SIG SAUER - Never Settle

Blast from the Past – Battlefield Airmen on the Job

Why? Because I just like this post from March, 2011 is why.

We like seeing official Air Force photos of Battlefield Airmen applying airmanship to the tasks at hand. In this case we see U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Stacy Maxey, a command air mobility liaison officer with Task Force CROM, giving a landing zone safety officer course U.S. Air Force, U.S. Army, and Romanian army personnel at Forward Operating Base (FOB) Lagman, Afghanistan.

You will note the combination of AF Digital Tigerstripe, Army UCP and Army OCP (MultiCam) clothing and equipment on the Airmen in the photo. Expect this to be the norm for at least the near future as deploying Airmen transition to OCP.

18 Responses to “Blast from the Past – Battlefield Airmen on the Job”

  1. Kind of got a whole camo pattern Charlie Foxtrot going in that pic, don’t they?

  2. J G says:

    I’ll leave this little gem here…
    http://oi40.tinypic.com/14y681y.jpg

    • SSD says:

      I love that photo.

    • Eric B says:

      What the hell is that Chief wearing, a snow pattern? Damn, maybe he was just color blind and didn’t notice his shit was so washed out. No excuse for that fat ass on the end though. For a second I thought she had the rest flaps down on that patrol cap.

      • Cap'n Drew says:

        The first two sets of ABUs I got washed out to about that color within a year or so.

  3. Kaos-1 says:

    Yeah, the only ones that seem to have their sh%t together are the Romanians

  4. Stefan S. says:

    Pre Iraq invasion. The AF we had with us had M-16A1’s, Alice suspenders and silver duct tape with their names on their PASGT helmets! AKA a soup sandwich! Wouldn’t see that in a recruitment commercial.

    • Hoff says:

      The Air Force has a habit of making non-cops or combat Airmen put the literal name tape on their helmets and vest like that as you would when wearing JLIST in the AF. It’s all in AFPAM 10-100.

  5. Justin says:

    What the hell does “Applying Airmanship” consist of?

    • SSD says:

      If you don’t know, you obviously aren’t an Airman and have never benefitted from any form of air or space support.

      • Justin says:

        No, I’m not an Airman. It was a serious question though. From what I can tell it appears to be the equivalent of “doing their job”. Don’t be so sensitive.

        • DBACK028 says:

          Basically they’re teaching you how to fly your X-Wing into the death star and go pew pew and save the galaxy.

          If that’s not the answer. I have no idea

          • SSD says:

            No, it’s not the answer. Applying Airmanship isn’t limited to just Battlefield Airmen and is the act of using one’s expertise as a member of the Air Force to advise and assist another service. For example, TACs provide terminal attack control. Members of GAWS provide medical, extraction and Personnel Recovery support. Space Operators (yes, I loathe the term) provide GPS, space weather, TENCAP and SATRAN support. Combat Weather provides meteorogical support. Physiological Techs support prebreathing for MFF operations. Medical Evacuation personnel will do just that. Airborne qualified Red Horse Civil Engineers will repair assault landing zones to support the supply of ground troops. Intel personnel may provide linguist and ISR support. Comms personnel may provide linkages into AF communications and cyber nets. And so on.

            This was a very important part of what we did in the AF units I was assigned to and was the very reason that the Special Tactics community I supported was created in the first place.

  6. MAJ Michael says:

    I, for one, am just delighted that there is a TF devoted to the worship of Crom, patron deity of the Cimmarians.

    I would pray to him, but I have no tongue for it.

  7. DBACK028 says:

    This kind of brings up an interesting question for me though. What is the USAF doing about their camouflage situation? Surely they realize that they need a more “combat effective” uniform. Are they just going to stay with the Tiger Stripe for state-side uniform and use OCP for deployment? Or is it going to full transition to OCP? That would be hella funny if they were the ones to transition into Multicam and the Army doesn’t.

  8. Ironmnky says:

    Not according to this he’s not: http://m.airforce.com/joining-the-air-force/technical-training/battlefield-airmen
    I never liked the term, but I dislike mediocrity even worse.

    • SSD says:

      If you’re referring to Lt Col Maxey, he was in fact a Battlefiled Airman, at the time of this photo at least. ALOs and Air Mobility Liaison Officers are Battlefield Airmen.