A couple of days old.........I didn't know that this was going on.
http://www.kswt.com/Global/story.asp...menu613_2_18_1
Yuma, AZ July 8th - A major training unit at Yuma Proving Ground is being taken over by the Air Force. A special change of command ceremony was held Wednesday at Yuma Proving Ground to mark the transfer of the Special Operations Terminal Attack Controller Course from the Army to the Air Force. This elite course trains troops from all branches to work with pilots to get the job done overseas.
YPG's Special Operations Terminal Attack Controller Course trains troops on the ground to work with jets to bomb American enemies. Air Force Colonel Paul Harmon says since the training primarily involves jets, it naturally falls underneath the Air Force's roles and missions. "We're talking about fighter jets, be it Air Force, be it Marine Corps, be it Coalition Forces; it's air power changing more into the expertise of the airmen that are on the battlefield that completely support the U.S. Army."
Harmon says the Air Force is experienced in this type of combat warfare, and has been assuming these types of duties overseas in the War On Terror. "We have mostly the operational detachments that are out in Afghanistan and Iraq, most of them have an Air Force Combat Controller." Harmon says the Air Force will now have the majority of instructors and utilize YPG's expansive ranges and target support capabilities to offer a realistic training environment for troops from all branches to train. "We are taking over exactly as the Army has done it for the last 5 or 6 years; it's about a 4-week course, they do academics and a simulator which the Army is loaning to us until we put in another simulator sometime in the future."
The transfer will make the Special Operations Terminal Attack Controller course the largest Air Force component at the Proving Ground.
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