Bringing the iron rain: to 'grunts' on the ground, the trusty A-10 is heaven sent

Airman, April, 2003 by Louis A. Arana-Barradas

An A10 takes off from Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan, for another sortie in support of the war on terrorism. The high-pitch whine of its engines overhead means firepower and protection to coalition forces on the gound and possible swift and certain death to the enemy.

When "Ragman" dives his A-10 aircraft out of the clouds and swoops down on the bad guys in Afghanistan, he brings life to a standstill.

Those below know of the Thunderbolt II's terrible reputation. The airplane can pour so much firepower on a target that it looks like it's being showered by an "iron rain" of bullets, bombs and rockets.

"That's a lot to worry about," Ragman said. A major with the 104th Fighter Squadron of the Maryland Air National Guard, he's flown the ungainly looking jet for 17 years. For operational security, he and several others interviewed asked not to be identified with surnames.

The jet may look funny, but it's graceful. A-10s fly low and slow and can easily maneuver through the valleys of the mountainous land. If it has to, it can get "down and dirty" to do its job, so the airmen who fly and maintain it call it the "Warthog."

With its huge 30 mm Gatling gun and array of bombs and rockets, the Warthog packs a lethal knockout punch. So when A-10s are overhead, just the high-pitched whine of their twin jet engines elicits an instant response.

"Some people lay down their weapons, whether they're doing good or bad," Brig. Gen. Greg Ihde said. Others raise their hands. And while some freeze dead in their tracks, others flee. "That says a lot about air power."

The top U.S. airman in Afghanistan, Ihde is the "air boss" for Combined Joint Task Force-180. From its headquarters at Bagram Airfield, the task force directs all coalition military operations in the country.

Ihde heads the task force's air component coordination element. It plans all air operations in the country, in concert with U.S. Central Command's combined air operations center. He also commands the 455th Air Expeditionary Wing--the task force's tactical air arm--at this former Soviet fighter base 35 miles north of the Afghan capital of Kabul.

The wing has 1,700 people working in several groups at bases in and outside Afghanistan. They provide the task force airlift, search and rescue, refueling, medevac, reconnaissance, surveillance, intelligence gathering and ground attack. Each mission is vital to the task force's success in the war on terrorism.

But it's the A-10s of the 455th Expeditionary Operations Group that Taliban and al Qaeda fighters dread, group commander Col. Greg Marston said.

"The bad guys don't Want to take the chance of going after our ground forces because they know we'll find them--and get them," he said.

However, finding and destroying the elusive enemy isn't easy. And though the group is always ready to knock out enemy targets, that's not its main mission.

"We're here to provide air cover to Army ground forces," said Marston, vice commander of the t 11th Fighter Wing, Pennsylvania Air National Guard. "Everything else is secondary."

As a result, the A-10 has been the workhorse in Afghanistan since arriving at Bagram in March 2002, he said. Day and night, the jet has flown most of the close air support missions for coalition forces. By the end of January 2003, that amounted to nearly 300 sorties.

But the A-la pilots who rotate through the base--active duty, Guard and Reserve--welcome the work, he said.

"Close air support is our specialty--what we do," Marston said. "We're good at it."

To provide around-the-clock air cover means the A-10s must be in the air or on alert day and night. So the group's approximately 450 airmen work long hours--12-hour shifts, seven days a week with no days off--to keep the jets flying.

Working hard with no days off gets tedious, said Tech. Sgt. Shane Hudelson, a Maryland guardsman who performs hydraulics work on A-10s. That can lead to stress and burnout. But all the airmen he works with knew they'd be working hard when they volunteered for Bagram duty.

"Sure, we work a lot, but what we're doing is important," Hudleson said.

In the countryside, coalition soldiers--"grunts"--are glad A-10s work day and night. When an operation heats up, they want close air support, fast.

"When they run out of 'hooah,' they call in the A-10s," Ragman said. "Grunts love the A-10."

They do, said Mike, an Army sergeant at Bagram. He joined the Army out of high school and wants to do his part in the fight against terrorism. Though he hasn't been on an operation yet, Mike said knowing there will be A-10s around is comforting.

"When you hear the A-10s overhead, it gives you a good feeling," he said. "You know those guys have got your back in a fight."

Loitering on the job

That's just what the ground attack aircraft do--step in to help ground forces in trouble. And because the planes are at Bagram. that puts them close to the fight. Before they arrived in the country, carrier-based aircraft and others provided air support. Because they were hundreds of miles away, it took the aircraft longer to get where the troops were.