War Reporter, Alex Quade, embedded with Task Force Fury in Helmand Province, Afghanistan, as they called in airstrikes with B1-Bs and close combat attack with Apache helicopters in 2007.
She tracked down the aircraft and takes you for ride-alongs to gain the crews’ perspectives on dropping bombs and firing missiles – in support of elite 1/508th Parachute Infantrymen and ODAs from the 7th Special Forces Group.
In Alex Quade’s video, you’ll see the decision-making process the JTAC, or air controller, and ground force commander go through to call in air strikes – as his soldiers encounter a car bomb, and come under fire during a massive air assault operation.
Per embed guidelines, in Quade’s video: no full names, aircraft tail numbers or locations released. Quade is able to release this video now, because operations taking place and the process for calling in airstrikes are different from what she witnessed firsthand, both in Afghanistan—with the drawdown of U.S. troops, and in Iraq, in the current situation with ISIL. But, the dangers in Afghanistan’s Helmand Province continue to this day, as does the U.S. reliance on air strikes to fight terrorist groups.
