ONE hundred and 50 years ago, in
1866, the town of Waterloo, NY, celebrated the first Memorial Day,
remembering the fallen of the Civil War. Fifty years ago, President
Lyndon B. Johnson honoured Waterloo and reaffirmed the Memorial Day
celebration, then centred around the heroes of World War II.
This Memorial Day, we’re fighting a different kind of war — one that would be unrecognisable to our forefathers.
Though
it involves thousands of Americans, and a good chunk of our economy,
the war against the Islamic State is fought mostly in front of computer
screens, in places like Langley, Va., and upstate Syracuse.
It is, in many ways, a surreal conflict, one where some combatants can get a latte after the battle.
For
that reason, it can be easy for Americans to forget we’re even fighting
a war. Though our airmen and women fly hundreds of missions a day, it’s
not uncommon for the conflict to go unmentioned on the news for weeks.
But
the stakes are just as high, as ISIS brutalises the people of Iraq and
Syria and preaches global jihad. Also, while the United States mostly
conducts air strikes at a remove, there are still 4000 US troops in
Iraq. Three have lost their lives in this war that we don’t call a war.
It’s called Operation Inherent Resolve.
Through visits to some of
the nerve centres over the past few months, and more than three dozen
interviews in person or by phone, the
New York Post pieced together a mosaic that portrays what a typical 24 hours looks like in this battle against ISIS.
Combined Air Operations Center (CAOC)
Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar
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Lt. Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr., a veteran fighter pilot, runs the air
war against ISIS from the Combined Air Operations Center (CAOC,
pronounced “KAY-ock”) at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, a sandy peninsula
adjacent to Saudi Arabia that juts 160km north into the Persian Gulf.
Housed
in a building as big as a barn, the CAOC resembles NASA Mission
Control. On the floor, dozens of US and coalition officers sit at rows
of computer consoles holding two to six monitors. Three walls around
them sport theatre-size screens displaying digital maps or imagery.
Looking over the consoles from behind are a balcony and offices,
including Brown’s.
The CAOC produces the daily Air Tasking Order, a
detailed master schedule of missions for every US and coalition
aircraft in the fight — bombers, fighters, tankers, drones, manned spy
planes, cargo aircraft. In a 24-hour day, 500 or more will crisscross
the skies.
Each day’s Air Tasking Order takes three days to
prepare. Officers around the region and at intelligence centres and
remote control drone bases around the world take part by secure phone,
e-mail and video teleconferences.
“It’s a constant dialogue and
then, based on that, we step to a process to identify the aircraft,
identify the missions, whether it’s air refuelling, whether it’s
intelligence, surveillance and recognisance, or if it’s a strike
capability,” Brown said by phone from the CAOC.
Operation Inherent
Resolve strikes are flown by three types of air force fighter jets,
F-15E Strike Eagles, F-16 Fighting Falcons and F-22 Raptors; two kinds
of bombers, the B-1B Lancer and B-52; plus armed MQ-1 Predator and MQ-9
Reaper Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs, aka drones).
Navy F/A-18E Super Hornets, Marine Corps AV-8B Harrier jump jets and the warplanes of a few allied nations also are taking part.
In
2015, at least one bomb was dropped or one missile was fired in 9914
Operation Inherent Resolve sorties. As of March 31 this year, the most
recent tally available, the number of strike sorties was 2781.
http://www.news.com.au/world/north-america/a-surreal-day-as-the-us-forces-show-what-it-looks-like-fighting-isis/news-story/3c6ec330a3d56fa84f69604aff04f65b
