Air Support Operations Operator

Sat in the Direct Air Support Center and answered the radio when an infantry company called for help. Processed immediate requests for close air support, CASEVAC, MEDEVAC, and assault support, found the aircraft, deconflicted the airspace, and integrated aviation with artillery and naval gunfire so none of it landed on friendlies.

The Story

This was the job where a lance corporal's voice on a net decided how fast a wounded Marine got to a surgeon. The DASC is not a back office — it is the seam between the ground fight and everything the air wing can put over it, worked in real time by people who mostly could not legally rent a car.