#forward air controller

[usafphantom2]

The only two-seater A-10 ever built.

The YA-10B

@A10theHog via X

[usafphantom5]

Forward Air Control & Reconnaissance: During the Korean War, L-17s were pressed into front line service. Operating as low-altitude spotters, they were used to identify enemy targets and visually guide F-51 Mustangs and F-80 Shooting Star jets to their attack runs.

Papa! 🇺🇸❤️🙋‍♀️✈️

@MedicalopsGirl via X

[casbooks]

Books of 2023

Book 29 of 2023

Title: Run Run Cricket Run Authors: Tom Thompson ISBN: 9781636240374 Tags: FAC, Fiction, FRA Bernard Fall (Author), LAO Lam Son 719 (1971) (Vietnam War), LAO Laos, LAO Laotian Civil War (1959-1975), LAO USAF Steve Canyon Program - Ravens FAC (Laotian Civil War), Military Fiction, O-1 Bird Dog, O-2 Skymaster, THA RTAFB Nakhon Phanom Royal Thai Air Base, THA Thailand, US USAF 20th TASS - Covey, US USAF 23rd TASS - NAIL FAC, US USAF 7th ABCCC Airborne Command and Control Sqd - Hillsboro, US USAF 7th ABCCC Airborne Command and Control Sqd - Moonbeam, VNM Ho Chi Minh Trail (Vietnam War), VNM Vietnam War (1955-1975) Rating: ★★★ (3 Stars) Subject: Books.Fiction.Military.Vietnam, Books.Military.20th-21st Century.Asia.Vietnam War.Fiction

Description: Young American pilots feel the weight of destiny as they are tasked with shutting down the Ho Chi Minh Trail in Laos. 1970—the height of the Vietnam War. A group of young Forward Air Controllers based in Thailand is assigned with supporting the Truck War and the People's War in southern Laos, where the fate of the Vietnam War, and Laos' very future, is being decided. Tasked with shutting down the Ho Chi Minh Trail—the North Vietnamese supply lines running into South Vietnam—literally stopping the constant stream of trucks in their tracks, these American airmen, call sign "Nail," fly missions 24 hours a day. Daily, they run the gauntlet of intense anti-aircraft fire to bring in accurate attacks by American fighter bombers. At night, streams of red tracers scream up from the ground, seeking the metallic flesh of their fragile craft. During the day, they search the skies for the telltale black puffs of smoke that reveal the self-destructive warheads of the North Vietnamese gunners. Even when tragedy befalls the group, they persevere with their mission. But will courage and dedication be enough?

Review: Just finished reading this and I'm so disappointed in Casemate. There is a good book somewhere in here, but the author needed a good proofreader/editor in the worst way. Fiction needs structure and a narrative which this doesn't have AT all! It needs to have a compelling story to tell, and this is instead a mishmash of multiple small stories that muddy whether this is a story about a unit, or the main character (who is rarely a part of the book), or about ... what?!?! But the worst crime is the repetition. There is absolutely no reason to repeat the same paragraph (+) length info over, and over, and over, (ex why Lam Son 719 was named 719) in the course of a couple of pages. Any good editor should have redlined that! I can forgive the little issues like after repeating over, and over, and over, and over again about the whole right door being the ONLY door, they say they got in on the left door later. Or mixing up Callsigns, where Hobos become Zorro's and then back again. These are things all authors deal with in drafts and that often find their way into SELF PUBLISHED books. But a book from a publisher??? I expect so much better and thats why I don't fault the author at all, but definitely fault Casemate. Where the hell were the editors??!?!?

[casposters]

(via Artwork of the Vietnam War – CherriesWriter – Vietnam War website)

[vietnamwarera]

From the source: “A graphic from 1967 showing the use of forward air controllers to combat thick cloud cover over Vietnam.”

[jenorv]

Freedom Bird

45 years ago, this week in  April, I boarded a “Freedom Bird” heading home from Thailand after a year-long remote combat tour.

It was a year filled with many things:  honing my flying skills as a backseater in the F4, learning to deal with a whole new world, and being away from my wife —  being  gone from her for a whole year was a very difficult thing to do.

Much of that long-ago year revolved…

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[pattern-53-enfield]

Rogue American’s out of production tribute to “The Ravens”, the unsung FACs (forward air controllers) who operated in Laos during the Vietnam War.