There are certain things you just don’t expect to see in an environment of increasingly cosntrained DoD budgets, and increasingly throaty cries for “more jointness.”
From the Air Force news site:
The new Air Force Combat Dive Course here graduated its first class of 17 special operations Airmen March 2, after students completed more than six weeks of high-risk rigorous training at the Panama City Naval Support Activity’s shoreline.
To get there, the graduates had to build underwater confidence and teamwork.
“They are excited to be here and find an amount of ownership in being the first class,” said Tech. Sgt. Marshal McClanahan, CDC NCO in charge of operations, who applies his former Marine force reconnaissance skills to the training he provides to the Air Force. “They’ll eventually meet others in this career field and share the experience with them. There is camaraderie in this small community service wide.”The new combat dive school is prepared to host six classes per year and 40 students each class to meet the Air Force’s increased need for divers since 9/11. Before this year, students attended an Army Special Forces combat dive course in Key West, Fla. In 2004, the Air Force hosted its own course at the naval station in Panama City because of their need to increase graduates and the available infrastructure at the naval station.
Film at eleven.
One question: Why?
I still can’t figure this out.
This is not new. AF has been training PJ’s to jump into water for a long time. Maybe they want them to stay under water a little longer to do other things now. Remember, it doesn’t necessarily have to make sense.
Lex,
USAF has always been on the light side when it comes to training their spec war individuals. (If you’ve ever seen the BUD/S stuff on discovery or history channel, they look a little intimidating. If you have ever seen the USAF PJ stuff, looks like summer camp!) Maybe they are trying to change that.
Remember the story about the pick up of O’Grady in Bosnia? Each service had people involved, SEALS, Force Recon, Rangers, etc. Some USAF general piped up that “We also played a role!” and the response was “Yeah, you got rescued.”
“If it were easy, it would say Air Force.”
Nose
I would guess that since Special Ops is the in thing now, the Air Force doesn’t want to get left out. There’s budget money to be had!
Poque said “I would guess that since Special Ops is the in thing now, the Air Force doesn?
Poque said “I would guess that since Special Ops is the in thing now, the Air Force doesn’t want to get left out.”
That’s a big roger.
Sounds more like supporting Panama City Naval Support Activity?
Sounds more like supporting Panama City Naval Support Activity’s budget. And cross-training Special Ops personnel of any branch is bad exactly …why?
I don’t exactly think it is completely bad. However I have served at Joint military bases and commands and it is absolutely hysterical to watch fights break out over “who belongs to who” and “your not my parents” break out from time to time.
Another stunt- USAF style. All the services pull ‘em, ‘cept maybe the Marines….
B2
Not really a stunt of any variety here. There’s a strong need for PJ/CRO and CCT/CCO bubbas out there and Key West wasn’t creating the class spaces (for obvious reasons). NDSTC has completely changed the nature of their courses and the breadth of courses offered. There’s no gimmick here….just that NDSTC has the means to train a lot more students than Key West.
And for those that haven’t been exposed to them, the pararescue/combat controller types aren’t pansies like everyone seems to think…..they’re a pretty high-speed bunch and their services are in high demand these days. They have these courses so that they can provide the full spectrum of support to the guys that they go to war with, including those groups of people that DoD doesn’t officially acknowledge.
A little education about their community is a good thing….
Oh, I don’t argue that the PJ’s are a wonderful breed, much in demand. It just surprises me a bit that with all the Navy EOD and SPECWAR available to USSOCCOM that the joint task force commander would have a need for someone else who dives, although I’ll grant you that the SEALs are pretty busy doing other things.
Seems to me that, in an era of fiscal constraints and joint emphasis, it would be useful for each SF cohort differentiates itself by specialization – not buying the same capability multiple times across multiple services.
Speaking of Jointness, I did a Westpac on a Canadian Oiler, 1983. The Canadians had one uniform, and all branches were represented on the “Navy” ship. The cooks were Army, the DC guys were Air Force, and I think there was a Paratrooper in the crew.
Are we heading in the same direction? I saw the new Navy uniforms….
DC Says: “Are we heading in the same direction? I saw the new Navy uniforms?
DC Says: “Are we heading in the same direction? I saw the new Navy uniforms….”
Unfortunately I did. Just what I want to be wearing if I fall overboard….camoflauge!!
RGT,
I’m not saying PJs are anything BUT outstanding for what they are experts at! Sure, some of them need to learn diving…but not to the level of proficiency described above for that mission set. Just like not everyone needs HALO.
Overall, it’s the same thing as the proliferation of SWAT teams and black helo organizations of every federal, state, city and county government.
‘They have one, and we need to have one too’
Stunt.
B2
Roger all lex, but I think the distinction needs to be understood. For the STS guys, they’re the ones on the hook controlling air as JTAC’s….much more specialized that the run of the mill (no disrespect intended) ASOS guys. This means that they need to be able to infiltrate with SF/NSW, which can mean diver capabilities. There’s one ST Squadron that supports the SMU’s, so it’s doubly important for the capability.
NSW/USASOC is so heavily tasked, that the pararescue mission will fall nowhere else but on the AF Rescue Squadrons. It can be far-fetched, but these guys may possibly have a need for the ability to ingress underwater, hence the requirement. The training syllabus (especially the med trng) is so extensive, that nobody else can pick it up as a “collateral”….the task resides with the AF Rescue Squadrons.
As people point out jointness, these guys are the posterchildren. The schooling is at Army, Navy and Air Force schools and they support all services (STS and Rescue Squadrons) with a very unique capability. The only change that they experienced was moving class seats from Key West to Panama City; no infrastructure was added. This capability has ALWAYS been resident to the AFSOC community. If the AF started their own combat swimmer school, then I’d say that the guys were being too parochial. All we have here is a group of guys gaining a skill set to carry out their mission, not taking a mission away from someone else. Every service, including the Coast Guard has divers/combat swimmer capability. Those with that skill are heavily tasked….and that’s more than just the NSW/EOD guys. Fact of the matter is that those guys are gravitating away from the traditional marine environment and deeper onto land….and some of their former tasking is being picked up by Army and Navy diver engineers (UCT’s, etc) due to a lack of nobody else to task.