1st ANGLICO: Talks to the Sky

Photo By Sgt. William Perkins | U.S. Marine Cpl. Stephen Alessandria, a joint fires observer with Special Purpose Marine Air Ground Task Force – Crisis Response – Central Command, observes a training target area to create a terrain model for supported air assets in the Central Command areas of operations, Jan. 21, 2015. The Marines helped Marine AV-8B Harriers attack training targets by vocally describing the targets as well as marking them with lasers. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Will Perkins/Released)  

CAMP PENDLETON, CA, UNITED STATES

06.11.2017

Story by Lance Cpl. Justin Bowles 

I Marine Expeditionary Force

Marines with 1st Air Naval Gunfire Liaison Company, I Marine Expeditionary Force Headquarters Group, completed the Theater Battle Management Core System basic operators course at Camp Pendleton, California, June 6, 2017.

The course is a three-day instructional period where Marines learn to operate the air warfare-planning tool that allows warfighters in the air and on the ground to communicate between each other more effectively to complete a common offensive mission.

ANGLICO Marines serve as the middlemen between air/naval assets to ensure accurate engagement of targets through the use of radio and signals communication.

“The TBMC system is the only air-planning tool that the Marine Corps has – there is no other system,” said Galin Oliver, TBMCS instructor with Marine Air Ground Task Force Integrated System Training Center-West. “Marines will only use this in theater when they deploy.”

It’s important that ANGLICO Marines understand the TBMC system to assess what aircraft are available to support operations during deployment. The TBMC system has a variety of applications and operations that deliver timely and accurate information to the Marines on the ground.

A large portion of ANGLICO units are comprised of joint terminal attack controllers who are Marines that coordinate and clear aircraft to use ordnance. Joint fire observers share the same tasks but they cannot clear aircraft to drop bombs, explained Sgt. Jeremy Roberson, a fire support Marine with 1st ANGLICO.

“JTACS and JFOs will use the TBMC system to prepare what targets will be fired on ahead of time,” said Roberson, a native of Detroit, Michigan. “To know when certain aircraft are leaving, what type of aircraft it is or how much time they have on station helps us craft a better game plan before we begin air warfare as opposed to improvising.”

ANGLICO leaders plan to send more of their Marines to the course in the future.

“The TBMC system allows Marines at 1st ANGLICO to have a better understanding of how the Aviation Combat Element plans operations on a daily basis,” said Maj. Matthew Ashton, commander, brigade platoon with 1st ANGLICO. “We can use this information to better process joint tactical air strike requests. This is definitely a course that we will be sending people to in the future.”

The Marines will need to exercise the skills they learn in the course as they are necessary for the success of future missions.

“The TBMC system skills are perishable,” said Oliver. “If Marines do not use the system they will forget the skills they have learned here in the course. Marines can come here as often as they like and get remediation if needed. The better the Marines are trained in a non-combat related environment, the better prepared they will be for whatever air combat mission comes their way.”

• Date Taken: 06.11.2017
• Date Posted: 06.13.2017 12:48
• Story ID: 237561
• Location: CAMP PENDLETON, CA, US
• Hometown: DETROIT, MI, US
• Hometown: LOS ANGELES, CA, US
• Hometown: WOODBRIDGE, VA, US