On Wed, 23 Jun 2004 12:55:39 -0400, John Hairell
wrote:

On Tue, 22 Jun 2004 10:15:02 -0600, Ed Rasimus
wrote:


There were all kinds of FACs. There were ground FACs, air-FACs,
Fast-FACs and even strange, semi-civilian FACs in unusual places.

It sounds like your question is in regard to classic, slow-mover,
air-FAC in support of ground troops. The US military operates
"jointly", meaning that forces of one service support forces of
another service under control of a joint command structure. Marines on
the ground could get support from any FAC who could employ any air.

Ed,

In the Vietnam era could Army ground troops at the company or lower
level talk directly to a FAC?

Yes. Once a FAC was allocated to a ground maneuver unit, the ground
commander could talk directly to the FAC. It might be the commander or
the commander's representative. Artillery FOs could talk to FACs as
well.

In the Vietnam era could Army ground troops at the company or lower
level talk directly to a USAF aircraft providing CAS if a FAC wasn't
around to coordinate?

Generally without a FAC, the ground Army couldn't talk to the
fast-movers. USAF fast-movers operate on UHF, while Army maneuver
units are communicating FM. The FAC (ground or air) was
"radio-intensive", usually equipped with FM, UHF, VHF and HF radios.

I'd like to hear your comments on this because I've heard (on the Army
side) there were all sorts of coordination problems with CAS/FAC ops
in SEA, and things weren't quite a "joint' as you indicate. In my
experience in the late '70s/early '80s Army ground troops could not
communicate directly with any USAF fast movers but they could
communicate directly with Army aviation assets, i.e. basically the
same set up as in SEA if my understanding is correct.

It goes back to the radio frequencies again. Army aviation flies on
VHF and talks to ground units on FM. (I'm not sure what the A-10
carries for radios--I think they've got Victor, which would be
essential for the old JATT operations.

USAF FACs and ALOs have the full range of radios in their equippage,
so they can talk to everybody.



Ed Rasimus
Fighter Pilot (USAF-Ret)
"When Thunder Rolled"
Smithsonian Institution Press
ISBN #1-58834-103-8