Marine Air Support:

[thedrifter]

Marine Close Air Support:
Never More Important

By Ross W. Simpson

Marines are known for taking care of their own?the "big, green machine." They don't rely on anyone but their own for close air support and artillery fire. If assault battalions from the First Marine Division run into opposition in southern Iraq, they simply will call on Marines in Third Marine Aircraft Wing for help.

The 3dMAW has set up shop at an undisclosed location in the Persian Gulf. Because of host country concerns, I am not at liberty to divulge the name of the airfield, but I have been there before.

Five years ago when it looked like the United States was going back to war against Iraq for violating U.N. resolutions, I visited the air base with then-Secretary of Defense William Cohen. But seeing it today, it sure has changed.

"The tentage you see in front of us and those bunkers over there weren't here 35 days ago," said Major Thomas Johnson, a spokesman for the wing.

It took a lot of Marine muscle to build the bunkers and tent city that now house various elements of the wing. Most of the Marines were not trained in setting up huge tents that cover several acres of sand, but they learned quickly and built their "home away from home," including a first-class mess hall that operates "24-7."

Navy Seabees poured hundreds of thousands of cubic yards of concrete to build new taxiways and aprons on which to park dozens of F/A-18 Hornets and AV-8B Harriers. Johnson said this was the "biggest concrete job" the Seabees have poured since the Vietnam War.

This year, the base quadrupled in size from the first of February until the first week of March, and the day I rode down the road that led to the main gate, a long line of local concrete trucks were waiting to get onto the base. Everywhere you looked, you could see construction; bunkers were being built and reinforced by Marines.

I recognized the area claimed by Marine Fighter/Attack Squadron 251 from Beaufort, S.C. The last time I saw the "Thunderbolts," they were on board USS George Washington (CVN-73) in the northern Arabian Sea when the United States was on the verge of war in March 1998.

Now they're back, but this time they are attached to 3dMAW and land-based, and instead of living in relative comfort on board ship, they are roughing it in tents. But they didn't complain, even as they tossed 25-pound sandbags like Beanie Babies to each other as they reinforced a ground crew bunker near the flight line.


"Marine Town" is self-sustaining. Turn a corner and you're likely to see some Marine giving a buddy a free "buzz" haircut. It seems every other Marine has a set of clippers and a comb and offers his services free of charge.

The tent city was erected by Marines in three weeks and has its own power generators to keep the lights and computers on to conduct the mission, which is to provide forces capable of carrying out required air operations in the Persian Gulf region. The mission also includes protecting Marines on the ground.

"Our guys in the air have no greater joy than doing that [close air support] for those 'devil dogs' on the ground, and they do it well," Johnson said.

The D-model Hornets will provide forward air control capability for other Hornets and Harriers. Together they can clear the skies of any Iraqi MiGs and make life miserable on the ground for any folks loyal to Saddam Hussein.

The 3dMAW shares this isolated base with several squadrons of Air Force A-10 Thunderbolt IIs, nicknamed Warthogs, and F-16s. Two of the Warthog squadrons are Air National Guard units from Michigan and Idaho.

Asked if wing air assets would be used to provide close air support for U.S. Army troops from the 101st, the Army's only air assault division or the Army's Third Infantry Division, Lieutenant Colonel Edward G. "Ed" Hackett, the wing's director of safety and standardization, said, "Sure, but we take care of our own first."

LtCol John Rupp, executive officer of Marine Aircraft Group 11, couldn't say how many aircraft the Marines have based at this particular airfield, but the Hornet driver said it gives the commanders of the MAW and Marine expeditionary force significant strike capability.

"A lot of the punch of the Marine air-ground task force is located here at this base," said Rupp as he spoke after briefing his bosses on the status of Marine air operations in the area.

"Pappy," as the XO is known to his buddies, said he and his Air Force counterparts have to dovetail their air operations so they don't saturate the airfield. This base isn't Los Angeles International, Chicago's O'Hare or Hartsfield International in Atlanta. It's a small air base in the Persian Gulf that suddenly has been transformed into the largest U.S. air base in the region.

The tent behind Rupp was the control center for air operations, but you couldn't tell it. The tent looked like others along a gravel pathway; the gravel was put there to cut down on dust that could clog up computers.

Rupp and Hackett are on the same page when it comes to close air support.


Aviators from 3dMAW are predominantly slated to take care of fellow Marines, but at any time they can be re-rolled to support the other services, and Rupp looks forward to such a tasking.

"When a Marine or soldier is in trouble and they call for air support, we're going to go to wherever they're in trouble, and we'll be there very quickly."

During the interview, the question of friendly fire incidents, known as "fratricides," came up. When asked what steps are being taken to make sure Marines don't accidentally kill other Marines, LtCol Rupp said aircrews have spent a great deal of time, including time before leaving the States, trying to delineate the small differences between enemy combat vehicles and friendly combat vehicles.

"Additionally, there are procedures being put into place that would minimize the chances of that happening," said Rupp. But there is still a huge burden on the person in the cockpit.

"Between us and the Brits, no one goes to the lengths we go to to avoid killing friendly people on the ground, whether they are noncombatants or coalition forces," said Maj Johnson.

It's tough to discuss what visual cues are available to aircrews for security reasons, but Rupp said it's not an easy task and it's very dependent upon environmental conditions.


"Both the weather and the dust, how well aircraft systems are performing that night, the amount of moisture in the air?all those factors play a role in our ability to identify targets on the ground and friendlies on the ground," Rupp said.

If there's a doubt, Rupp said his aviators have been directed to err on the side of safety.


"And if there is a doubt, there is no doubt," said Rupp, who added that Marine pilots keep their master arm switch "off," and they keep their finger off the "pickle button" so no bombs are dropped accidentally on fellow Marines or any other member of the U.S. military or allies.

One thing that has been seriously reviewed to the point of redrafting is the doctrine that governs the expenditure of ordnance in the vicinity of friendly troops. And there have been numerous conferences and forums in which all branches of the armed forces have gotten together along with coalition partners to discuss streamlining and making the process more efficient and straightforward.

Marine aviators are on the ground with units like the one I'm attached to, 1st Battalion, Fifth Marine Regiment, to call in close air support in case we run into opposition in Iraq. But there may be times when Marine Hornets and Harriers are under the control of Air Force combat controllers, and Rupp said that's where the Joint doctrine comes into play.


Everybody in the air?Marine, Navy or Air Force?should be singing from the same sheet of music when the call for help comes in and aircraft are vectored to those in need.

"After incidents on the Udari Range in Kuwait in which a control tower on the range was accidentally bombed and Canadian soldiers [were] killed in Afghanistan along with several U.S. Special Forces soldiers in another incident, that playbook has become even more important," Rupp said.

Whether it's an Air Force air liaison officer, a Navy SEAL or tactical air control parties from the Marine Corps, all of them are now supposed to be using the same playbook.

Lack of communications from ground to air has always presented a problem in close air support scenarios. Communications can become even more difficult if Marine aircraft are capped at certain altitudes, because the visual acuity of the pilot and the "wizzo" (weapons systems officer) in the backseat of an F/A-18D diminishes with altitude. The condition deteriorates during environmental conditions that prevent pilots from using sensors on their aircraft to peek through the crud.

The wind never stops blowing at this base. And within minutes of getting out of a vehicle you can taste the dust and sand that quickly cover your face and clothing. There are no enclosed shelters for aircraft. They are parked within a few feet of each other in hastily constructed revetments. Wind is their worst enemy.

"The biggest problem we experience is engine erosion," said Colonel Gilbert B. Diaz, the assistant chief of staff for the aviation logistics department in 3dMAW.

These are all compression engines, so if the blades become worn, you lose compression. Diaz said it's most acute in the helicopter fleet. The wind silently eats away at vital surfaces, and although ground crews keep engine intakes covered, the fine dust that blows across the flight line somehow finds its way into the engine intakes. The minute the covers come off and the engines roar to life, the damage increases.

Repairs that can't be done on the flight line are just a hop away. Diaz is able to get black boxes and other electronic equipment repaired by maintenance personnel floating off shore on board two aviation logistics ships in the northern Arabian Sea. The repairs are made on board the aviation logistic ships (T-AVBs) and flown back to the base by helicopters. Spare parts that are not in the local inventory are flown in from the States within five days.

LtCol William J. "Bill" Cooper, in charge of logistics supply for the air wing, said winter storms on the East Coast caused the Air Force to move some of its express runs from Dover AFB, Del., to Charleston AFB, S.C. Transport aircraft, including C-5s, C-17s and C-141s, haul the heavy stuff.

Before leaving tent city for life support to get his flying gear, LtCol Hackett said the mood among his Marines was great.

"We have the best-trained aviators the world has seen. Everybody's up on their tactics. Their skills are sharp, and they're ready to go," Hackett said.


You could hear the Hornets howl on the flight line as Hackett and his buddies stepped to their planes. Some of the airframes flew combat missions during the Gulf War. Upgraded since then, the venerable F/A-18s are ready to go again.

As "Travis," an F/A-18D pilot, and his backseater, "Shades," preflighted their "bird," I couldn't help but notice hardened aircraft shelters nearby that had been cracked open during the Gulf War by other U.S. combat aircraft. Some of the shelters had been used by Iraqi troops as barracks.

The host nation is now suing the French engineering company that built the so-called "bomb proof" shelters.


Somehow the French just can't stay out of the news.

Sempers,

Roger