Counterinsurgency Airpower.

In his article "Counterinsurgency Airpower: Air-Ground Integration for the Long War" (Fall 2006), Col Howard D. Belote states that the Marine Corps "published an unsupported analysis suggesting that some Air Force JTACs' [joint terminal attack controllers'] unfamiliarity with the ground scheme of maneuver proved that the Marine Corps trained its forward air controllers better than the Air Force trained its JTACs" (p. 61).

I disagree that a formal "analysis" must be conducted to reach a conclusion. Colonel Belote's article mentions Lt Col Gary Kling; I have received Colonel Kling's brief and have spoken with him at length about Fallujah. I am a qualified JTAC who has been assigned to a USMC rifle battalion as a ground forward air controller (FAC) and division air officer. I have worked with and instructed Navy SEALs, combat controllers, Air Force enlisted terminal attack controllers, as well as Marine FACs and JTACs; the conclusion reached by the Marine Corps Center for Lessons Learned--that Marine FACs were trained better than Air Force JTACs--is exactly what I experienced. This is what the Marines experienced in Iraq, and it is what I experienced both as an F-18D weapon systems officer FAC (airborne) and during a tour flying F-15es with the Air Force. Knowing the ground scheme of maneuver is critical to executing the ground commander's intent, and the Air Force consistently made this an afterthought. The Marine Corps has been training enlisted and officer JTACs who are nonrated for the past several years to augment a rifle battalion's FACs. Nonaviator JTACs do not perform as well as Marine pilots or Marine naval flight officers who are serving as ground FACs. Some nonaviators are superb JTACs, but experience has shown that the Marine FACs will almost always perform better than the Marine JTAC--or any other JTAC. The data regarding academic and employment performance of students going through USMC Tactical Air Control Party (TACP) School for both prospective FACs and JTACs supports this claim. Additionally, I have discussed the training given to student Air Force JTACs and air liaison officers (ALO) at Nellis AFB, Nevada, with friends who have served as ALOs, and I have attended USMC TACP School in California. The course of instruction given by the Marine Corps is indeed a better syllabus. A quick comparison of lectures and required terminal controls necessary to complete the course will confirm this fact. Examination of the Marine Corps TACP course of instruction and the qualification of Air Force pilots and navigators as qualified JTACs may actually improve the application of airpower in support of the Army or other joint forces.

Maj C. J. "Galf" Galfano, USMC

Marine Corps Command and Staff College

Quantico, Virginia