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TACP teams to begin 1-year tours in 2010

BAGRAM AIRFIELD, Afghanistan — Airmen who are part of Tactical Air Control Party teams in Afghanistan will begin deploying on yearlong tours in April 2010, instead of their traditional six-month tours, according to the commander who oversees the personnel in country.

The move is intended to better synchronize the deployments of Joint Terminal Attack Controllers, Air Liaison Officers and ROMADs — who are apprentice JTACs — with the Army units they deploy with, said Col. Jim Thomas, commander of the 504th Expeditionary Air Support Operations Group at Bagram.

The change was ordered by Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz at the Army’s request, Thomas said.

There are currently more than 250 TACP airmen in Afghanistan, and that number is expected to grow. But there are concerns about whether there are enough JTACs to keep up with the demand of filling year-long tours with all Army combat brigades and battalions. JTACs are currently manned at only 62 percent, Thomas said, and retention is low.