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Air Combat Controller 'Lowers the Boom' on Terror Troops
Wednesday, February 27, 2002
By Gerry J. Gilmore
American Forces Press Service

"It doesn't matter what country you're from, there is that common bond of military camaraderie. Once they [Northern Alliance] saw that we were a definite asset for them, there was immediate rapport."

WASHINGTON -- AFIS
An Air Force special operations trooper described moments of danger and levity when he and Army compatriots were hunkered down atop an adobe building north of Kabul last fall.

Air Force Tech. Sgt. Calvin, an air combat controller, said he arrived in Afghanistan Oct. 19, shortly before the start of the Northern Alliance's drive on Afghanistan's capital city. Less than 30 hours after his arrival, Calvin said he was directing U.S. military "smart bombs" and other ordnance onto key Taliban and Al Qaeda targets.

Calvin, who didn't release his last name for security reasons, said he and his group were about 25 miles north of Kabul when the Northern Alliance's offensive kicked off. The bombs he directed from U.S. Navy and Air Force planes, he noted, helped shatter Taliban positions that had held firm against opposition troops for three years.

When the offensive got going, Taliban and Al Qaeda troops were firing at his special operations unit with everything from small arms to bigger-bore weapons, he said.
(More: DoD News Source)
2002 © The United States Department of Defense.

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