Viper Pilot_ A Memoi..

our paperwork, and were back in the squadron. This was a long, low building that
had been built during the Cold War and smelled like it hadn’t been used since the
Cuban missile crisis. It was “hardened,” or reinforced, with six-feet-thick walls to
withstand the nuclear attack that never came. Pilots coming back from missions
would drop off their paperwork at the duty desk and then wander into the
intelligence vault for yet another debrief. This was a sealed room with no windows.
There were lots of secret computers, and all the classified information pertaining to
our aircraft, weapons, and missions was kept here. Maps covered the walls with the
latest and greatest updates on MiGs and SAMs. We’d pass on our enemy
encounters and then discuss the target area.
Finally, after all this, we’d find an empty briefing room and discuss the flight in
detail. We’d talk through each phase of the mission, tear apart the good and bad
aspects, and arrive, hopefully, at ways to make it better. We’d dissect our
videotapes and analyze each weapon that was dropped, shot, or fired. From this,
and any intelligence reports, we’d arrive at a preliminary Battle Damage
Assessment. This would get passed up to the Mission Planning Cell, which would
use all the gathered information to plan the next round of missions.
I’d followed this process throughout my tactical career in training, so it was
nothing new. This time, however, we concentrated almost exclusively on the
combat engagements and our weapons effectiveness. The non-tactical stuff was
limited to ensuring a smoother flow of a hundred aircraft back and forth into enemy
territory. Like not having the Turkish Air Force run practice intercepts on us, or
making certain that the Patriot batteries were not firing on auto tomorrow. Little
things like that.
Three hours after we’d landed, we’d beaten today’s mission to death and were
planning tomorrow’s. It was to be a similar strike package against the welldefended
city of Kirkuk. SA-2s and SA-3s, of course, with a possible SA-6 and lots
of Triple-A. The F-15s had claimed a dozen Iraqi fighters with no losses, but they
were anticipating more of a fight tomorrow.
All the results from today were put together against the desired results for
tomorrow. This was all dumped on a small group of fighter pilots attached to the
Combined Wing Staff. Usually majors and lieutenant colonels, these guys were
thoroughly frustrated, because they were planning the war and not fighting.
Nevertheless, they took all this information, plus whatever general guidance was
provided by the Coalition Headquarters, the Pentagon, the White House, the God
of War, etc., and put together The Plan. This was published in a thick sheaf of
papers called an Air-Tasking Order (ATO), or “Frag,” and it delineated targets,