First enlisted-to-officer air liaison officers receive Air Force commissions

Published Sept. 15, 2009
By Senior Airman Melissa Copeland
Air University Public Affairs

MAXWELL AIR FORCE BASE, Ala. -- The Air Force's newest officer career field welcomed its first five former Tactical Air Control Party (TACP) Airmen after they received their Air Force commissions Sept. 9 from Officer Training School here.

Effective Aug. 1 the Air Force dedicated Air Liaison Officer (ALO) as a specific officer career field in the classification directory - 13L.

The primary role of an ALO is to provide expertise to Army ground commanders of all available Air, Space and Cyber assets to assist ground troops while in conflict. ALOs have existed in field combat roles since World War II and at the time were primarily fighter pilots.

The five prior noncommissioned officers were notified in March the program was accepting applications. After completing the Air Force Officer Qualifying Test and submitting officer packages to a board, most were notified less than two months later of their acceptance.

"It's an honor to be the first ones to go through this program," said 2nd Lt. Dennis Seay, a former TACP technical sergeant. "It's another thing to be one of the first to actually represent our career field from within our career field. Now it's kind of in the family - we get them from the inside and promote within."

One former TACP instructor at Hurlburt Field, Fla., echoes his sentiment.

"It's a huge honor to be selected," said 2nd Lt. John Grucella, a Lake Elsinore, Calif., native. "It's opening a lot of doors to a career field that was all enlisted. For myself, I really had no aspirations to become an officer just because I enjoyed TACP so much. Now I have the chance to be an officer in the same career field that I really enjoy."

The establishment of the ALO career field follows in the birth of other officer classifications for once enlisted-only Air Force career fields such as, the combat rescue officer for enlisted Pararescue Airmen, special tactics officer for enlisted combat controllers and combat weather officers for enlisted battlefield weather Airmen.

"We have a lot of motivated enlisted folks that have somewhat put off trying to get a commission because of the fact they were going to have to leave the career field," said 2nd Lt. Michael Hoffman, a former TACP who will be assigned to Fort Hood, Texas. "Now with the availability of this job, in this career field, I think we're going to find more motivation out of some of our enlisted."

Lieutenant Seay believes it will also provide an incentive for those working towards a degree - an officer career advancement option as an ALO.

For the five former TACPs, the most important result of the establishment of the ALO career field is continuity.

"I think the Air Force [created ALOs] for continuity purposes," Lieutenant Seay shared. "The ALO career field is going to give us pride in our jobs, pride in our career field and is going to allow us to be an ALO longer."

In addition, the liaison officer career field will provide experienced leaders.

"With the ALO career field we now have the continuity for the Joint Terminal Attack Controllers or Airmen to go to," said 2nd Lt. Matthew Willey, a former JTAC with the 2nd Air Operations Support Squadron in Germany. "We'll still have the ALOs who come in for the two year process, but now we'll have those who will always be in place, who know the process so we can build a better career field."

With one training school completed, the newly commissioned ALOs will continue along the training pipeline to the ALO Qualification Course at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., which began Sept. 14. From there, the lieutenants will head to Fort Sill, Okla. to complete the Fire Support Coordinator and Joint Fires Observer Courses and later, the Joint Air Operations Command and Control Course at Hurlburt Field, Fla.

The course schedule is designed to provide the new ALOs defined responsibilities as they transition from an executor, to a manager and leader.

"My biggest role as an ALO is to be an advocate for the Airmen and noncommissioned officers that work for me," said 2nd Lt. Brandon Pinto, a TACP enlistee who later retrained into the Office of Special Investigations. "Also to ensure that they have all the training, equipment and funding they need to be effective. We will be their top cover ... and that continuity for the career field as a whole to make sure we can continue to take this career field where it needs to be."

Lieutenant Seay believes the ALO position will require him to serve in an oversight position and require him to maintain a more broad focus on the collective effort of all team members.

Once training is complete, the second lieutenants will spread throughout the U.S. and report to some of the largest Army Air Operation Support Squadrons in the U.S., at Fort Stewart, Ga., Fort Carson, Colo., Fort Bliss and Fort Hood, Texas and Fort Lewis, Wash.

"As far as working with the Army, we are, if not, the top force multiplier when it comes to bailing people out of trouble," Lieutenant Grucella said. "We have the ability to use precision strike without having to lobby a lot of weapons or artillery."

One lieutenant believes the dedicated ALO officer track will provide the level of expertise Army commanders need.

"Having officers in our career field I believe will help support the Army better in that you have an officer that spends his lifetime in the close air support world," Lieutenant Hoffman said. "Whereas you have pilots come down for a few years and while they know their aircraft very well and how to employ its tactics, they might not necessarily know the ground situation as well as we would."

Air Force officials hope to push through at least three ALO officers per month to reach an end strength of 259 career ALOs.

Any Airmen, enlisted or officer, interested in becoming an ALO should be prepared for the physical and mental demands of the job. The training pipeline can last up to 10 months.

"It's definitely not going to be a standard officer job," Lieutenant Grucella said. "[Interested persons] need to make sure they're working out and have the heart to see it all the way through. This is a great opportunity to do something different, but still be part of the United States Air Force."

Lieutenant Pinto also welcomes those interested in becoming an ALO.

"It's a new career field and we're not going anywhere so we're going to make this a success," Lieutenant Pinto said. "We're always going to be looking for some hard-charging, motivated people to fill the ranks in the future. So if you're interested - take the challenge and come out."