Today I went with a group on a tour of the F-15 area. “Biff” met us and showed around the area where they get their schedules for the day. Then we went and saw the life support equipment. That’s the stuff that keeps them alive- the helmet, the night vision goggles, the survival vest that weighs about 20 pounds, and the G-suit. They got one of the girls on the tour into the G-suit and blew it up- she got pretty uncomfortable!
After that we went and listened to the pre-flight briefing regarding all the activity that had happened recently in the area we were going to. Then they showed us the “Greatest Hits’ video. That is one of my favorites! We watch them at the wing meeting as well. This is where we get to see the results of them dropping bombs on people. I know it sounds callous, but that is a great sight to see! I see the results of the enemy's handiwork every day in the torn up bodies of our soldiers. It's nice to see it's not one sided.
I’ll tell you some of what they told us- all open source and not classified. There is an alert team. Goal is to be on target in 30 minutes. Our guys say that’s not good enough. They get called out for Close Air Support (CAS)- That’s the mission where the jet is supporting the guys on the ground. They can either bomb from on high or do a “show of force”, where they drop to about 500 feet and scare the CRAP out of the enemy so they scatter and stop whatever they were doing. We have guys called JTACs (Joint Tactical Aerial Controller) embedded with the Army. Our guys are the ones who call in the plane when they are pinned down or they see something that needs shot or bombed. When the Army guys are pinned under fire, the F-15s get called to help them out. Biff says the Army guys have about 15 minutes of bullets. So 30 minutes won’t really get the job done, will it? Our guys go from hanging in the alert facility to being over target and shooting something in 15 minutes! they are very proud of that fact and I don't blame them.
They have something called terrain mapping navigation. This is where the computer watches the topography and the pilot turns over control to the airplane. He said it is the scariest feeling ever to trust your plane not to kill you. They skim along at just a couple of hundred feet off the ground as the radar looks at the ground and guides the plane. He says at night they can’t see a thing. They are going about 5 miles per minute, so there would be no time to be scared if they crashed. He said that it is so sensitive that if there is a telephone wire it will pull up. In the history of this guidance system, it has NEVER FAILED. Wow.
I also got to walk on the wing and sit in the cockpit. I had a bunch of pictures taken, which I will post a different day, since it is now after 10pm and I have to go to bed. It takes about 10 min to upload a pic. If it works. Last night I tried to upload a ramp ceremony pic I got off the web, but it wouldn’t go. Besides the other turmoil I have been going through the last couple of days (leadership stuff that I’ll post in a few weeks when it’s all over), today was a great Air Force day.
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