Air Support Control Officer

Ran the Direct Air Support Center. Planned, directed, and coordinated air support for the MAGTF — managing combat airspace, integrating kinetic and non-kinetic aviation fires with the ground scheme of maneuver, and owning the immediate-request process for close air support and casualty evacuation.

The Story

Officers arrived from The Basic School having been taught how a ground unit fights, then discovered the actual job was real-time triage over a radio with aircraft burning fuel while they decided. The Corps studied combining this billet with its air-defense twin for years before Force Design 2030 finally made the call.