More thoughts on what makes AFSPECWAR special

 

Perspectives on the Air Force vary and change with whom you speak to throughout the DOD, civilian, and veteran communities. To some, those in the blue suit are nothing more than the “Chair Force”, pushing paper and doing nothing more than ensuring that the pilots are out the door. Others are shocked when you tell them that you are not a pilot (an actual conversation that I had). Some people don’t understand the difference between the services and see any who wear the uniform as some genetically modified super soldier.

But to those in the know, there is one aspect of the Air Force that displays an ability to go above and beyond: Special Warfare Airmen.

 

What is it that makes these Airmen special and desired attachments to units of the other services? Is it the high level of training in technical rescue, medicine, air traffic control, close air support, or reconnaissance? I think it boils down to two unique aspects that these operators show that has nothing to do with skill sets or physical capabilities: Airmanship and Strategic/operational thinking.

 

In the next two sections, I will describe what I mean in using these terms and how they impact the ability of these Airman to successfully complete their missions. 

 

Airmanship

 

According to Dr. Forrest L. Marion, “on 23 July 1943, a board of Allied officers examining airborne operations concluded that ‘specially trained pathfinder aircraft should proceed the airborne flights to the dropping zone and drop marking lights for the guidance of troop carriers and gliders’.”

 

This is one of the first examples of a skill set that is now a standard mission of special warfare airman. What began as the “pathfinder“ mission has now become a standard operation within global access flights of special tactics quadrants.

 

This also set up the first major fight between the new service, the Air Force that was created in 1947, and other branches over the capabilities and who will provide these specialized skills. The army argued that they should maintain pathfinder units because it was going to be Army troops who were going to be dropped. The Air Force argue that they should gain disability because the troops being dropped with exit from Air Force aircraft, and a special knowledge and insight was required from someone who was a member of the Air Force.

 

This battle over who would maintain control of these new units establishing drop zones begins the discussion of an important tenants of what now to find special warfare operators. Airmanship, as defined by Merriam-Webster, actually means still in piloting or navigating aircraft. However, when used in the context of special warfare operators, I defined this as a working knowledge and understanding of the culture, mores, and underlying functions of the US Air Force.

 

It’s the Combat Controller‘s ability to establish an airfield after a humanitarian disaster, it’s the Tactical Air Control Party Airmen and his knowledge of aircraft and their munitions, it’s the special focus of a Special Reconnaissance Airmen, when searching for targets for air interdiction, or the ability of a Pararescuemen to conduct a rescue of a downed aviator that defines airmanship in this particular scenario.

 

It’s also the ability of these Airmen to translate the needs of our sister services To the Air Force and vice versa. In my time as a TACP Airman, I heard it described and describe it myself as, “translating Army to the Air Force and Air Force to the Army.”

 

Is the ability of any of these members of special warfare to describe and dictate the capabilities admission skills that they can offer to a unit from the perspective of “airmanship” that creates a special place for them on the battlefield.

 

Strategic/Operational Thinking

 

This particular attribute is one that I will give to all members of Air Force Special Warfare, but I can only speak coherently when it comes from the perspective of TACP and CCT, because I spent time as a TACP as well as attending some of the courses for CCT.

 

Much of the training of Air Force Special Warfare requires that the candidates look above the tactical level of the battlefield. There needs to be a knowledge of how different air systems throughout the branches of the US military interact, Second and third order effects of a particular mission, and the ramifications of the outcome of those missions.

 

This requires a working knowledge of two higher levels of operations. Within the US military there are generally viewed as three levels of operations: tactical, those of the small units operating on a particular battlefield; operational, those functions in missions that coincide with higher headquarters usually brigade levels and higher; and strategic which affects large theaters and nations.

 

It’s this ability of special warfare airman to think and operate at the strategic/operational level that gives them a unique perspective. This ability to view from the “30,000 foot level”, allows these operators to work problems differently than others.

 

Now, a majority of SOF operators have an ability to function in sync at the operational and strategic levels. However, I think Special Warfare Airman have the ability to leak the operational and strategic thought of multiple branches and services together to form a stronger perspective. I think this is especially important for the conventional Special Warfare airmen, the TACP, because the majority of the time they’re operating with a conventional force that doesn’t necessarily need to think in that operational space.

 

Conclusion

 

While the skill sets that Special Warfare Airmen bring to the fight contributes to a level of desirability amongst units of our sister services, I believe that it is the more intangible attributes of Airmanship and Strategic/Operational thinking that provides the greatest impact on the success of these Airmen. Both of these attributes build upon the more concrete skills that Special Warfare Airmen learn during their separate pipelines create a lethal and capable force.