“Bravo Flight’s attack stream will be launching at about seven A.M. We’re looking at two radar bombing platforms, one GBU-15 bomber, two PAVE TACK bombers, and one recon bird in Bravo Flight. The GBU and PAVE TACK planes will have live weapons on board, one GBU-15 and two GBU-24s — Headquarters finally came through and got us a few real bombs to play with, so I want to be able to tell the boss that they weren’t wasted. Charlie Flight will be all strike — two laser, four radar, with one GBU-12 and one Mk-84 shape per laser plane. They say more live bombs may be authorized this week.” Employing all these precision-guided weapons during a Hell Week was very rare. “The recon bird from Bravo Flight will quick-turn and fly photo recon for both strike packages. Rebecca, that’ll be you.” Hembree put up a slide on an overhead projector, which showed the schedule of activity for each flight.
Furness was disappointed. In a real-world attack, the first planes over the target were the most important — the first hits had to be deadly to minimize the threat for the rest of the squadron following behind — so you sent your best troops first. Flight commanders usually led the strike packages using the PAVE TACK pod, a combination infrared seeker and laser designator designed to deliver laser-guided bombs with pinpoint precision. The flight commanders were supposed to lead, not come in after the “bad guys” had already been blown away. Flying photo reconnaissance was an important function of every combat operation, but that task was usually left to someone else in the flight.
Not only that, but they had real bombs to use in this surge.
She copied the critical times off the ATO for her flight, double-checking the numbers and weapon loads. “I’ll expect package briefings from the flight commanders at sixteen hundred hours,” Hembree continued. “I present the packages to the General at five, and then I’ll come back with any changes. Questions?” There were none. “Okay, let’s do it.”
Furness stepped up to Hembree just before he left the briefing room. “Hey, Dick, what about—”
“About you and Fogelman flying the photo bird? General’s orders.”
“He give any reason?”
“Nope,” Hembree replied. “I issued a report to him on the squadron inspection this morning before lunch, including Mark’s apparent disregard for 35–10 and for preparing for deployment — but I don’t think that had anything to do with the decision. He wants you to fly the photo bird, period. He also specified Ogden on the TV bomber and Little on one of the laser birds. If he has a reason for specifying the lineup like this, he didn’t tell me.”
“But Lynn just qualified on the GBU-15,” Furness said, shaking her head. Every crewmember entered the 715th Tactical Squadron from F-111G fighter lead-in qualified to do level radar, level visual, dive, and computer-toss bomb deliveries only — the unit then qualified them to fly visual toss, photo reconnaissance, PAVE TACK laser-guided bomb deliveries, then finally GBU-15 TV-guided bomb runs. The GBU-15 was by far the most difficult weapon to use because it required a great deal of crew coordination and it was very labor-intensive — the weapon system officer had to use the TV camera in the bomb to guide the plane to the target, then guide the weapon to the target after release, while the pilot initiated evasive maneuvers. Because of the skills involved and because the weapons were so expensive to use just for training, it sometimes took years for a crew to qualify. “She needed five bombs to qualify, almost twice the normal number. Larry Tobias needed only two to qualify, and he hasn’t had any since then.”
“Rebecca, I hear you,” Hembree said, “but the General laid down the law — he didn’t make ‘suggestions,’ he didn’t leave it up to me, and he didn’t staff it. Ogden gets the Dash-Fifteen, Little on a laser bird. And he wants to see Ogden and Vest do toss releases, and he wants to see a buddy lase.” A toss release was a bomb-release procedure in which the bomb is released “whip-crack” style while in a steep climbing turn to avoid overflying a target. A buddy lase was an attack in which another aircraft in an attack formation laser-designated a target for another aircraft carrying the weapons, which allowed more precision-guided bombs to be used with fewer PAVE TACK laser designators.
Both these techniques required an extraordinary degree of crew coordination and planning to accomplish properly. Rebecca didn’t doubt that her crews could do these procedures, but it was a lot of work for the first flight of a Hell Week.
As if to emphasize this point, Hembree continued, “It sounds to me like he wants to challenge this unit, to see what the newbies can do.”
“I’m just saying that maybe we should be easing into this a bit slower, Dick.”
“Becky, give me a break,” Hembree said. “The Wing King’s also trying to determine the proficiency and combat readiness of our outfit. Look at all the shit going on in Europe, in Korea, in Asia — we could find ourselves up to our asses in alligators in any one of these places at any time. A crew proficient with Dash-15s is an asset; a crew that’s not is a liability. We need to change them into assets as fast as possible. I don’t want this squadron broken up into crews that can do TV bombs and those who can’t — everyone will be proficient in all of our assigned weapons and tactics. I want our crews to be happy, and I want to reward the top performers, but I want combat-ready crews more than anything. Ogden and Vest do the toss Dash-Fifteen, and I expect to see a shack — you, me, the crew, and the General will watch the videotape together. Anything else?”
“You wanna talk about the inspection this morning?” Furness asked. “I’m prepared to give you an Air Force Regulation 35–10 briefing.”
“No. Just make sure Fogman has his shit in the bag and Paula does her hair.”
“She says she pushed her boobs out for you so you’d be too nervous to stare at her, but it didn’t faze you.”
Hembree chuckled, and for the first time that day Furness watched some of the tension melt out of his face. “I was distracted, but not that distracted. I noticed her damn hair and her uniform. Tell her to stop playing games and get her shit together.”
“I did. Fogman too.”
“Good,” Hembree said. “When the exercise is over, I’ll have you give a standup during Commander’s Call about 35–10. But General Cole has to hear it through the grapevine that I cracked the whip during morning inspection or I’ll be back pushing a crew. ’Nuff said?” Furness nodded, happy that Hembree was at least a little bit back to his old self. “Let’s brief here at sixteen hundred with your strike package, and tomorrow morning at oh-five-hundred for the mass briefing. I gotta go check on Ben and Alpha Flight. See ya later.” Furness headed back to the mission planning room where the rest of her flight was waiting.
“Well, I guess age doesn’t have its privileges anymore,” she said as she distributed the takeoff and target times and other information from the ATO. “Lynn and Clark, you guys got a GBU-15 toss tomorrow morning out on the Fort Drum range. Don’t screw it up.”
“You’re kidding!” Clark Vest exclaimed happily. “Man, that’s great!”
“Such unexpected largesse for a regular Hell Week,” Tobias observed, obviously disappointed that he didn’t get the TV-guided mission. “Something’s heating up. I know it.”
“I think you’re right,” Furness said, “but I don’t know what — Hawkeye’s not talking. Anyway, we got some live stuff, so let’s make the most of it. Paula, Ted, you got a live one too, a PAVE TACK shape; Bob and Bruce, you guys got the other one, and the Wing King wants a toss. Make sure you got your PAVE TACK preflight procedures down cold — you’ll be launching early in the morning with a cold pod. Ted, I expect to see some mind-blowing videotape of an in-your-face shack.”