“Thunder 41, 42 on Aux,” he said, indicating that he was calling his flight lead on their secondary radio.

“Go ahead Spectre,” he replied. Major Brett “Pounder” Van Pelt was an experienced Instructor Pilot (IP) and flight lead. He had been to Iraq three times prior. He had seen the transition firsthand from the “Wild West” to the restricted “look but don’t touch” mindset.

“We’ve got a TIC at MSR NOLA; I’m inbound to contact Whiskey 80 on Green 10.”

“Copy, go check in with the JTAC, I’m on my way, don’t do anything without me,” Pounder replied sternly. He was a fast burner in the F-16 community, having served as an operational test pilot testing the latest and greatest weapons for the active duty before joining the reserves. Just prior to the deployment, he was even selected by the Air Force Reserve Command as the alternate to go to the coveted Air Force Fighter Weapons School. Pounder was going places.

The convoy was over 50 miles away, but Spectre arrived on scene in just over five minutes. He checked in with the JTAC, callsign Whiskey 80, who gave him the on scene situation. A small convoy had been moving food and medical supplies along MSR NOLA from Basra to a village near Zubayr when an IED exploded, wounding two Iraqi soldiers and severely damaging one of their HUMVEEs.

“Requesting armed overwatch while we move the wounded to the MRAP and repair the HUMVEE, go with Fighter to FAC,” the excited voice said over the secure radio. It was Whiskey 80, the American JTAC in the convoy. He sounded young - couldn’t be older than 21, Spectre thought. What a shame, not even old enough to drink legally in America, but old enough to have people try to blow him up.

“Roger, we’ve got one F-16 with one on the way, each jet with two by GBU-12, two by GBU-38, and five hundred-fifty rounds of 20 millimeter, thirty minutes of playtime. Understand armed overwatch, confirm you’re strobing?” he asked, repeating the instructions and giving the fighter to FAC brief, an abbreviated way for pilots to give Forward Air Controllers on the ground their weapons load out and time on station. Tonight each jet was loaded out with two 500lb GBU-12 Laser Guided Bombs, two 500lb GBU-38 GPS guided bombs, and 550 rounds in the 20MM Vulcan cannon sitting over his left shoulder.

“We are now,” Whiskey 80 replied, indicating that he had turned on his Infrared Strobe to mark their position.

Spectre took his Night Vision Goggles out of their case and attached them to his helmet. He had been flying all night with them off. He hated them. Unless there was some tactical importance to wearing them, he avoided it at all costs - they just gave him a headache. If there were ever a time of tactical importance, it was now. After a quick scan, he quickly picked up the bright strobe flashing amongst the headlights on the highway. He picked out six vehicles, and then slewed his Litening II Advanced Targeting Pod to their position.