Concur with Gas and Trash on the different view from an attack helicopter verus the jet. Close in fight from the helo cockpit verus the L-pod. Two different experiences.

Oprah went out the way he wanted to, providing CAS.

One more salient point to my response above. I did not work with A-10's. AV-8, F 14 thru F 18. Technology permitted these platforms to avoid threat to a very high degree relative to an attack helo, and still deliver highly lethal ordnance upon the enemy.

Originally posted by joe1234:

If anyone doesn't mind me asking....can someone give a real world of having good SA? Everyone keeps talking about it, but it's hard to visualize without a frame of reference.

I teach my young JTAC's a simple acronym that sums up SA to me;

The Seven P's:

Proper Prior Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance

As others have remarked about SA starting way before combat missions, it relates to the preparedness of our troops. Staying ahead of the mission via being proficient and prepared are great examples. If you're overtasked with things and not practiced in the execution of those tasks under arduous conditions, you will "fall behind" and out-of the OODA Loop.

I was fortunate to see how our training paid off with one of my young CCT troops in OEF recently. On his FIRST mission (since graduating), during infil to a HLZ, his CH-47 was shot down by AQ forces. Without missing a beat, he remembered his FIRST priority: Air Control. While this 47 was in flames, he grabbed his UHF/VHF radio and threw it on his back. As this was being done, he observed injured troops and then pulled them from the wreckage under fire. He exited the burning bird and immediately SATCOM'd the JOC at Bagram for assistance, and made commo with some AH-64's nearby. SA about that days ATO allowed him to know the who/what/where/when of all air in his AO. As the firefight went on, he occasionally would trade his radio for an M-4. This went on for hours and eventually they were exfilled after the AQ died and others faded away.

Hope this helps....

Wow. That's one hell of a first mission.

Originally posted by Scooter14:

Wow. That's one hell of a first mission.

Which is why you fly every training sortie like is is your last chance before combat.