ALPENA, MICHIGAN, UNITED STATES

U.S. Air Force Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape (SERE) specialists and 3d Air Support Operations Group (ASOG) Tactical Air Control Party (TACP) waged simulated war against 820th Base Defense Group (BDG) Airmen during exercise Capri Sun at an Alpena Combat Readiness Training Center operations site in Michigan, Mar. 31 to Apr. 11, 2025.

Blue force TACP and SERE conducted surveillance and targeting operations while being hunted by 820 BDG opposing forces in the bitter cold of Michigan’s forests reaching lows of 14 degrees Fahrenheit. The opposing forces’ goal was to detect TACP and SERE Airmen’s presence with small unmanned aerial systems, simulated intelligence injects, roving patrols, and reconnaissance and surveillance equipment, then to engage with blank rounds and simulated indirect fire.

“It’s critically important that exercises are difficult,” said Col. Anson Stephens, 3 ASOG commander. “You never want someone to see something for the first time on the battlefield when bullets are actually flying, so we intentionally make these as difficult as we can to push the limits, and the next time, that limit is even further to make us successful in combat.”

820 BDG’s primary mission is to defend austere airfields in contested battlefield environments, and this exercise enabled them to apply their defensive fundamentals to protect simulated adversarial assets on this battlefield. Blue forces aimed to infiltrate these defenses undetected to provide targeting data to strike assets.

“A motivated and capable opposition force truly tests the mission capabilities of the blue force, it identifies both strengths and weakness,” said Master Sgt. Anthony Pyle, 823d Base Defense Squadron opposing force leader.

These opposing forces stressed the TACP and SERE Airmen’s ability to blend into the environment, move covertly throughout the simulated battlefield and detect critical assets for strikes. The weather, environment and opposing forces confronted these blue forces during their 108 operating hours.

“It’s important for us to train in arduous and difficult conditions, because we need to be able to employ our forces anywhere, anytime,” said Capt. Aaron Moore, 3 ASOG TACP officer.

These blue forces enabled 820 BDG opposing forces to develop and test their subordinate leaders, the backbone of a flexible fighting force. Through centralized planning and decentralized execution, these subordinate leaders executed individual operations to achieve their common objective.

“The capability for a commander to empower their subordinate leaders to execute their intent with minimal oversight is a huge force multiplier in Agile Combat Employment operations,” Pyle explained. “Rather than operating as one giant echelon of troops at a company level, we can execute multiple missions at the squad level and below to achieve greater effects.”

Story by Capt Christian Little 

93rd Air Ground Operations Wing

MOODY AIR FORCE BASE, Ga. (AFNS) —  

U.S. Air Force Special Warfare Tactical Air Control Party teams from the 93d Air Ground Operations Wing enabled critical Command and Control (C2) and sensing capabilities for exercise Bamboo Eagle 25-1 across America and islands in the Pacific Ocean, Feb. 10-14. 

The employment of Integrated Sensing and Effects Teams (ISET), Lead C2 teams, Distributed C2 teams, and Mission Command provided a robust and resilient employment model playing a critical role in the exercise. TACP facilitated real-time data passage critical to feeding and closing long range kill chains achieving kinetic and non-kinetic effects, which are essential in future operations. 

“TACP’s C2 expertise was invaluable to the success of this exercise,” said Lt. Col. Alex Rich, BE 25-1 exercise manager. “They supported mission accomplishment and provided capabilities we need in future operations.”

Around 60 TACP and Special Warfare Mission Support Airmen employed diverse waveforms from numerous distributed operating locations to ensure C2 resiliency in an exercise designed to stress Airmen and their equipment in an advanced, non-permissive and modern battlefield environment. The exercise emphasized real-time planning and execution, requiring AFSPECWAR Airmen to be agile and creative in their application of target acquisition and distributed C2 capabilities. 

“The character of warfare has changed requiring TACP to evolve and solve joint and coalition force problems. We are more than cleared-hot, yet our roots in that role have uniquely enabled us to operate at the tactical edge, survive, and more importantly connect the joint force to not only employ effects at the right place and time, but give our leaders decision advantage,” said Lt. Col. Ralph Johnson, 19th Air Support Operations Squadron commander. “I cannot be more proud of my team, they’ve committed completely to the process of getting better daily in the lead up to these exercises and it has shown.” 

Contingencies and adversarial capabilities provide simulated enemies a vote in combat-replicative exercises like BE 25-1 which highlights a need for C2 resilience and diverse methods for mission accomplishment. C2 employment in the Air Force’s Agile Combat Employment scheme of maneuver creates unique challenges that require a flexible and adaptive force structure and Airman. 

“TACP are comfortable with ambiguity and adapting to unique and complex scenarios, it’s what we’ve been doing since our inception,” Maj. Zachary Van Cleef, 19th ASOS Assistant Operations TACP officer explained. “As top tier integrators and force multipliers, TACP will prove to be an essential asset in any future conflict.” 

As these complex C2 challenges continue to evolve, so do Joint Force solutions to these problems. 

“Our team prepared for this exercise along with RED FLAG-Nellis for over six months,” Van Cleef said. “They filled both a C2 and real-time forward edge targeting gap that proved pivotal to the success in BE 25-1. At the squadron, our team culture and commitment enable us to stay ready and yield high-level results wherever, whenever.”

By Capt Christian Little, 93rd Air Ground Operations Wing