Small Wars Journal

Hawg: The Story of the A-10 and Close Air Support in Afghanistan

Sat, 09/05/2015 - 4:49am

Hawg: The Story of the A-10 and Close Air Support in Afghanistan by Tony Carr, John Q. Public

Several months ago, I came to possess film footage depicting the exploits of an A-10 Fighter Squadron in Afghanistan during the fighting season of 2014. The story it rendered, through interviews and first-person experiences on the battlefield, vividly illustrated the essential role of the A-10 Warthog, its community of pilots, and Joint Terminal Attack Controllers working together expertly to save the lives of ground troops engaged in close combat in the most dangerous place in the world…

The importance of the video was instantly unmistakable. At a time of constrained budgets, shuffling fiscal priorities, and escalating global instability, national defense choices must be as maximally informed as possible. The voting public needs information, as do its elected representatives, to make the best use of scarce defense resources. I was excited to think the Air Force had seen fit to make the video, and eagerly awaited its official release. When a similar documentary chronicling an F-16 squadron hit the streets, I and others aware of the A-10 footage assumed it wouldn’t be long. We were mistaken…

Read on.