Fighter Wing: A Guided Tour of an Air Force Combat Wing

An air force is more than an expensive collection of planes and personnel. A nation cannot just throw money and youth into building an aerial fighting force and expect to get anything more than a glorified flying club for military pageants. While an air force cannot win a war all by itself (despite what some zealots would like you to believe), since World War I no country has won a war without having a winning air force overhead. The history of the last six decades is filled with examples like France (1940), the Middle East Arabs (1967), and Iraq (1991), who spent a fortune on aircraft and had their heads handed to them when real combat came. Building a winning air force has relatively little to do with how much money a country spends.

Yes, air forces are hideously expensive. Figure on spending about $20 million for each modern single seat fighter, $2 million to select and train each pilot to a combat-ready level, and perhaps $100 million per wing per year, plus real estate costs for a no-frills air base. To maintain proficiency, your flight crews need to fly at least twenty hours a month, at a couple of thousands of dollars an hour. Don't forget to budget enough for administration, security, medical services, spare parts, practice ammunition, bombs, missiles, targets, and a thousand other details. Still, it isn't money alone that does the job. For starters, building an air force is a multi-generational task, which requires decades of investment in the cultivation of skills that are relatively rare and fragile. The best example of this is the Israeli Air Force, which uses a network of "talent scouts" with sophisticated psychological profiles to identify its future aircrews (and thus its future leaders) on the soccer fields and elementary schools while they are still pre-teen kids.

While such a system of selection may work for small countries with a few hundred aircraft and strong social cohesion, it would not be practical for a country of the size and diversity of the United States. America has an air force (actually several if you count the Navy, Marine, Army, and Coast Guard) with thousands of aircraft. Because of its worldwide responsibilities and interests, the U.S. has to reach deep to build its military forces, calling upon a wider range of skills and cultures than any other nation on earth. Backing up the selection of the right people is a massive industrial commitment, for only nations with a viable airframe industry can hope to avoid crippling dependence on one or two major powers for weapons, spare parts, and training.

There is a saying that goes, "If you think training is expensive, try ignorance!" Consider an example from the Vietnam War. Prior to the 1968 bombing halt over North Vietnam, both the Navy and Air Force suffered severely in air-to-air combat with the wily and agile MiG interceptors of the North Vietnamese Air Force. In fact, the critical kill/loss ratio was going decidedly against the Americans — only 3:1 (three MiGs shot down for every U.S. aircraft lost in air-to-air combat. Now, this doesn't sound bad until you consider that the MiGs and their pilots cost the North Vietnamese almost nothing to replace, and that fighting over friendly territory, a MiG pilot who ejected often lived to fight another day, while American aircrews who ejected stood a good chance of dying in a POW camp. In World War II, by way of contrast, the average kill/loss ratio was something like 8:1; and in Korea it was 13:1.

To improve the odds, the Navy launched a program of adversary flight training, flying practice missions against aircraft more agile than the F-4, including a few real MiG fighters that had found their way to the United States for evaluation and testing. The Navy opened the famous Top Gun school at NAS Miramar near San Diego, California, and a dozen or so classes of crews had cycled through by 1972. Every Navy pilot going to Southeast Asia received thorough intelligence briefings on the enemy aircraft and tactics that he would face.

The results were stunning. When the air war over North Vietnam started up again in 1972, the USAF still took a beating from the North Vietnamese, for a while losing more aircraft than they were shooting down. At one point the kill/loss ratio fell to only.89:1! Only the rapid introduction of electronic warning systems based on real-time intelligence saved the day for the Air Force, bringing the ratio back to a barely acceptable 2:1. But the Navy story was quite different. In a matter of weeks, the Navy fighters drove the North Vietnamese MiGs from the coastal zones; and at one time they had an incredible 31:0 kill/loss ratio. By the time of the cease-fire in early 1973, the ratio was a more realistic 13:1—a massive success compared to the Air Force's dismal performance during the same period. An unpopular war, fought under impossible political restrictions, was bad enough, but being outperformed in the air by the Navy was a burning humiliation for the USAF.

Today's U.S. Air Force is built on a foundation of education and training that only can be understood in terms of the bitter experience of USAF personnel in the skies over Southeast Asia in the 1960s and 1970s. The air force that America sent to the Persian Gulf in 1990 and 1991 was very much the product of the unacceptable cost of the Vietnam War and a twenty-year struggle by a generation of officers to exorcise the ghosts of dead comrades. Over the two decades since the end of that divisive conflict, the USAF has remade itself to ensure that its Vietnam experience will never happen again.

THE AIR FORCE CORPORATION

Like any large organization, the United States Air Force has a corporate culture. That culture is the product of its history and the collective experience of its people. Just like most big American corporations, it's had mergers and take-overs, reorganizations and purges. The Air Force Corporation started small, grew as a result of the vision of its founding members, and came into its own because it had a unique product at a time when it was needed. It has grown and shrunk as a result of competitive market forces in its own very specialized line of business, where the only customer is the U.S. Congress and ultimately the voters, taxpayers, lobbyists, and political interest groups that shape the law-making and budgeting process. Let's look at some of that history.

The Aeronautical Division of the U.S. Army Signal Corps was organized on August 1st, 1907, only four years after the Wright brothers' first powered flight. Commanded by a captain, the unit had one Wright biplane and a few mechanics. By 1914, it had become the Aviation Section of the Signal Corps, under a lieutenant colonel; and by 1918, after the United States entered World War I, it was upgraded to the Air Service, under a major general; and then in 1926, during a period of disarmament, it was downgraded to the Army Air Corps. On June 20th, 1941, with the threat of a new war on the horizon, it became the Army Air Forces, now led by a lieutenant general. By 1944, its strength had peaked at 2.3 million personnel, with tens of thousands of aircraft. Finally, on September 18th, 1947, after a forty-year struggle for identity, the U.S. Air Force was born, under the leadership of General Carl "Tooey" Spaatz.

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 Asian 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.

Nellis is home to the USAF Weapons and Tactics Center (W&TC, formerly the USAF Fighter Weapons Center), which expends over 45 % of the USAF's practice munitions worldwide! Commanded by Lieutenant General Tom Griffith, the W&TC runs a range complex that covers much of southern Nevada. At any given time, there are almost 140 aircraft based at W&TC, flying some 37,000 sorties each year. The core of the W&TC is the 57th Wing (formerly the 57th Fighter Weapons Wing), whose personnel are distinguished by checkered yellow and black scarves worn with their flight suits. It is commanded by Colonel John Frisby, and its units include:

• 422nd Test and Evaluation Squadron (TES)—Flying a combination of A-10A Thunderbolt IIs, F-15C/D/E Eagles and Strike Eagles, and F-16C/D Fighting Falcons, the 422nd TES is tasked with operation testing and tactics development for the USAF fighter force and their weapons.

• USAF Weapons School (WS)—This is a 5 1/2-month, graduate-level course in weapons, tactics, and strike planning. While only 7 % of USAF aircrews are WS graduates, over 45 % of wing commanders have attended the school. One measure of the effectiveness of WS training is aircrew performance during Desert Storm, where only 7 % of the crews had successfully completed WS, but 66 % of the air-to-air kills were accomplished by WS grads. The current curriculum includes a course for virtually every type of combat aircraft in the USAF inventory, as well as a special course for E-3 controllers. In 1994, the school was commanded by Colonel Bentley Rayburn.

• 561st FS—Flying the F-4G Wild Weasel version of the Phantom, this is the last remaining active-duty squadron dedicated to the SEAD mission in the USAF. In recent years the squadron has been deployed to Turkey to support the air embargo over northern Iraq, and to Italy to fly similar operations over Bosnia. This highly respected and heavily tasked outfit is headed into its sunset years. The squadron has twenty-four PAA aircraft, with an additional eight F-4Gs as spares and pipeline aircraft.

• 414th Training Squadron (Adversary Tactics Division)—With the deactivation of the 64th and 65th FSs, which were tasked with the adversary mission, this detachment of F-16C/D aircraft provides the W&TC with a small force of aggressor aircraft for realistic training.

• Detachment 1, Ellsworth AFB—This small detachment of B-1B and B-52H heavy bombers fulfills the same mission for the bomber force that the 422nd TES does for the fighter force. They are co-located with the 28th BW at Ellsworth AFB, but report back to the 57th Wing. Eventually, there will also be a B-2 detachment at Whiteman AFB, Missouri.

• The Thunderbirds—This renowned air demonstration squadron performs at air shows all around the world. Presently, they fly the Block 32 F-16C and — D Fighting Falcons. In 1994, Lieutenant Colonel Steve Anderson led the T-Birds through a demanding schedule of some seventy-two air shows, thrilling millions of viewers. The unit has eight aircraft, eleven officers, and between 130 and 140 enlisted personnel in any given year. An assignment to the Thunderbirds is a high honor, reserved for the best of the best, since this team, more than any other unit, represents the U.S. Air Force to the public.

• 549th Joint Tactics Squadron (JTS)—Known as "Air Warrior," the 549th provides simulated close air support and debriefing services to the U.S. Army National Training Center (NTC) at Fort Irwin, California, about one hundred miles to the southwest. They fly the F-16C/D, and can now show visitors the results of their strikes in real time, thanks to a special data link to the NTC "Star Wars" building (a complex of high-tech three-dimensional real-time displays).

• 66th Air Rescue Squadron (RQS)—This is one of four RQSs that were activated following the poor performance of the U.S. Special Operations Command in the Combat Search and Rescue (CSAR) mission during Desert Storm. Combat Search and Rescue gives aircrews confidence that if they are shot down behind enemy lines, well-trained and well-equipped professionals will be on the spot to find them and bring them home. When you read down the list of Medal of Honor recipients, you'll find quite a few CSAR aviators who sacrificed their lives trying to save others. When there are pilots around the bar, CSAR crews never have to buy their own drinks. Composed of 4 HH- 60G Pave Hawk helicopters and a HC-130 Hercules tanker/C31 aircraft, the RQSs provide rapidly deployable CSAR forces, as well as supporting emergency rescue, safety, and security operations at Nellis AFB.

• USAF Combat Rescue School—Designed to provide a graduate-level Combat Search and Rescue training curriculum, the school flies the same HH-60G/HC-130 aircraft as the 66th RQS. In 1994, Lieutenant Colonel Ed LaFountaine commanded the school. The plan is to graduate two classes per year, as well as to provide testing and evaluation services for CSAR squadrons worldwide.

• 820th Red Horse Squadron—This highly prized civil engineering unit can rapidly deploy anywhere in the world. Given a steady supply of water and concrete, the engineers can build a full airbase complex in a matter of days.

• Federal Prison Camp (Area II)—There is a medium security federal prison camp located on the Nellis base complex. One notable recent prisoner was former Undersecretary of the Navy Melvin Paisley, convicted on corruption charges in the late 1980s.

• 554th Range Squadron—Commanded in 1994 by Colonel "Bud" Bennett, this organization monitors range safety and controls the flight activities for Nellis AFB and the various ranges to the north. In addition, the squadron provides local air traffic control for the FAA, feeding into the LAX control center in Los Angeles.

The twelve-thousand-square-mile/3 1/2-million-acre range complex fans out north of Las Vegas. There is enough range space to put the whole nation of Kuwait inside, with room to spare. Divided into a series of different ranges, or "areas" as they are called, the whole complex is instrumented with an electronic system known as the Red Flag Measurement and Debrief System (RFMDS). An aircraft flying over the complex can be constantly monitored, providing a continuous record of everything that happens overhead. Each area has a specific function. Some are live-fire gunnery and bombing ranges, while others have arrays of manned radar emitters designed to simulate enemy air defense systems. These include:

• 60-Series Ranges—Test and evaluation, as well as WS training goes on here.

• Ranges 71 and 76—Deep strike-type targets that simulate a strategic weapons factory, SCUD launch sites, and an airfield.

• Range 74—This area simulates a Soviet-style mechanized battalion.

• Range 75—Simulates a follow-on supply convoy, typical of Iraqi columns attacked during Desert Storm.

These ranges are maintained by contractor personnel from Loral and Arcatia Associates, who spend their days servicing the target arrays and keeping the radar emitters working. There is also a Cubic Corp. Air Combat Maneuvering Instrumentation (ACMI) system, which can record and play back every movement and simulated weapon-firing in air-to-air combat engagements involving many aircraft. This instant-replay capability is heavily used by the Weapon School for after-action debriefings, in which pilots can review every mistake in slow motion from any three-dimensional viewpoint. Also located in the range complex is a legacy of the Cold War: the old nuclear testing range for the Department of Energy (DOE).

No account of Nellis AFB and its ranges would be complete without mention of the three (officially acknowledged) airfields inside the complex. The first of these is Indian Springs Airfield, where the Thunderbirds practice their routines. Indian Springs is also an emergency divert field during exercise and other activities. Farther north is the Tonopah Test Range (TTR) Air Base, which was constructed and used by the 37th TFW when they operated the F-117A Nighthawk stealth fighter. Following the Gulf War and its public exposure of the "black jets," the USAF transferred the 37th's aircraft and personnel to the 49th Fighter Wing at Holloman AFB, New Mexico. Today, Tonopah is frequently used by reserve and Marine aviation units to simulate operating out of a bare-bones base in the field. The last of the bases that we know about is the mysterious Groom Lake Test Facility, located in the heart of the Nellis AFB/DOE range complex. Based around a large dry lake, Groom Lake is similar in function to the USAF's main test facility at Edwards AFB, but the intense security would make you think the Russians were still coming. Known also as Area 51 and Dreamland, it was used during the testing of the Lockheed U-2 spy plane in the 1950s. It has been used ever since as a base for testing black (classified) aircraft, including the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird, the D-21 reconnaissance drone, and the F-117A. It is also reportedly home to exploitation (i.e., technical evaluation) programs for foreign aircraft (MiGs, etc.), as well as black prototypes and technology demonstration aircraft. Whatever goes on there, the USAF is trying to expand the range boundaries to include several desert ridge lines that overlook the area, so civilian observers cannot see any part of the complex directly.

But our interest now at Nellis AFB has nothing to do with the black activities at Groom Lake; we've come to observe what goes on in the open light of day. In a word, Flags. The Flag-series exercises simulate real-world combat conditions in a relatively safe and secure environment. The best known of these is Red Flag, which started running in 1975. Conceived by the legendary Colonel "Moody" Suiter, Red Flag grew out of an alarming statistic of the war in Vietnam. If a pilot survived his first ten combat encounters, his chances of surviving a full combat tour would increase by over 300 %. Such combat encounters help build "situational awareness," making an aircrew much more able to survive in the deadly air defense radar and missile thickets that the USAF has to penetrate. So Colonel Suiter got this bright idea: If you could provide those first ten combat missions in a safe stateside training environment, you might lose fewer aircraft and crews when a real war came along. Such training would also allow units to practice the complex art of strike warfare in large formations. Red Flag is designed to give every aircrew in a combat unit those first ten missions up on the Nellis AFB range complex, facing the most talented enemy force they will ever see. Every combat crew is supposed to go through at least one Red Flag during each two-year flying tour, to keep their flying and combat skills honed to a razor's edge. About six Red Flags are run annually, each consisting of a six-week training exercise, divided into three two-week segments.

The core unit is usually a combat wing. Each squadron from the core wing flies fifteen to twenty simulated combat missions during its two week training period. Supporting aircraft detachments (AWACS, tankers, jammers, etc.) make the training even more realistic. For twenty years, Red Flags have helped U.S. and allied combat aviators to prepare for war. The value of this training was proven in 1991, when aviators came back from missions over Iraq declaring, "It was just like Red Flag, except the Iraqis weren't as good."

Green Flag is a special exercise that runs each year at Nellis. Green Flag might be called a Red Flag with "trons and teeth." Instead of practice bombs, Green Flag uses real bombs. Instead of simulated jamming and electronic countermeasures, Green Flag exposes aircrews to the full spectrum of electronic nastiness that can appear above the modern battlefield. Green Flag's only compromises with realism are that participants don't shoot live ammunition or real missiles at fellow aviators, and no planes are allowed to crash and burn.

Green Flags are very expensive, and difficult to set up. Vast amounts of weapons and decoys are expended during the simulated missions "up north." It isn't easy to assemble a force of scarce electronic warfare (EW) aircraft, such as the RC-135 Rivet Joints and the EC-13 °Compass Calls, which are heavily committed to monitoring actual and potential crises around the world. Nevertheless, the USAF runs Green Flag each year to teach combat pilots how to operate in a full-scale electronic warfare environment. Green Flag is also an opportunity to test new tactics and equipment in a "near war" situation.

For 1994, ACC decided to dedicate the third rotation period (known as Green Flag 94-3) to testing the capabilities of the 366th Wing and the composite wing concept. The exercise would include a full overseas-style deployment, complete with the construction of a field-style Air Operations Center in a tent city next to the Red Flag headquarters on the south end of the base. Could a composite wing really function in a bare-bones field deployment? Could other units plug in to the 366th Wing's unique command and control structure? It would be a crucial test for the composite wing concept, and we were invited to observe the results. So in early April 1994, we headed west to join the 366th in their mock war, just outside the gambling capital of the country.

GREEN FLAG 94-3—GUNFIGHTERS SUPREME

Saturday, April 9, 1994

We rose to a cold, rainy morning at Mountain Home AFB, and headed over to the 366th mobility office for processing. Instead of flying to Nellis AFB via commercial airliner (the standard procedure to save money as well as wear and tear on Air Force transports), the entire Wing would ride down on the FAST tankers of the 22nd ARS, just as if we were going to war; and we rode with them. The previous day, the first two FAST aircraft flew down to Nellis, taking with them an A package of eight F-15C Eagles, eight F-15E Strike Eagles, 8 F-16C Fighting Falcons, and four KC-135Rs. Since the new 34th BS with their B-1Bs were still getting organized, this trip would be fighters and tankers only. We were going to ride with about sixty members of the Gunfighters aboard FAST-3, the first aircraft to depart on this cold, wet morning.

At the mobility office we stacked our bags in a large, open wooden crate, sat down to have a cup of coffee, and listened to the safety and mobility briefing. In a little while, it came time to board the aircraft and head off. Once we and our gear were loaded, the four CFM-56 engines were started, and we took off. Heading south, we were shown around the aircraft by the crew chief/boomer. We got a look out of the boomer's position at the snow-capped Rocky Mountains, and a chance to "fly" the boom. Later, we went forward to learn about navigation from the attractive navigator, Captain Christine Brinkman. "Brink," as she is called, might look like a high school cheer-leader, but she is one of two experienced female navigators in the 366th Wing. Nobody on our flight crew that day was as old as the airplane, which was manufactured by Boeing in FY-1960!

After learning from Brink how to navigate by "shooting the sun" through a sextant in the aircraft's ceiling, we sat back and enjoyed the relatively smooth, though noisy, ride of the venerable airplane. To help with the noise, the crew chief handed out little yellow foam earplugs. The cold inside the passenger compartment was another problem. We had been warned about the -135's poor heating system, so each of us wore a leather jacket to ward off the chill. Less than two hours after takeoff, we turned into the Nellis AFB traffic pattern to land. A few minutes later we taxied up to the transit ramp and cranked up the cargo hatch to disembark our gear. We had exchanged the rainy weather of Idaho for an unseasonably warm spring in southern Nevada.

The 366th Wing Air Operations Center (AOC), located adjacent to the Red Flag building at Nellis AFB. During Green Flag 94-3, the wing personnel in this tent city generated the Air Tasking Orders that were used by the Blue Forces. John D. Gresham

Flocks of aircraft from units around the country were already arriving, and you could feel the excitement in the air. But the first job was to get the deployment team, ourselves included, bedded down for the duration of Green Flag. Though Nellis is a huge base, like so many others around the USAF, it is desperately short of temporary billeting quarters. Thus, most of the deployed personnel are billeted off base in a variety of hotel rooms and guest quarters in nearby Las Vegas. This housing arrangement is not considered a hardship by the aircrews, who eagerly headed off to collect rental cars from nearby McCarren Airport and claim their rooms. We stayed at a small hotel with the personnel of Lieutenant Colonel Clawson's 391st FS. By sun-down, the Strike Eagle crews had staked out the swimming pool and were discussing the best places to eat and gamble. Since Nellis is only a day's drive from Mountain Home, many of the aircrews' wives and girlfriends had driven down to share two weeks of fun and sun in Las Vegas. This deployment was a real favorite among family members, even though it was going to be a busy two weeks.

Tuesday, April 12, 1994—Day 1: Mission #1

The mass briefing room in the Red Flag building was crowded to capacity for the first mission of Green Flag 94-3. The 366th would be playing the role of the good guys, the Blue force. The adversary F-16s (bad guys) would be the Red Force. The object of the game was for Blue to crush the more numerous Reds by smashing their ground targets and shooting down their planes, while avoiding Blue losses. Even though General McCloud was in command, the Red Flag staff actually runs the show. After the weather and safety briefings, the 366th staff came in to give the Blue Force mission briefing. Following this, at 0645, the pilots and controllers of the aircraft and emitters from the Adversary Tactics Department (the Red Force) left for their own briefing. In a few hours war would break out on the northern ranges of the Nellis complex.

For the Red Force, the mission was simple: Stop the Blue Force. Today that would involve eight F-16Cs simulating the performance and tactics of the Russian MiG-29 Fulcrum. For the Blue Force, the first part of their plan was to strike at simulated enemy command facilities (bunkers) and strategic targets (SCUD launch sites). That would complete Phase I. In Phase II, Blue would gain air supremacy over Red by bombing airfields and SAM/AAA sites. Finally, in Phase III, Blue would bomb a variety of targets, mostly truck convoys and supply centers. The campaign was planned to last nine days, depending on the breaks of the referees and how well the bomb damage assessment (BDA) went.

^{A squadron planning room for one of the 366th's fighter units at Green Flag 94-3. The CTAPS mission-planning terminal is located in the pile of cases at the left.}

^{John D. Gresham}

The strike command would fall to the 366th Wing, though General McCloud would not personally lead the strike. A relative newcomer to his F-16, he swallowed his pride and flew as number six in a formation of six 389th FS F-16Cs assigned to hit a simulated SCUD site on the southern side of the event arena. Simultaneously, a quartet of 391st FS Strike Eagles were assigned to hit a nearby command bunker. On the northern side, the F-111Fs of the 27th FW and F-16Cs from the 388th FW would hit similar targets. The F-4Gs, EF-111As, an RC-135, and an EC-130 would provide EW and SEAD support, with two 22nd ARS KC-135Rs and an E-3C Sentry staying back to the eastern side of the range to support the Blue Force. In addition, a flight of U.S. Army AH-64A Apache attack helicopters would hit several Red Force radar sites, much as a joint Army/Air Force helicopter team (Task Force Normandy) did on the first night of Desert Storm. The big surprise of the Blue operation would be a new tactic devised by the Eagle drivers of the 366th. The Wild Boars of the 390th FS would form a virtual wall of Eagles to sweep enemy fighters from the path of the two strike forces. Netted together with their JTIDS data links and armed with simulated AIM-120 Slammers, they felt they could clear the skies ahead of the Blue Force with a minimum of losses.

Takeoff was at 0830, and the air below Sunrise Mountain rumbled as sixty aircraft clawed their way into the air. First off were the E-3 and the tankers, followed by the relatively slow EW birds. Then came the fighters. Each of the 389th FS F-16Cs was loaded with an AIM-9 Sidewinder training round, two 370 gallon/1,423 liter fuel tanks, two Mk 84 2,000 lb./909.1 kg. bombs, and an ALQ-131 jamming pod. Their decoy launchers were fully loaded with chaff and flare rounds; and like all the aircraft of the strike force, they would use their jam-resistant Have Quick II radios to (hopefully) defeat the communications jammers of the adversary forces on the ground. Last off were the adversary F-16s of the 414th and the Alabama ANG, since they did not have any tanker support and fuel might be a bit tight for them. Up north at Indian Springs, the crews of the AH-64s launched from their forward operating base (FOB). Blue Force aircraft periodically refueled from the tankers to keep topped off. All they were waiting for now was the clearance from the range supervisor, and then they would listen for the "push" call from the air-to-air commander to start the run to the targets.

Up in front, the eight F-15Cs of the 390th FS began their push towards the gaggle of eight adversary F-16Cs defending the airspace in front of the Red Force target array. Making careful use of AWACS data and their APG- 70 radars, the F-15Cs sorted out the targets, using the JTIDS links to assign a specific target F-16 to each Eagle. Then, on command, eight simulated AMRAAM shots were fired at the Red Force F-16s. Before they could react, the range controllers called seven of them "dead." The seven headed back to the "regeneration box," and the eighth fled west. The regeneration box is part penalty box and part safe haven located in the northwest corner of the range. If a dead adversary aircraft spends a few minutes in the box, the range controllers will resurrect or "regen" him, and allow the aircraft back into the fight. Since the U.S. Air Force trains to fight outnumbered against an enemy that can rapidly replace his losses, this is not so unrealistic.

Unfortunately for the Red Force, by the time they had all hit the regen box, the strikers were on their way in to their targets, and the adversary F-16s could only hit back in ones and twos. The Red Force faced a losing battle, since the Eagles of the 390th were still on the hunt, and the Strike Eagles and Fighting Falcons of the Blue Force were hitting the incoming aggressors with well-aimed Slammer shots. By the time the aggressor aircraft were headed back to the regeneration box for the fourth time, the strike forces were over their targets, hitting them precisely as planned.

For "Marshal" McCloud, this was the closest to war he had ever been, having just missed both Operations Just Cause and Desert Storm. Now he was "tail end Charlie" on day one of Green Flag 94-3, and things were going good. He stuck close to his element leader in the number-five F-16, and their ingress to the target area was textbook perfect. Six pilots set their weapons delivery computers for a "pop-up" attack, then pulled up, rolled, inverted, pulled through, and rolled wings level into a dive onto the simulated SCUD launch site. Lining up the "death dot" on the target, McCloud punched the release button, and when the computer was happy with the delivery parameters, the two Mk 84s were kicked off of the weapons racks. As he pulled out, he saw the explosions of two direct hits on the target, supremely satisfied at his first "combat" performance in the Viper. His element leader in number five had some sort of switchology problem, though, and his bombs did not drop. The pilot of the number-five Viper headed back to hit the target again, while General McCloud waited for him to return, orbiting nearby. Then suddenly, McCloud looked down and saw a Red Force F-16 chasing one of the Army AH-64As that was trying desperately to exit the target area after hitting a simulated radar site with AGM-114 Hellfire missiles and rockets. Switching to BORE mode, he dove down on the aggressor aircraft, rapidly setting up a shot with a simulated AIM-120 AMRAAM. In a matter of seconds, he had the radar lock and fired a simulated Slammer at a range of 1 nn./ 1.8 km., a perfect "in-his-lips missile shot." The range controllers immediately scored the Red F-16 dead, and as soon as McCloud's number five returned, he egressed the target area (pilot talk for "leave" or "go away") a high speed, hugging the contours of the mountains for cover to evade enemy SAMs and fighters.

By 1130 hours, all of the aircraft had recovered back to base, and the process of tallying up the results began. By 1330, range controllers and assessment teams had finished their jobs and were ready to present their findings at the mass debrief. The results were stunning. Every target had been hit, and only a few would require restrikes later in the campaign. The Red radars had either been successfully hit or suppressed, and the Blue EW aircraft were never in danger. Even better were the air-to-air results, thirty to four in favor of the Blue Force, a new Green Flag record. For General McCloud, it was a moment of personal triumph. Even though there were still eight days and seventeen more missions to go, the Gunfighters had won. Back in the 1970s and 1980s the aggressors and other Red Force players would regularly wreck the Blue Force plans; but Red would never get close during Green Flag 94-3. Even as we were watching the mass debrief, the second strike of the day was headed out, and the results were almost identical.

^{The crew of Ruben-40, a KC-135R of the 366th Wing's 22nd Aerial Refueling Squadron, flies a tanker mission during Green Flag 94-3. Brigadier General Dave "Marshal" McCloud, the 366th commander, sits between the pilot and the copilot. Sitting at the navigation station to the night is Captain Ruben Villa.}

^{John D. Gresham}

Wednesday, April 13, 1994—Day 2: Mission 4

The following morning saw the transition to Phase II of the campaign plan, with Blue hitting airfields and SAM sites around the target ranges. This morning, we hung around the squadron ready rooms in the Red Flag building to watch the strike planning process. Each of the squadron rooms had a CTAPS terminal, networked into Rick Tedesco's Air Operations Center just a few yards away in the tent city outside. As we watched the staff officers work, my researcher, John Gresham, pointed to a photograph lying on one of the tables, his eyes wide with shock. As he opened his mouth to speak, one of the pilots said, "Don't worry. That stuff is unclassified these days." (The mild caution "Official Use Only" was stamped on the photo.) The photo showed the Mt. Helen Airfield; it clearly had been taken from a satellite; and it was stunningly detailed (with a resolution of about 3 feet/1 meter). Such imagery is quite ordinary, the pilot went on to explain. Just a few years ago this stuff was "Top Secret," but now it was the source of routine planning data for Green Flag exercises. The particular photo came from a series previously taken in preparation for Green Flag 94-3, but fresh bomb damage assessment (BDA) shots were being regularly downlinked from the Space Warfare Center in Colorado Springs. It truly is a new world order!

^{Staff Sergeant Shawn Hughes, the crew chief and boomer of Ruben-40, working hard at his position in the rear of aircraft. Lying on his stomach, he is "flying" the refueling boom of the KC-135 into the refueling receptacle of a receiving aircraft.}

^{John D. Gresham}

That afternoon, General McCloud invited us to accompany him on a mission onboard one of the 22nd ARS KC-135R tankers. Since an opportunity to fly on an actual Green Flag mission is extremely rare for civilians, we gladly accepted, then headed off to have lunch and get ready to go flying. Normally, Green Flag 94-3 would have taken place in the most pleasant time of the year in Las Vegas, but the spring weather had turned into an unseasonable heat wave, with afternoon temperatures over 90degF/32degC. The cooling water spray nozzles over the flightline sunshades were running, and the Gatorade bottles were out for the ground crews. General Griffith had ordered heat precautions for all base personnel, and containers of bottled water were everywhere. We were sweating heavily on the ground, but we had our leather jackets ready for flying that afternoon.

A little after 1300, we drove out to the north end of the base flight line, where the large aircraft were parked. We were directed to the number-one 22nd ARS KC-135R (tail code 62-3572), and climbed aboard through the lower nose hatch into the hot interior. Inside we met our flight crew for today's mission: Captain Ken Rogers (the pilot), Second Lieutenant J. R. Twiford (copilot), Captain Ruben Villa (our navigator), and Staff Sergeant Shawn Hughes (the crew chief and boomer). Every mission is assigned a call sign, used for identification in radio communication. Our call sign today was Ruben-40. The tanker was loaded with over 80,000 lb./36,262 kg. of fuel, with a planned off-load of 42,000 lb./19,090 kg., and a maximum possible off-load of 62,000 lb./28,181 kg. Along with General McCloud was First Lieutenant Don Borchelt, one of the 366th Wing Public Affairs Officers. As soon as we were aboard, the hatches were sealed shut and the engines fired up. As we taxied out for takeoff, Sergeant Hughes explained that our job was to top off six F-15E Strike Eagles from the 391st FS, so that the Bold Tigers would be full when they hit the start line at the push. The plan for the Bold Tigers' mission involved a lot of high-speed flying down on the deck, which consumes fuel voraciously. We took off behind the E-3 AWACS, followed by another 22nd ARS tanker which would refuel other aircraft of the strike.

^{An F-15E Strike Eagle of the 366th Wing's 391st Fighter Squadron (the "Bold Tigers") takes on fuel from a 22nd Aerial Refueling Squadron KC-135R tanker. Note the control fins of the refueling boom, which the boomer uses to guide it into the receiving aircraft's refueling receptacle.}

^{Craig E. Kaston}

As we flew out to our refueling track, Captain Villa was kind enough to let us take turns sitting at the navigator's console, watching the radar screen to take navigation fixes of the surrounding mountain peaks. When we reached our tanking altitude of approximately 25,000 feet/7,620 meters, we began to cruise in a wide racetrack-shaped oval, waiting for Lieutenant Colonel Clawson and the rest of his Bold Tigers to come up and tank. Back at the boomer's position, Sergeant Hughes unstowed the boom and made ready to tank the incoming Strike Eagles.

Suddenly they were there, and Sergeant Hughes went to work, calmly and silently guiding the first of the big fighters into position to take its allotted 7,000 lb./3,181 kg. of fuel. Air-to-air refueling is about the most unnatural activity most of us are ever likely to see. A very big airliner flying about 350 knots/640 kph., full of flammable jet fuel, in direct physical contact with another airplane? The idea is totally demented. I will never be comfortable with it. Nevertheless, Sergeant Hughes and the F-15E crews made it look easy. And one after another, the Strike Eagles cycled into position to take their fuel. Then "Claw" Clawson, down in the lead Strike Eagle, looked up in the middle of tanking, recognized us taking pictures through the window, and calmly asked how things looked! Such is the skill from a lifetime of flying combat jets — you can carry on a normal conversation five miles above the earth, flying just ten yards away from an aircraft full of jet fuel, while your plane is locked onto a flying pipe taking on more fuel.

As each jet finished topping off, it would take station, flying in close formation on the tanker, until there were three F-15s on each side of Ruben-40. I was later told that this effectively merged all seven aircraft into one large radar contact, masking their true number from enemy surveillance. Then suddenly, the F-15s were headed down into the mountains, westward towards their targets. Once again, the Blue strike forces hit their targets with a minimum of losses, and the campaign plan moved on to its completion. Our mission done, we headed back to Nellis AFB, and the thought of dinner and some blackjack that night.

Friday, April 15, 1994—Nellis AFB Officers' Club

By the end of the first week of Green Flag 94-3, the 366th and the other attached units of the Blue Force had racked up an impressive record of damage to targets and defending SAM/AAA sites, as well as killing a small air force of adversary F-16s. The first four days had been a clear victory for the Blue Force. The 366th and its attached units were breaking Red/Green Flag records like crazy, and the staff at the Adversary Tactics Division was starting to get a bit punchy.

So the Red Flag staff controlling the exercise decided something had to be done to keep things interesting: Starting the following Monday, the adversary F-16Cs would be allowed to use tactics simulating the very agile and capable Russian Su-27/35 Flanker (it resembles our F-15 Eagle). The rules of engagement would also be loosened for the Red Forces on the ground, making it easier for them to fire their simulated missiles at Blue aircraft.

We spent the afternoon touring the Threat Training Facility across the street from the Red Flag building, which maintains just about the finest collection of foreign military equipment anywhere in America (it's sometimes called the petting zoo). Everything from a French Roland SAM launcher to Russian MiGs can be viewed here. Just ten years ago, the whole facility was highly classified; but now, the Air Force lets Boy Scouts and civic leaders tour the facility. What a change the end of the Cold War has made!

^{A Soviet-built ZSU-23-4 mobile anti-aircraft gun system in the yard of the Nellis AFB threat training facility. This radar-controlled system is one of the significant threats to tactical aircraft, and can be studied by aircrews visiting the base during Red/Green Flag exercises and Weapons school.}

^{Craig E. Kaston}

As the week wore down, and the last mission of the day came in, the thoughts of the aviators and staff officers turned to the observance of a Red/ Green Flag tradition: Friday night at the Nellis O-Club. Now it should be said that given the pressures for moral, physical, and mental perfection, such celebrations are kept to a bare minimum. But to remove the camaraderie of Friday night at the club would be to remove one of the most important social institutions in the pilots' lives. Thus, after appropriate assigning of designated drivers and agreement about the time we would all return to the hotel, we headed down to the Nellis AFB Officers' Club for a long evening of "Happy Hour."

The original O-Club that stood during the glory days of the 1970s and 1980s had been torn down a few years back and replaced by a building now used as the open officers' mess and club. The present building, though splendid in its own way, lacks some of the historic character of the old club. To make up for this, the builders of the new facility kept the old club's tabletops (where generations of fighter pilots had burned in their names and messages with woodburning irons) and recycled them as wall panels. As you walk by, you see the names of aces and wild weasels, POWs and MIAs, Medal of Honor winners, and MiG killers; and it is hard not to stare at names of people you know, people you will never know, and those you wish you had known.

^{Colonel Robin Scott, the 366th Wing Operations Group commander (handling billiard balls at left), referees a game of Crud for members of wing at the Nellis AFB Officers' Club on a Friday night.}

^{John D. Gresham}

As the bar area fills up, the evening begins to get more lively. The music is a mix of rock and country, and it is loud! Every generation of USAF fliers has gone to war with their own brand of music. Where World War II vets took Glenn Miller and Tommy Dorsey records with them, and the Vietnam-era fliers had Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin, today's aircrews seem to enjoy country/rock music as the tunes for their times. Back in the '80s, the old days of Red Flag, Friday night was the time for macho contests or even fights in the parking lot, but such behavior does not fly in today's Air Force. Luckily, there is a game called Crud to absorb the competitive energy of the aircrews. Crud is an odd little contest, with elements of soccer, racquet-ball, and billiards all mixed together. Played on a pool table with a pair of billiard balls, it is a full-contact sport for teams of two or more. The idea is to use a cue ball to hit the other ball (you use your bare hands to throw the cue ball), while it bounces around the table. You play in ordered relays, and either a break in the order or a missed ball results in a score. The game requires a referee, and this is inevitably the senior officer present. Normally this would have been General McCloud, but he was attending General Loh's annual wing commanders' conference, so Colonel Robin Scott took over. The Nellis O-Club bar has the finest playing area, called a Crud Pit, in the country. The walls are lined with sandbags, and there is plenty of space to set down long-necked bottles of beer (the favorite of the pilots) while you are playing.

As the evening wore on, and the music got slower so the couples could dance, some of us, including Lieutenant Colonels Clawson and "Boom-Boom" Turcott, moved to a corner to talk. Toasts were drunk to departed friends, and everyone went their way for the weekend. By midnight, only the AOC staff was still working, the lights in their tent city still glowing as they planned the Phase III strikes for the second week of Green Flag 94-3.

Monday, April 18, 1994

Every April 18th the USAF commemorates Jimmy Doolittle's bombing raid on Japan (Doolittle had recently passed away). This day, however, safety was uppermost in the minds of the Green Flag controllers: Most fatal Red/Green Flag accidents take place on Monday after the weekend break. Throughout the day, especially at the briefings, the safety rules were hammered into the aircrews as they were admonished to "take it easy" while they got back into the "groove" of flying. A special safety video was played for the crews just before they headed to their aircraft. With a deafening musical backup from ZZ Top playing "Viva Las Vegas" (appropriate, don't you think?), it was five minutes of near misses and accidents that will never be shown to the public. The idea was to shock the fliers a bit and make them think.

We sat in on the afternoon briefing in anticipation of watching the live action on the big screen RFMDS (Red Flag Measurement and Debrief System), while the afternoon strikes hit their targets. There were new wrinkles in the balance of forces this day, as the Red Force got their new simulated Flanker fighters, and the Red ground units got their new rules of engagement. There was a shift away from using live ordnance and decoys, since they were in short supply. That morning, we had watched LANTIRN videotapes showing LGB and IIR Maverick missile deliveries, and it was easy to see why the uprange target arrays had taken such a beating the previous week. There is a general shortage of targets at Nellis AFB, and the range crews have to be creative to keep the ranges stocked with fresh ones.

Mother Nature had also decided to spice up the exercise with some variety. The weather had changed, and layers of heavy cloud hung over the northern range areas. Extra precautions would be needed to guarantee deconfliction between aircraft, along with special weather reconnaissance flights to determine if conditions were good enough to run the missions safely. The morning flight had gone all right, but eight hours of the desert sun had stirred up the air considerably, making the weather a bit dicey.

By 1400, we were comfortably seated in the viewing theater in the Red Flag building, staring at a projected screen display of the situation up on the northern ranges. We had a "God's-eye view" of the action on both sides, and we could identify various aircraft by color codes. The radio chatter on the squadron nets was piped in, giving us the feeling that we were watching some sort of bizarre video game with an audio track. Today's Blue Force targets were restrikes on SCUD and supply convoy targets that needed to be hit again. From the Red Force, with their "new" airplanes and enhanced ROE, came new tactics. They would attempt to disrupt the strike by attacking Blue's High Value Heavy Airframe Aircraft (HVHAA) such as the E-3, the Rivet Joint, or the tankers. Using a decoy force of aggressor F-16s down low, they would bait the 390th's "wall of Eagles"; then they would send two other F-16s into a ballistic "zoom" climb over the top of the F-15s to get at the HVHAAs. This would draw off the escorting Eagles from the strike forces, allowing regenerated aggressor aircraft more freedom of action against the strike aircraft. Red had tried this tactic unsuccessfully several times before, but the combination of the weather and the new rules made them think it might work this time.

^{Three Block 52 F-16Cs of the 366th Wing's 389th Fighter Squadron peel away from a 22nd Aerial Refueling Squadron KC-135R tanker, on their way to targets on the Nellis AFB ranges during Green Flag 94-3.}

^{John D. Gresham}

The weather recon birds almost canceled the mission, but at the last minute, they allowed the exercise to continue with flight restrictions between 15,000 and 25,000 feet/4,572 and 6,720 meters. The wall of Eagles moved forward, and the "push" call launched the Blue strike force toward the targets. It was a mess. The cloud deck divided the sky into high and low zones, creating two separate fights for the Eagles. The two aggressor F-16s made their move over the top, but they did not go unnoticed. The AWACS aircraft saw what was happening and called for support from the F-15s. The two Red Falcons got close, but not close enough for a shot at the HVHAAs before the Eagles drove them off. Still, the Eagle drivers were agitated that night over dinner. They would have to find ways to adjust their "wall" tactics for bad weather.

And then it happened. Everyone was already on the way out when an emergency call came in that one of the U.S. Army OH-58C helicopters was down… and it was bad. Everyone went silent. The 66th RQS rushed an HH- 60G Pave Hawk up to the crash site to look for survivors. But there were no survivors. Both crewmen, officers from the 2-229 Attack Helicopter Regiment at Fort Rucker, Alabama, had perished in the crash. It was the first fatal accident to take place during a Flag exercise in over three years, and it cast a pall over the rest of the day.

In early 1995, the causes of the crash are still being assessed, though it appears that the chopper hit a rock wall of a mountain while returning to Indian Springs. The old Monday-after-the-weekend jinx had struck again, and the Green Flag staff was not happy. They immediately went on a tear with the aircrews to review safety and ROE instructions. Dinner that night did not taste very good.

Tuesday, April 19, 1994—Adversary Tactics Operations Center

Today we would view the morning mission from the Adversary Tactics Control Center, then fly an afternoon tanker mission with the 22nd ARS. Our host, Major Steve Cutshell, gave us the Red side of the Green Flag story. He confessed that the 366th had given the Red Force challenges they had never experienced before, and that subsequent exercises might require more Air National Guard F-16s to reinforce the Red air forces. On the other hand, the ground-based Red forces had done well, considering the age of the equipment. The wily contractor personnel who live uprange and operate the emitters have years of experience. Indeed, they could probably teach the Russians a thing or two about how to use their systems! Red communications jamming against the Have Quick II radios had been fairly effective, though it tended to wipe out their own communications. And Red's radar jamming usually worked, though the newest U.S. airborne radars with advanced signal processing can out-fox most ground-based jammers, or just burn through them with raw power.

That afternoon, we headed back out to the HVHAA ramp, and were pleasantly surprised to find we were assigned to the same aircraft (62-3572) and crew we rode with the previous week. This time we were the second tanker in the flight, called "Refit," and our call sign was Ruben-50. We would refuel six F-16s from the 389th FS that were going to strike targets on the southern side of the range, as well as a pair of F-4G Wild Weasel aircraft from the 561st FS at Nellis AFB. The Vipers would each get 5,000 lb./2,272 kg. of fuel, with 8,000 lb./3,636 kg. going to each of the Weasels. Since the F-4s had the shortest "legs" of any aircraft in the strike force, they would tank last, to be as full as possible when the push to the targets came. Takeoff went smoothly, though there was a lot more cloud cover this afternoon, a residue of the previous day's thunderstorms. This made for a rough ride, and Sergeant Hughes's skills were taxed to keep the tanking on schedule. He had particular difficulty with the old refueling receptacles of the Phantoms; their tricky (and now worn-out) refueling probe latching mechanism had trouble establishing and maintaining a solid connection. Nevertheless, he managed to fill everyone up, and they all made the mission push on time.

^{An F-4G Wild Weasel aircraft from the 57th Wing's 561st Fighter Squadron pulls away from a 22nd Aerial Refueling Squadron KC-135R tanker during Green Flag 94-3. These defense-suppression aircraft are rapidly being replaced by F-16Cs equipped with the AQS- 213 HARM Targeting System pod.}

^{John D. Gresham}

Then, just as we were scheduled to head home, there was an urgent radio call from the Blue Force air-to-air mission commander. Several aggressor F-16s had finally made it over the top, and were chasing several of the HVHAAs, including us! Luckily, a couple of Eagles hunted them down, but it was now clearly too risky to leave the big birds unescorted during missions. For the rest of the week, until it was certain that all the airborne Red aircraft had been killed, there would be fighter cover for the HVHAAs.

AFTERWARDS

Later in 1994, we returned to Mountain Home AFB to see how the wing was implementing the changes that emerged from Green Flag 94-3. In the few months since the deployment, many jobs in the wing had changed hands. When we arrived, Dave McCloud had less than a week left in command of the 366th; his next assignment was a staff job for General Joe Ralston (now the ACC commander) in the Operations Directorate of the Air Staff. This was a good omen for his future promotability to lieutenant general (he made the list "under the zone" in early 1995). McCloud's replacement, Brigadier General "Lanny" Trapp, came from the A-10 wing at Davis-Monthan AFB in Arizona, and chose an F-15E Strike Eagle as the new "Wing King" aircraft. Colonel Robin Scott had left to attend the U.S. Army War College at Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania. Lieutenant Colonel Clawson, now promoted to full colonel, moved over to the wing staff. Roger "Boom-Boom" Turcott, who had given John Gresham his ride, moved up to command the "Bold Tigers." And the 34th BS became fully operational with its B-1Bs. It conducted its first Global Power/Global Reach mission just six months after "standing up." The steady flow of new personnel is a positive sign that the wing is alive and healthy.

Finally, there was one more big exercise for the 366th Wing in the fall of 1994—Joint Task Force (JTF)-95. JTF-95 was planned to team elements of the new Atlantic Command (a carrier battle group and a Marine expeditionary unit) in a combined exercise. But just as the exercise was kicking off, the U.S. intervention in Haiti and an emergency deployment to Kuwait took away the Atlantic Command assets, wiping out the entire JTF-95 exercise package. In our "new world order," global events seem to be keeping military units too busy to train for the future. In a time when we are contemplating further force structure cutbacks, that is something to think about.