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Show 4 TIMES January 27, 2011 HILLTOP TIMES Above, Lt. Col. Aaron "Musket" Lade, of the 388th Fighter Wing, presents an overview of his experiences in Afghanistan as a deployed F-16 Fighting Falcon pilot at Warrior Call on Jan. 21 at Club Hill. Right, Lt. Col. Daniel "B.B." Gable, also of the 388th FW, assisted him with accounts of his own experience as the director of operations of the 455th Operational Support Squadron at Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan. MARY LOU GORNY/Hilltop Times Pilots' perspectives on Afghanistan in the air and on the field Warrior Call — deployments from the view of two former Sheppard AFB classmates BY MARY Lou GORNY Hilltop Times editor L t. Col. Aaron "Musket" Lade and Lt. Col. Dan "B.B." Gable, of the 388th Fighter Wing, presented "Afghanistan: A Pilot's Perspective" on Friday, Jan. 21, at Warrior Call. "The actual persistent question isn't: 'Are we winning the war?' — it's 'Are we making a difference?'" said Lade, as he presented his experiences to those assembled at Club Hill. "You can make a difference," he emphasized to the audience composed of personnel from throughout Hill Air Force Base. "When we meet with key leaders of villages, we make a difference. If we can be there longer and keep it a kind of unified front we can make a difference," Lade said. "If we get them engaged we can make a difference." He cited a recent news report of a group of Taliban, approximately 50, who surrendered to Afghan National Police in the week prior. "I'd call that a difference," he said. As Lade and his former Sheppard AFB pilot training classmate, Gable, presented an overview of their experiences in brief in Afghanistan, they gave quick snapshots of geography, video of successful missions, and in Gable's case — a more in-depth view of Bagram Airfield. Lade was deployed rather quickly due to a short notice increase in F-16 jets and pilots. As a pilot, Lade flew many missions with the 4th Fighter Squadron Fuujins from Hill AFB and the 510 Fighter Squadron Buzzards from Aviano Air Base in Italy. Lade described some of the challenges of topography and the range of resources available in terms of aircraft, weapons and the areas they were allocated. But ever at the forefront of his discussion were the people on the ground that his efforts supported. "Let's not forget about who we're there supporting," he said, as he reviewed briefly the vehicles used by the Army and ground crews to get around. His co-presenter, Gable, also deployed quickly to serve as the director of the operations in the 455th Operational Support Squadron at Bagram. He flew many missions with the 79th Fighter Squadron Tigers from Shaw AFB, the 34th Fighter Squadron Rams from Hill AFB and the 510th Buzzards. He described an experience he had shortly after his arrival: "Day Two, I was working late at night and I hear a bang. Next thing I knew, I went out the door and heard a noise: a whiz sound overhead. I was thinking, 'TM oh.' Then I heard another bang followed by two jets taking off," Gable said. "Well, somebody shot a 170 mm rocket. Lucky for us, they put the wrong fuse in it." When a piece of fuse and some ceramic nose cone pieces from one of the aircraft that had just taken off were found on the ground, both aircraft were recalled to assess the damage. "The only reason we did not lose that jet that night was due to the fact that some insurgent put the wrong fuse in a rocket, so it never armed. That was my Day Two at Bagram," he said. Recalling a trip to Kabul International Airport from later in his deployment, Gable also talked about looking out from the control tower and seeing the numbers of commercial airliners flying in and out and thinking, "This is normal life. That tells me we are making a difference." Then someone with him said, "Hey, technically we're outside the wire. You might want to put on some stuff (body armor)." Again, another introduction to life at Bagram. Later he was talking to some of the people who worked in the airport tower and they told him a car bomb had gone off near that same tower about a year earlier. "So that's not your normal airport," he said. "But they're getting there." Gable went on to familiarize those present with "new" accommodations and their set up. Modifying temporary tents for long-term living took a lot of teamwork, and "It's incredible to be talking to a human on the ground who's fighting the fight and then a few minutes later be in a completely different part of the country talking to a different guy with a different call sign in a gunfight who needs stuff happening right now Its incredible." Lt. COL. AARON "MUSKET" LADE, 388th Fighter Wing Afghanistan WARRIOR CALL Uzebekistan Turkmenistan " C Mazar-e o r 0 Kondoz Sharif Bagram o Kabul o o o Herat Jalalabad GahaznI 0 0 Shindand Kandahar 0 Zaranj Pakistan A N Warrior Call is now the third Friday of the month. The next Warrior Call is scheduled for Feb. 18 at Club Hill, 4 p.m. Warrior Call is open to all military personnel and civilians. The purpose of the event is to give perspective into military operations. die the importance of working with the civil engineering squadron to make that a reality could not be overemphasized. Video presented at the Warrior Call demonstrated the types of targets pilots from Hill AFB are facing all too often in Afghanistan. From buildings containing insurgents and weapons caches to vehicles traveling at high speeds across desert roads, the pilots have to be ready for anything. Perspective contributes to everything there. "In about 37 minutes I can be over a convoy that's not taking any fire, and then go to the other side of the country and blow up a (target) in a part of the country (the guys on the ground) will never see," Lade said. "It's incredible to be talking to a human on the ground who's fighting the fight and then a few minutes later be in a completely different part of the country talking to a different guy with a different call sign in a gunfight who needs stuff happening right now. It's incredible." Lade went on to explain his view of the mission. "Right now we're supporting the guys on the ground," he said. Gable emphasized practice runs at the UTTR during the question and answer period, to the extent that the weapons employment portion of the mission needs to become nearly automatic — pointing out that the added 'administrative' requirements when actually dropping bombs or shooting the gun can detract from the weapon delivery if it is not repeated enough to be second-nature. Lade made that point earlier as he talked about the need for pilots to move quickly from one mission to another to respond to a Troops-in-Contact of Special Operations Forces call. He was careful to point out the responses and adjustments leadership have made to minimize the chances of collateral damage both on buildings and uninvolved civilians. "We can control what we do and how we conduct ourselves on the ground and the efforts that we take, and hopefully we can make a difference," said Gable. "The only reason we did not lose that jet that night was due to the fact that some insurgent put the wrong fuse in a rocket, so it never armed. That was my Day Two at Bagram." LT. COL. DAN "B.B." GABLE, 388th Fighter Wing |