Coming Back Slick
Seeing the jet come back without the bombs we loaded on it gave us a sense of accomplishment. Sometimes the pilots would show us the video from the targeting pod.

Whenever the jets came back slick, without bombs, we knew we did our job right and that we were making a difference over there. We watched the news and saw that NATO forces were taking out certain targets. Even though we didn’t always know for what targets our bombs were intended, we still had a sense of accomplishment.
– SSgt. Jason, 354th FW

Circadian Rhythms
A pilot’s body clock was messed up for a couple of days after a long night mission. We had a significant Circadian rhythm problem. But we had no choice. We were at war. We have a normal peacetime restriction of ten hours. That means we have to be out of the airplane ten hours after showing up to work. In OEF, we were flying for over ten hours.
– Lt. Col. Burt, 354th FW

Soothing Noise
Many times we gave incentive rides to bombs. We’d take them to the theater and bring them home again. Just before Operation Anaconda kicked off, we went out on several night missions in which a GFAC wanted to hear aircraft flying overhead. I relieved an AC-130 gunship one night, spent three hours on station, and was relieved by another AC-130 gunship. The GFAC requested the air support so he and his team could get some sleep. The enemy was less likely to create problems for the GFAC forces if airplanes were heard above.
– Lt. Col. Burt, 354th FW

Simultaneous Employment
One of our night missions was the simultaneous employment of JDAMs from a B-1 and GBU-12s from a four-ship of F-16s onto a military complex. We were targeting Taliban and al-Qaeda leadership our surveillance forces had observed and tracked. Our job was to destroy them. My two-ship was given the tasking in flight at the end of a long mission. The other two-ship of F-16s was just arriving in theater. We were running low on fuel. The tanker, our ride home, was out of gas and leaving. So we had to coordinate the drop among the three flight leads in short order. The other F-16 two-ship rushed to catch up. The B-1 made sure it had the exact coordinates so it could target the right building. Each F-16 dropped two bombs. Then we came back around for a re-attack to drop the remaining ordnance. Out of four airplanes, we dropped sixteen GBU-12s. The mission was our largest multiship target tasking of the war.
– Lt. Col. Burt, 354th FW

Roberts Ridge
Lt. Col. Burt and his wingman were flying over northern Afghanistan when they heard an F-15E crew saying some troops on the ground in southeastern Afghanistan needed help. A US MH-47E Chinook helicopter had been brought down atop a snow-covered ridge by enemy fire in the predawn hours of 4 March as Operation Anaconda unfolded in the Shah-i-Kot valley. Burt copied down the helicopter’s location then contacted the aerial command post, an E-3 AWACS, to get permission to help. Burt and his wingman topped off their tanks from a circling refueling tanker and gunned their F-16s toward the fight 200 miles away.

“When we heard that casualties were on the ground, we felt the urgency to get there as fast as we could,” Burt recalled. What ensued was the battle for Roberts Ridge, a battle in which Burt and his wingman expended their entire load of 20mm ammunition, 500 rounds apiece, and dropped three 500-pound laser-guided bombs to keep the enemy at bay.

Roberts Ridge was named for Petty Officer 1st Class Neil Roberts, a member of the Navy Seals who had fallen from the helicopter. That morning, the Chinook that he and several other Seals were riding aboard came under heavy fire from small arms and rocket-propelled grenades. As the helicopter took evasive action, Roberts, the rear gunner, fell out.

When Burt and his wingman arrived, the first words they heard from Slick 01, the ground controller on the scene, were “Danger close, seventy-five meters.” The words sent a chill down Burt’s spine. The ground controller relayed they had two casualties and two critically wounded. Burt made two passes over the enemy position and emptied all 500 rounds. His wingman then came in and emptied all his 500 rounds.

“We realized how close we were firing to the helicopter on the ground when we reviewed the cockpit tapes,” Burt said. Though the F-16 pilots couldn’t see exactly where their rounds were hitting, the troops on the ground indicated that they were getting good results. With their ammunition spent and the soldiers on the ground still coming under enemy fire, Burt talked to Slick 01 about bringing in some heavy ordnance. The enemy’s close proximity, however, made a strike dangerous, even with laser-guided munitions. Burt had to be extremely careful not to drop his 500-pound bombs too close to the ground troops.

The enemy was on the northwest side of the ridge with the crest protecting friendly forces from the ordnance. Burt guided his weapons just below the crest of the hill in three separate attacks, marching them along the ridgeline. After the first bomb, Slick 01 said, “Whoa! You almost got us with that one. Can you bring the next one a little closer to the tree?”

Burt thinks Slick 01 deserves the Medal of Honor for his actions that day. “I’d love to go to the ceremony when they pin it on his chest,” he said. Burt and his wingman spent nearly three hours flying cover near the downed helicopter, refueling twice while constantly coordinating their attacks with the AWACS and the ground controller. The Americans were recovered after midnight.

(Adapted from article in base newspaper of the 354th FW)

NVG Fatigue
We have to be concerned with the health of our minds and bodies on a long mission. We train every day to put bombs on target, but we can’t train to fly eleven-hour missions. On night missions, we tried to get pilots to spend some time off the goggles. We would typically not wear the goggles en route to the AOR. Once we were over the threat area, we’d wear them for several hours, using refueling periods to give our eyes a break. High-illumination nights were less fatiguing to the eyes because we didn’t have to strain to make out details. Low-illumination nights and high-workload missions were much more fatiguing. If the fit of the goggles changed, the image went out of focus. Lack of focus can really be fatiguing and cause bad headaches. The extra weight on the helmet put pressure on our oxygen masks and noses. Over time, the pressure produced a callus. Most guys wore moleskin on their noses. My nose got beat up over there.
– Maj. Greg, 354th FW

Transition Advice
The Reserve pilots from Texas gave us some good advice on how to deal with the long missions. They recommended what food to take and how to organize the cockpit. We had to carry NVGs, extra food, a lot of maps, and other mission planning material. We also wore combat survival vests to carry more items, like a gun. We were there in the colder months so we had to wear an extra layer of clothing as well. The cockpit was very tight for our larger pilots. The Reserve pilots also helped us with the administration tasks we faced going to and coming from the AOR.
– Maj. Greg, 354th FW

Coordination
Every mission required a lot of coordination. Each mission involved a variety of aircraft from several service branches, all working together and sharing responsibilities. Our coordination is policy-driven. However, we were doing things that we had never done before, so we were making new policy as the missions evolved.
– 1st Lt. Erica, 354th FW

Intel Briefings
We gave a current intel briefing once a week to the maintainers. We kept them in the loop as to what the pilots were doing. They saw pilots coming back without weapons, but they didn’t know how those weapons were being applied. We gave them a larger picture of the conflict so they would know more than what they saw on CNN. The briefings showed them how they fit into the puzzle and gave them a sense of the teamwork involved. Everyone worked long hours. The maintainers turned the jets quickly. The weapon loaders prepped the jets for two different theaters. The briefings helped morale. They were a nice change of pace for the intel officers, too.
– 1st Lt. Erica, 354th FW

New Pilot
I was the second youngest F-16 pilot our unit took to OEF. I was mission-ready in the F-16 for about six months with about 200 hours of F-16 time before we left. I came back with more than 400 hours. Some pilots who graduated from my RTU at Luke three months before I did have fewer F-16 hours.
– Capt. Mark, 354th FW

Mortar Position
I dropped on one mission at the very beginning of Operation Anaconda. My flight lead and I flew all night and showed up in Afghanistan in the morning as the sun was coming up. The previous two days had been cloudy and raining, which prevented fighters from dropping laser-guided bombs. We showed up on a clear and beautiful day. They sent us to talk to some Army guys who had been pinned down in a valley taking mortar and sniper fire for forty-eight hours. The Army guys told us they were taking fire from a nearby peak. We used our targeting pods to make out some man-made installations on the peak. We dropped one bomb on the peak and the Army guys confirmed that we had the right area. We found two separate targets on top of the mountain—a mortar position and a weapons storage area. The mortar position controlled the entire valley.

My flight lead dropped the first two bombs. I dropped the next two. My second bomb hit the mortar right on. My flight lead rolled in for his final two bombs. The bombs hit the weapon cache. The secondary explosion was huge and sent a mushroom cloud into the air. The cache burned for the next thirty minutes. The heat was so intense that it blanked out the imagery on our targeting pods. Army guys from a couple of valleys over saw the fire on top of the mountain. I dropped two more bombs in the general vicinity. Then we strafed the top of the mountain. Strafing from my flight lead set off even more secondary explosions.
– Capt. Mark, 354th FW

Cold To Warm
The temperature was twenty below zero Fahrenheit when we left Alaska. We landed at our operating location in a nice sixty degrees. The day our F-16s arrived, we removed the travel pods and configured airplanes for strip alert for OSW. The next morning, we flew operational missions.
– Capt. Robert, 354th FW

Bombs, Bullets, And Gas
We were working with a GFAC during Operation Anaconda trying to target a couple of enemy vehicles in the mountains. We still had not found his target when we got a call on the big picture frequency requesting immediate CAS for troops in contact. That call meant that US troops were under fire from close range. We got to the second location as fast as we could. Fortunately, the whole area for Operation Anaconda was within five minutes F-16 flight time. We checked in with the GFAC who explained they were receiving fire from a mortar position. They tried to talk our eyes onto the position, but we couldn’t find it. In the meantime, we were getting low on gas. The GFAC asked us to drop a bomb as a reference point to talk us onto the target, but we had to get back to the tanker. Other assets were available in theater to work with that GFAC.

We stayed with the tanker. Minutes went by, then an hour. We really wanted to get back and help the GFAC we’d left. We couldn’t hear everything that was happening. We knew the enemy was shooting at our troops. We had about thirty minutes left in our window to provide support when we got a standby for tasking call. AWACS snapped us to a new location and GFAC for immediate CAS support. This GFAC was a lot calmer than the last one. He wanted to get our eyes on the target without dropping a bomb for reference. He and his troops were getting shot at from a couple of machine gun nests on the mountain above.

I dropped down and made two visual identification passes on the target. I saw one of the machine gun nests. I made a request to come in hot for the next pass. The GFAC wasn’t wasting time—he cleared me right away. I rolled down the chute, dropped my last two LGBs, and took it out. Soon after, my wingman dropped on a nearby bunker that the GFAC had highlighted. He then dropped his last two bombs on the second machine gun nest south of my first drop. The GFAC still wanted support even though we had dropped all of our bombs. They had to deal with a lot more caves and enemy positions than they had anticipated. He cleared us in hot to strafe. I rolled down the chute and expended all of my ammunition in two separate passes. By that time, my wingman and I were both bingo fuel. The GFAC was still asking for support. We wanted to stay there and help, but we couldn’t. We were out of bombs, bullets, and gas. Luckily, some more fighters behind us showed up and checked in with the same GFAC.
– Capt. Robert, 354th FW

• LGB – laser-guided bomb
• bingo fuel – enough fuel to get back to base or tanker

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CAS Improvements
We train for a more conventional approach to CAS. We faced a much more chaotic situation in Afghanistan. We’re not used to a FAC giving clearance to drop as quickly as they did. That speed is attributable to their experience. We discussed better ways of conducting CAS after Operation Anaconda. We are implementing those changes Air Force-wide now. We won’t forget the lessons we learned over there.
– Capt. Robert, 354th FW

Ground Perspective
My goal has always been to lead men in combat. I always assumed it would be with a four-ship of F-16s at 20,000 feet with 2,000-pound LGBs. The reality would be twelve guys on the ground with rucksacks and M-16 rifles. This is a story of close air support, i.e., from the ground looking up instead of the air looking down. Let me begin by telling you the end of the story. We are all back at Kandahar, refitting and preparing for the next operation. No one killed in action and only one Purple Heart (nothing serious), a fact of which I am most proud.

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Operation Anaconda was the largest tactical ground battle since Desert Storm. The Army participated with no artillery and only a few mortars. CAS, then, was the only means of indirect fire support. Forward air control was critical to success. Simply put, we jumped off the birds right into the middle of a hornet’s nest: the quintessential hot landing zone. Almost immediately, everyone came under small arms and mortar fire. Within the first thirty minutes, five of the six AH-64 Apaches were hit. Although none were shot down, all were non-mission capable for the next few days. Their absence put even more pressure on my guys to save the day and keep the enemy off us until the Army could take cover and return fire.

I’ll never forget one particular situation. One of my guys was pinned down for eighteen hours in roughly the same place, 500 meters within the original landing zone. I went in with the brigade commander and a small security detachment on the top of a small sliver of mountain we thought would be secure. From that vantage point, I could overlook my guy’s position to see from where he was drawing fire. The next eight hours, the two of us controlled the ridgelines with our bombs. In the middle of the fray, one soldier made a desperate call when he thought he might be overrun: “B-52, I want you to put every f-ing bomb you have on that f-ing ridgeline. Right f-ing now.”

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Back to that sliver of rock on top of the mountain: We started taking fire and mortars from a concealed position below us, so I called in asking for some laser-guided bombs. Little did I know that I would get an F-16 flown by none other than Chris, a lieutenant I flew with in Osan, Korea. I talked him onto the target that was about 425 meters away, well inside danger-close proximity. After he shacked the target, we never took fire from that location again. My friend from Osan stuck around even though AWACS yelled at him twice, warning they had no gas for his return to base. I never heard if he had to divert into Pakistan or somewhere else, but I do know he drinks for free the next time I meet him. His last words before checking off were, “Dino, no s - - t. Keep your head down.” Chris always was the master of the obvious.

I could go on and on with stories about how great my guys were. But I’ll just say that, by the end of day two, no Army soldiers would stray more than fifty meters from an ETAC and none would fall asleep until they heard the sound of fighters or AC-130s overhead. The ETACs controlled hundreds of deliveries from everything in the inventory: fighters, bombers, AC-130s, Navy, even a few allied aircraft. They did all this over twelve days with no fratricide and no friendly losses in Task Force Rakkasan—a truly incredible testament to the dedication and bravery of twelve enlisted professionals. I’m proud for the chance to lead them. I thought everyone, especially the pilots, should know what a difference CAS can make to a few grunts on the ground. I know I will never look at CAS the same again.
– Maj. Dino, 101st Airborne Division

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We were immediately tasked for close air support and sent north to support a GFAC called White Lightning 01. He was under fire and calling for close air support. We couldn’t pick him up on the radio, so we were retasked to Dragon 10, another GFAC under fire requesting CAS. We established communication with Dragon 10, who was calling for strikes against enemy troops roughly 600 meters from his position. Surprisingly, the GFAC was talking F-16. He was asking me to do specific operations with my targeting pod. He knew what buttons I was pushing in my jet. This level of detailed knowledge is not something we normally heard from a GFAC. I didn’t recognize his voice, but I was pleased that I was working with a good FAC.

We spent some time getting a target area talk on. From our initial altitude, we could not see troops on the ground. We started wheeling down, getting lower and lower. I was trying to get my eyeballs onto the enemy troops. More importantly, I wanted to know the location of the GFAC and his forces. This was not a typical CAS mission for an F-16. We were doing CAS at fairly low altitude, getting down in the weeds with these guys.

I knew that friendly forces were within the blast pattern of a GBU-12, so I had to drop on the right spot. We set up a track to deconflict in case the bomb fell long or short. In my first pass in, I didn’t get a cleared hot call from Dragon 10 because he was too busy taking fire. He saw me, though, and knew I had the right nose position. I went hot on the second attack. My first bomb was effective. I rolled in for another pass. The bomb didn’t guide correctly, and it hit 100 meters farther north than it should have. By then, my wingman and I were getting low on gas.

On my way out, I said, “We are going to hit the tanker, but we’ll be back in about ten minutes. You guys keep your heads down.” The GFAC responded, “Roger, Dino out.” Right then, I knew it was my buddy from Osan. I broke radio discipline and said, “Is that Dino M—?” He replied, “Say, again?” I repeated, “Is that Dino M—?” He said, “Yes, Dino M—.” I said, “Hey dude. This is Chris from the 36th back at Osan.” He said, “Holy cow. Fancy meeting you here.”

We took off and hit the tanker. AWACS cleared us back to the area again, but we had silenced the threats. Dino didn’t need us any more. We stayed over his position for another half hour, but he was closing up shop and going somewhere else. We had done what we needed to do.

I was on station almost three hours at this point. Choppers were taking fire throughout the whole operation. The radios were going nuts with guys pinned down by enemy fire. AWACS was doling out CAS assignments left and right. My wingman and I had another six bombs, so we weren’t anxious to go home. We stayed with the tanker as the bombers came in, did their magic with JDAMs, and left. We talked with about six different GFAC parties that day. I ended up dropping my remaining bombs on a mortar position on the side of a mountain. That 12.7-hour mission was the most challenging I have ever flown in the F-16.
– Capt. Chris, 354th FW

• cleared hot – clearance given for dropping weapons