sergeant. Tara Fajardo-Arteaga, 113th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment

Soldiers can hear a subtle roar from the Zdar Range firing tower in Hradiště military area, Czech Republic, March 8, 2022. Czech army soldiers come out and look up to see what made the noise.
Two MI-24 Hind attack helicopters fly over the beach. Suddenly, an L-159 Advanced Light Combat Aircraft (ALCA) fixed-wing subsonic plane appears and dives close to the ground towards the tower.

On a hill in the distance, Air Force Staff Sgt. Justin Hodges and Senior Airman Driestin Aho, Joint Terminal Air Controllers (JTAC), provide close air support by identifying and distinguishing friendly and hostile units and directing, via radio, the actions of combat aircraft as they fly overhead. above the training area. “We are working with our Czech counterparts and Czech aircraft to facilitate Czech Air Force strikes,” Hodges explained.

Hodges and Driestin are members of the US Air Force Special Warfare, Tactical Air Control Party (TACP). US Air Force JTAC personnel integrated with Army and Navy units on the front line while working with the Allies. “We have been integrated into the Czech JTACs; we were going up there and conducting coordinated airstrikes on strategic targets for the US military,” Hodges said.

Hodges and Aho are assigned to the 10th Air Support Operations Squadron at Fort. Riley, Kan., and are currently stationed at the Drawsko Pomorskie Training Area in Poland. “The US military is dictating they want a fixed number of military-aligned JTACs,” Hodges said. “So we’re aligned with those guys and integrating the air picture into the army’s maneuver scheme.” Both Airmen worked alongside the 2nd Battalion, 34th Armored Regiment, 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, and participated in Saber Strike 22, Czech Republic.

“We are assigned to an army unit, so we work with the 1st Infantry Division out of Fort Riley,” Aho said. “We are working with 2-34.”
During Saber Strike 22, a multinational military exercise from February to March, Airmen worked with the Czech Air Force to conduct air defense training while providing close air support to practice in case hostile targets would be too close to friendly forces. .

Saber Strike 22 gave US JTACs the opportunity to work directly with the Czech Republic military, which brought NATO Allies together to practice critical skills in support of ground operations. “Saber Strike 22 was a very successful exercise,” Hodges said, “It’s vital for us to integrate with our NATO counterparts to know how each of us operates. Working on these combined exercises gives each country a chance to show its capabilities and lets them know that we are ready in case of conflict.