Joint terminal attack controllers (JTACs) and F-16 pilots in South Korea trained together on close air support and counter insurgency scenarios at Kunsan Air Base, Dec. 1-4. F-16s assigned to the 80th Fighter Squadron at Kunsan trained with joint terminal attack controllers from the 607th Air Support Operations Group at Camp Red Cloud for Exercise Woody Cloud 16-1 as a way to ensure the two units, geographically separated within South Korea, can stay in communication, according to a 7th Air Force release. “Being multiple hours away, we may not always have the opportunity to do a face-to-face debrief,” said SrA. William Irwin, a JTAC in the 604th ASOS at Camp Red Cloud. “It’s nice to be able to actually sit down and discuss weapons and tactics.” Pilots and JTACs simulated events they have experienced in Iraq and Afghanistan, said Capt. Rolf Tellefsen, an F-16 pilot with the 80th FS. “We’re trying to get a mix of everything in order to maintain some of those skillsets that guys don’t execute very often.”
Dozens of fighter jets gathered at Tyndall Air Force Base in Florida last week to kick off one of the service’s biggest air combat exercises despite the government shutdown. More than 50 aircraft and 500 personnel are participating in Checkered Flag 26-1.
