F-15Es Show Force:

A pair of F-15Es from the 336th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron responded recently to a call from a battlefield airman embedded with an Army unit in Iraq to cover about 20 soldiers who came under attack during a foot patrol. The aircrews—pilots and weapon systems officers—had been monitoring the unit’s movement with their targeting pods and could see “hundreds of tracer rounds” using their night vision goggles, one airman told Air Force journalist Maj. Ann Peru Knabe. The USAF joint terminal attack controller pinpointed locations of the enemy and friendlies, asking for “shows of force” from the F-15Es until more ground troops and a rescue helicopter could arrive. Flying low at full afterburner, the two fighters took turns buzzing the enemy forces, dispensing flares over the course of several passes. The firing stopped, enabling evacuation of the soldiers. The F-15E airmen say they had practiced this type situation at Seymour Johnson AFB, N.C., but it was their first real-world experience.