5/4/2011 - RANDOLPH AFB, Texas (AFNS) -- Air Force officials have released the criteria for basing tactical air control party and air liaison officer training.
Recent and current operations have created an increase in demand for TACPs and ALOs to support Army units. The current TACP/ALO schoolhouse at Hurlburt Field, Fla., lacks adequate facilities to produce the required number of TACP Airmen.
The basing criteria, announced May 4, were approved by the secretary and chief of staff of the Air Force and include factors such as mission requirements, training requirements, facilities and infrastructure, support capacity, environmental impacts and cost.
These criteria will be applied to all Air Force and Army installations in the continental U.S.
"The Air Force uses a deliberate, repeatable and transparent process to address our basing needs," said Kathleen Ferguson, the Air Force deputy assistant secretary for installations. "These criteria will help to ensure that all aspects for basing of this important training are considered."
Air Force TACP teams act as the battlefield liaison between ground forces and aircraft overhead. They are generally a two-man team, working in an Army ground unit and directing close air support firepower toward enemy targets on the ground. The ALO is attached to a ground unit and functions as the primary advisor to the ground commander on air operation matters.
The release of the candidate bases for the TACP/ALO schoolhouse is expected in summer 2011. After the release of the candidate bases, the formal environmental impact analysis process will begin, allowing communities around each candidate base to participate and provide input.
Comments
5/16/2011 1:55:51 PM ET The current TACP/ALO schoolhouse at Hurlburt Field, Fla., lacks adequate facilities to produce the required number of TACP Airmen. For those of us who have been to Creech AFB, Nev., there are practically no facilities in place. Why would the USAF build brand new facilities from scratch at Creech instead of building the few facilities needed at Hurlburt? The point is that the USAF is looking for a way to ultimately save money in procuring facilities to grow new TACPs. You defeat the purpose of saving money when you have to build everything from scratch at a new base. There has been talk in the past of moving the 1C4 schoolhouse to Kirtland AFB, N.M., due to the facilities that the PJs already have. I don't know what happened to that idea. Regardless, as a personal point of view, I hope that it is somewhere nice that they choose. Enough TACP assignments are unpleasant due to the nature of our relationship with the Army. We don't need a hole for our schoolhouse as well.
TSgt Trevor Bradford, Kabul Afghanistan
5/6/2011 6:23:34 PM ET I vote for Creech AFB NV. Put money into AF realm at AF location on the up with enough space to truly build a state of the art tactical oriented TACP -ALO School from ground up with realistic austere training labs with consistent weather to ensure maximum training potential. Co-located with active RPA hub to integrate training familiarization and interaction from day one with emerging delivery systems. Perhaps integrate some phase of training with existing Ground Combat Training Squadron already in place to compliment both courses. Proximity to Nellis to keep basic AFSC training separate yet in natural progression partnership with geographically near JTAC cert course. Keeps grouping of talented TACP- JTAC cadre synchronized and streamlined in one location to interact and support each others goal of top notch TACP- ALO- JTAC s. Win Win for all concerned for many partnered mission reasons.
Thinking Out of Box Warrior , USAFE
5/5/2011 4:16:46 PM ET Rick, TACP initial 3-level tech school has been at Hurlburt Field for close to 30 years. It now includes ALO since we finally have our own officer AFSC. So the schoolhouse for TACP/ALO is at Hurlburt, not Nellis. Nellis is the JTAC and ALO qualification courses.
TSgt Brandon Storey, Shaw AFB SC
5/5/2011 12:39:18 PM ET TACP/ALO training has been at Nellis AFB, Nev., since the late 90s....
