Posted on 06/16/2017 11:38:17 AM PDT by huldah1776
The Marine pilots go through ground combat training so they know just what the hell is going on down there.
Unless that pilot has been a FAC, he doesn't know jack about what goes on with the grunts. The Basic School (TBS) field manuevers are run by the student LTs who are going to be grunts. It is their time to shine and any Lt who isn't a grunt doesn't get anything out of the experience. (If you are lucky, you get the machinegun. Your rifle stays home and if you're not the duty platoon you don't even have to clean the gun so you can shoot all the blanks you can get.) No air integration at all. If you manage a C&C bird that is run by the Instructors. The 'how' portion is in the FMFM not the class curriculum.
A good FAC and ALO (Air Liaison Officer) work to get the air component onboard with their requirements if the air component doesn't drive the air support the right way.
Bottom line if CAS response times suck, it is a air planning issue. Fault to the ground commander for not making it a priority and forcing the issue.
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