'Spartans' host air advisor TTP conference

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Zachary Wilson
  • U.S. Air Force Expeditionary Center Public Affairs
JOINT BASE McGUIRE-DIX-LAKEHURST, N.J. --  'Airmen with expertise in the Air Force's air advisor mission joined forces with the 422nd Joint Tactics Squadron to conduct a tactics, techniques and procedures conference at the U.S. Air Force Expeditionary Center last week.

The conference brought subject-matter experts from across the Air Force to create a document that captured timely lessons learned by current and former air advisors as part of the function's continuing development as one of the service's core capabilities, as identified by the chief of staff of the Air Force.

"The purpose of this conference (was) to develop an air advising tactical doctrine document to provide TTPs to U.S. Air Force air advisors to assist partner nation air forces build, sustain, and implement air power capacities in support of national policies," said Master Sgt. Richard Oliver, 422nd JTS. "This will be a 'reach-back' document that creates a baseline on how people serving as air advisors can use in their capacity, no matter where they may be."

Lt. Col. John Holm, 336th Training Group deputy commander at Fairchild Air Force Base, Wash., and the incoming commander of the recently established Air Advisor Academy agreed.
"We want to capture a variety of ideas from the community to make this a viable document for use at the tactical level," he said. "We're training 900 Airmen a year we refer to as 'general purpose forces' air advisors and we have found a lot of lessons learned and skills that need to be captured and used."

Learning heavily from the lessons of ongoing air advising missions in Iraq and Afghanistan, members of the 422nd JTS traveled to both countries earlier this year to gather information in preparation for the conference to get a first-hand look at the mission as it evolves.

"We're focusing on air advisors as a whole, not only in the current conflicts but in future instances where they will be needed," said Lt. Col. Scott Robinson, 422nd JTS commander. "We did not have a specific niche of subject-matter experts; we hosted a broad spectrum of participants from Air Mobility Command, Air Education and Training Command, special operations and the new Mobility Support Advisory Squadrons" recently created to provide air advising within AMC's Contingency Response Groups."

Members of the air advisor conference cautioned against identifying the air advisor missions in Iraq and Afghanistan too closely with their overall mission. In fact, the capability is designed to meet the needs of requesting allied nations and can often mean only a handful of Airmen are serving in a nation exchanging ideas and building partnerships versus creating an entire air service from the ground up.

According to Sergeant Oliver, air advisors operate in a variety of roles. One provider of air advisor services is the 6th Special Operations Squadron out of Hurlburt Field, Fla. These special operators work in small units to create and train airmen from nations across the world. The next group would be considered the MSAS units, which deploy in small teams to work with partner nations on mobility operations, communications, ground operations that directly impact air forces as well as other capabilities unique to air power. The final group is considered the general purpose forces air advisors, who deploy in larger teams and take on missions larger in scope, such as the rebuilding of the Iraqi and Afghan air forces.

Lt. Col. Gabe Griess, the 571st MSAS director of operations and attendant at the conference noted the concept of air advising is dynamic and the scope and size of the mission depends on the needs and desires of the country a team is partnering with.

"Airpower can be relative; in South or Central America, it could appear to look closer to a county sheriff's department here in the U.S.," he said. "One of those nations could be flying (smaller commercial aircraft) on basic intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, doing border patrol or counter-drug operations. It's all about what 's the best fit for what that nation needs, not necessarily based on the most advanced technology."

Currently, the 422nd JTS has conducted six TTP conferences for various Air Force functions and expects more business as the larger Air Force finds out more about the squadron's unique capabilities.
"As our name gets out there, the requests come in," Sergeant Oliver noted.