National Training Center and Green Flag West provide joint air attack team training

  • Published
  • By Casey Bain
  • JFIIT, USJFCOM
NATIONAL TRAINING CENTER, FT. IRWIN, Calif. --  U.S. Joint Forces Command's joint fires team is working closely with the services to prepare Army and Air Force joint air attack team personnel for deployment.

According to senior leaders at the National Training Center, USJFCOM's Joint Fires Integration and Interoperability Team, with the Air Force's Green Flag West at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., is supporting the Operations Group at NTC to prepare Army brigade combat teams and Air Force fighter squadrons for the rigors of combat in irregular warfare environments.

JFIIT's provides expertise in combined fires to ensure key insights and lessons learned from JAAT planning and execution were captured, highlighted, and taught to the training audience during this rotation. Lessons learned reinforced critical tactics, techniques, and procedures for JAAT operations that rotational training units use once in theater.

"The goal is to synchronize Air Force close air support aircraft with Army attack helicopters, artillery, and mortar fires to provide decisive combat power at the right place and time to support the maneuver forces' ability to defeat a hostile thinking and adaptive enemy on today's asymmetric battlefield," said Army Sgt. 1st Class Donald Williams, JFIIT's senior fire support operations and plans non-commissioned officer at NTC.

The Army unit currently training here is the 4th BCT, 1st Infantry Division (ID) from Ft. Riley, Kan.

"This is a great opportunity for our soldiers to work with another service in a highly realistic operational training environment," said Army Maj. Matthew Payne, brigade fire support officer, 4th BCT, 1st ID. "Our ability to call for and adjust fires with the multitude of weapons systems that are available here will serve us well when we deploy downrange. We're training the way we fight and this experience has been priceless."

NTC employs JAAT situational training exercises allowing BCTs and other joint assets to gain experience in planning, coordinating, and executing sequential fires under similar conditions that they could face in Iraq or Afghanistan.

"Confidence," said Army Maj. Doug Thomas, brigade fire support trainer at NTC. "That's what we want the entire joint fires team to gain by training here. Joint assets that are integrated here allow us to provide immediate training feedback to the entire fires team based on current doctrine and tactics, techniques, and procedures that are being used in theater."

"I want to help educate and improve the visibility of joint fires observers within the Army and how they can be used by the BCT and integrated with joint terminal attack controllers to provide the ground commander more trust and confidence in using CAS assets to defeat the threat," said Army Staff Sgt. Nick Brzeski, NTC training mentor from the 1st BCT, 1st Armored Division, Fort Bliss, Texas. "The JFO will help speed up the targeting process and provide more accurate and timely fires that increase our forces combat effectiveness while reducing the potential of friendly fire and collateral damage."

"JFOs are the linkage to delivering joint fires, and commanders need to understand the capabilities that they bring with them and focus their training so they can be a combat multiplier in theater," added Thomas. "We need to get them into the fight, and the training they receive here will help them do that so that they're well prepared on the battlefield."

JAAT training at NTC enables units to work together to hone their fires related skills and battle drills.

"Units must understand their tactical standard operating procedures on how to plan for and execute CAS," said Bobby Taylor, JFIIT senior CAS analyst at NTC. "This training helps them down that road, but it's only the beginning. They've got to make sure they have the right equipment to communicate across the services and are trained on how to best use that gear to become an integral part of the BCT fires process."

The primary training audience at NTC may be the Army, but all services provide assets to facilitate a joint training environment and gain valuable experience they can leverage when deployed in theater.

"GFW provides Air Force fighter squadrons and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance assets with a unique opportunity to train in a live robust JAAT environment with their Army counterparts before they deploy," said Air Force Master Sgt. Joel House, JFIIT ISR lead at NTC. "This training exercise is unlike any other Air Force event and is a critical part of their go-to-war preparation."

"The NTC planners and training mentors along with the Green Flag team have done great work to create a very realistic and stressful joint environment here," added Williams. "This training helps the brigades and the entire fires team to shorten their learning curve once they're in theater and ensures integration of joint assets so the commander can more efficiently leverage all capabilities on the battlefield."

The benefit of working with other services and learning more about the capabilities they bring to the fight is clear to those units that train here.

"The Air Force CAS capabilities and their precision munitions are impressive and will cut down on the likelihood of collateral damage," said Payne. "Being here and training with the same joint assets that we will see in theater will only make us a better team, and we're working hard to take full advantage of this training opportunity right now."