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Photo by Drew Hamilton
1st Lt. Kyle Spain, becomes forward air controller. |
A White Sands Missile Range Airman will go from supporting the warfighter, by developing new missiles, to supporting the warfighter on the ground when he transitions to the position of forward air controller.
1st Lt. Kyle Spain, a project engineer with the 46th Test Group WSMR detachment, will soon enter a new career field as he transitions to take on the role of forward air controller. As a forward air controller Spain will be assigned to an Army unit where he will manage and coordinate air assets to help ensure that the Army unit knows what air assets are available to them and can employ them in the most effective way possible. Spain will also have the ability to embed with an Army unit and go with them on missions in order to help direct air assets from the front lines where they are needed.
Spain’s transition marks a change in Air Force policy on who may be a forward air controller. In the past, forward air controllers had to be pilots trained in air support operations. Now under a new program, officers and noncommissioned officers without flight experience may train as forward air controllers. Spain will be one of the first non-pilots to become a forward air controller under this program. “There have been some test people, but as far as the real program, I am one of the first eighteen,” Spain said.
Spain will be leaving WSMR later this month to attend the four-month-long course to learn the basics of air support operations. After that, Spain will attend additional training where he will learn to work with other branches of the military like the Army, Navy and Marines. Once he’s completed his training Spain expects to be assigned to an Army unit and to go with them on their next deployment.
Spain’s decision to transition from testing to air support was not a difficult decision for him to make. “Ever since I was a kid I wanted to be on the operations end of things,” Spain said. While the transition will be a change in missions, Spain said that his experiences working with other branches of the military at WSMR will help him in his new joint mission.
“I’ve spent my entire career thus far on an Army post, so another Army post is pretty much just another day,” Spain said. As a project engineer with experience working with such programs as the Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile, Spain feels that he’ll be able to use his knowledge and experience with the next generation of weapons in direct support of operations on the ground. “We test some of the weapons that are deployed and will be deployed, so I’ll have firsthand knowledge of them and what they’re capabilities and limitations are,” Spain said.
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