWT) career field to Special Reconnaissance (SR).

The Air Force has debated the future of its battlefield airmen for some time. SOWTs were seen as unnecessary with the advent of weather forecasting technology. Earlier in 2018, the service released a memorandum describing the current challenges and explored possible improvement opportunities to become more effective. “Bottom line, a fully leveraged Air Force ground maneuver element eliminates the need to ask another service to do what the Air Force should do ourselves,” the memo states. This conclusion indicates a desire for more independence. The document was signed by the Air Force’s Vice Chief of Staff, Gen. Stephen Wilson.

As of now, the battlefield airmen designation includes:

Pararescuemen (PJ)
Combat Controllers (CCT)
SOWT
Tactical Air Control Party (TACP), which are considered Special Operations

The Survival Escape Resistance and Evasion and Explosive Ordinance Disposal career fields also fall under the battlefield airmen designation but are considered combat support and not SOF.

The SR pipeline is very similar to PJ and CCT. Candidates for all three career fields attend the same selection and assessment program at Lackland Air Force Base. Thereafter, they progress through a succession of schools:

Pre-Dive and Dive
Jump
Military Free Fall
SERE
Reconnaissance
Combat Control
Advanced Skills Training

From the available information, it appears the main mission set of the SR field is to provide environmental reconnaissance capabilities to commanders. SR operators would also specialize in ground Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance missions. Additionally, they’re still capable of combat weather forecasting operations.

Career field changes are expected to begin in April. The financial incentive for applicants is strong, with a $10,000 signing bonus.

The AFSOC even established the 330^th Recruiting Squadron to attract more applicants and ensure they’re suitably prepared for the rigorous selection programs. Master Sgt. Michael Williams, who’s a flight chief with the 330^th Squadron, said “we’re just trying to be realistic with them from the very beginning. Our candidates, whenever we bring them into our program…we can usually have them ready, passing the physical fitness standards, depending on their mental capacity…and resiliency, in about three-to-four months.”

Environmental reconnaissance operations aren’t unheard of. During Operation Anaconda, joint teams from the Joint Special Operations Command conducted multiple environmental recons around the Shahi-Kot valley. Their goal was to determine the position of the massed al-Qaida fighters, to establish the best avenues of approach for the conventional forces airlifted into the valley, and to locate and mark possible avenues of retreat that could be used by the Jihadists. If it weren’t for these teams and their recons, Operation Anaconda would have most probably been an utter disaster.

This article was written by Stavros Atlamazoglou

Feature image: Soldiers with 2-20th Special Forces Group (Airborne) as well as other members of the special operations community prepare to conduct a mock-nighttime assault on the Grenada Dam in Grenada, Mississippi January 20, 2019. The exercise involved a simultaneous assault from multiple points, with the intent of gaining control over an insurgent-held dam. Southern Strike 2019 is a large-scale, joint multinational combat exercise that provides tactical level training for the full spectrum of conflict. It emphasizes air dominance, maritime operations, maritime air support, precision engagement, close air support, command and control, personnel recovery, aero medical evacuation, and combat medical support. Air National Guard Photo by Staff Sgt. Christopher S. Muncy. DVIDS.

Op-Ed: Why Do Women in Basic Training Make the News? They are SOF Candidates

Just the other day the news broke that the Air Force had a woman in the training pipeline to be a member of the Air Force’s Special Operations Command (AFSOC). By entering the pipeline, she became just the 5th woman to attempt to join AFSOC.

The woman chose the very important and demanding career path to be one the Air Force’s TACP operators. The TACP stands for Tactical Air Control Party. The TACP operators have the tough job of embedding with Army and Marine Corps ground units and calling for airstrikes. Many times these airstrikes are the difference between life and death for the ground units and they have to be on-time, and on-target.

The training to become a TACP is tough physically, mentally and technically. They can talk to any friendly aircraft in the sky and know the capabilities and how to put them to use. Reading that the Air Force has another woman in the TACP training pipeline as well piqued my interest. I started to search articles to find out how these women were doing in her training.

Expecting foolishly to hear that her training was almost done, it wasn’t close to being true. Surprise, surprise, surprise (Gomer Pyle voice), I find out that this woman is just entering basic training at Lackland Air Force Base. Really? Are we as a country, that hung up on female inclusion into Special Operations that we’re going to make a big deal of a poor kid that has just entered boot camp? We’ve heard the same thing with the Navy and a couple of women who hadn’t entered training yet but volunteered for the Navy’s Special Warfare Training.

Thus far, the Air Force has not released the airman’s name and that is the absolute correct answer. I hope they keep it that way. We, as in the American public, don’t need to know anything about her or her progress in training because that’s the way the courses are designed to run. When…and if she graduates her training course, then, by all means, it becomes news and it should be reported on.

Ever since the Defense Department opened combat career fields to women in 2015, few females have attempted the Special Operations career fields of each service. Only a handful of airmen have qualified and entered TACP training, one was injured and was not able to complete the training and another failed for not meeting the standards. That’s why they call it “Special Operations” because not everyone is going to make it and attain the standards. I don’t know the washout rate for the Air Force’s Special Operations TACP program, but having worked with them as well as the Pararescue and CCT (Combat Controllers) of AFSOC, their training levels are high and the demanding courses must have attrition rates similar to the other Special Operations Forces, (SOF).

Then-Defense Secretary Ash Carter announced that all military occupational specialties would open to women. Following that change, while the individual military services moved to open their battlefield programs to women, more importantly however they opted (and correctly so…for now) not diminish physical training standards.

All Air Force troops take their basic training at Lackland AFB, under the auspices of the 737th Training Group. Once completed, the candidates move onto the “Battlefield Airman Prep Course” and the indoctrination course before heading off to their specialty courses. These are carried out by the 37th Training Wing at Joint Base San Antonio – Lackland (JBSA-Lackland). Then they begin the specialty course for Tactical Control Party (1C4xx). The other Air Force Special Operations specialties include the Pararescue Airman (1T2xx), Special Operations Weather (1W0xx), and the Combat Controller (1C2xx)

The last thing either of these candidates or the Air Force needs is to have the airmen or the training staff distracted by the media wanting the know the latest in basic training news. They are barely in the pipeline, so we need to let them and the process be. No one follows the travels of the 18X male recruits into basic training for the Army Special Forces. These women deserve the same anonymity.

We need to give them the same slack as the men attempting to enter Special Operations. Let the courses and the training cadre decide first whether or not they are making news before we flood Lackland or Ft. Benning with requests for media access to see what Candidate X scored on her basic rifle marksmanship.

The motto of the TACP Airmen is, “The strong will stand, the weak will fall by the wayside.” These airmen, known sometimes as the Air Force’s Infantry are the Army and Marine units’ eyes and ears for the air support that they bring to bear on the enemy. They ensure the bombs, artillery or missiles from friendly forces are directed accurately and on time. They are more than proficient in ground combat.

The training pipeline for the TACP Airmen takes about a year. But first, they will have to pass the Air Force Special Tactics Tactical Air Control Party Physical Fitness Test (ST TACP PFT). The TACP PFT consists of Pushups, Situps, Pull ups, 3-mile Run and a 12-Mile Rucksack March.

That is when the training begins in earnest. It will include but isn’t limited to basic radio maintenance and operation, land navigation, combat air support basics, and SERE School. They are airborne and most are Ranger qualified.

So sometime next year in early August, we’ll know if one or both of the two women in the training pipeline for the Air Forces’ TACP will be awarded the Black Beret. Until then, it isn’t news. Let them be, let the training staff’s do their job and then we’ll know whether or not they will earn the honor of being part of the Special Operations brotherhood…I guess that term may change if they are successful. Into the SOF community.

Photo Courtesy: US Air Force