More than Airmen: services are combining forces, blurring the lines between Airmen, Marines, Soldiers and Sailors

Airman, Sept, 2004 by Orville F. Desjarlais, Jr.

The Air Force trained Capt. John Blocher as an A-10 Thunderbolt II pilot, but last year he found himself out of the cockpit and pounding the ground with Soldiers in Iraq.

The Air Force trained Staff Sgt. Amelia Grahn as a transportation dispatcher, but she found herself providing cover for convoys in Iraq.

Like Captain Blocher and Sergeant Grahn, more Airmen are stepping out of the blue and into the purple--the color used to describe joint operations.

Today is the world of "jointness," where "interoperability" is the key to any successful mission. Although jointness may seem like the buzz word of the day, the concept has always existed.

In 1991, then Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Colin Powell said in Joint Warfare of the U.S. Armed Forces:

"So it is when the armed forces of the United States go to war. We must win every time.

Every Soldier must take the battlefield believing his or her unit is the best in the world.

Every pilot must take off believing there is no one better in the sky.

Every Sailor standing watch must believe there is no better ship in the sea.

Every Marine must hit the beach believing that there are no better infantrymen in the world.

But they all must also believe that they are part of a team, a joint team, that fights together to win.

This is our history, this is our tradition, this is our future."

Joint warfare's checkered past

Joint warfare dates back to the Civil War when the Union Army, Navy and Marine Corps combined to split and defeat the Confederacy.

Later, joint warfare was used during the Korean and Vietnam wars, but it wasn't until Operation Urgent Fury in 1983 that the importance of joint warfare came to light. The operation successfully rescued American medical students, removed the communist-led government and restored the legitimate governor in Grenada. However, Congressional investigation into Urgent Fury revealed the critical need for joint doctrine, since the services failed to successfully integrate during the operation. This led to the creation of the Joint Warfare Center, Hurlburt Field, Fla., in 1987. In November 2003, the Air Force developed its own transformation flight plan, which includes a joint philosophy.

"America's armed forces must be re-balanced for future operations," wrote Dr. James Roche, Secretary of the Air Force, and Gen. John Jumper, Air Force chief of staff. "What we require is a capability mix consistent with pre-defined concepts and effects-driven methodology. Future programs must be conceived with this mix in mind ... those that don't consider the emerging joint character ... will find themselves obsolete, irrelevant and candidates for elimination."

Thus the appearance of the Joint Strike Fighter, the joint terminal air controller, battalion air liaison officer, combat weather and a host of other joint-related positions. For some Air Force commands, it's been a difficult transition. For special forces, it's been a way of life.

Special relationships

The joint world is a familiar and comfortable place for Air Force Special Operations Command.

"We're on a first-named basis because we see so much of each other," said Col. Scott Schafer about the "tremendous relationship" among Air Force, Army and Navy special operators who conduct joint training on a habitual basis. On the contrary, it's rare for AFSOC aviators, pararescueman and combat controllers to train unilaterally, said Colonel Schafer, chief of the AFSOC Commander's Action Group at Hurlburt Field.

Such jointness develops a common ground for tactics, techniques and procedures. That, in turn, he said, allows joint commanders the luxury of interchanging a special forces Soldier with a Navy SEAL for a special ops mission, and being able to choose among all three branches if helicopter support is needed to remove them from the battlefield. This was the intent when U.S. Special Operations Command was formed in 1987.

And even when the situation demands a joint maneuver never conducted before, the colonel said, the groundwork has been laid for a course of action based on prior working experience. For example, when Operation Desert Storm kicked off it was Air Force MH-53J Pave Low helicopters and their night vision capability that led Army Apache helicopters during a nighttime raid to take out Iraqi radar sites.

"We had never done that before, but we had the open mindset," Colonel Schafer said.

As a result of Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom, the special forces command improved its jointness with conventional forces, Colonel Schafer said. Traditionally, the battlefield was sectored off: One section for special operations and another for conventional forces. However, he said, improved technology allows a more common ground and the ability for AFSOC to provide better support for Marines and Soldiers with its special ops gun ships and helicopters.

But good things don't always come quickly or easily. In the special ops world, the "crawl, walk, run" method is used when joint forces start a new way of doing business, Colonel Schafer said, to ensure "we're all on the same sheet of music." He said a similar approach would probably be advisable to others entering the joint force.