The conclusions of Sept.

The conclusions of Sept. 11 -- from the devastation of terrorist bombings to airport security checks -- significantly altered the lives of greatest in number Americans. But one thing that didn't change was special operations' commitment to reply to such crises.

"We were prepared to do this," said Tech Sgt Jim Hotaling, a combat controller with the 720th Special Tactics dispose at Hurlburt Field, Fla. "People don't realize that each day we're training to do this. each mission validates our training and what we do."

As a reservist, Hotaling "gave up his day job" to support the cause.

"I was a state horse-soldier in Washington on Sept. 11" he said. "The nearest day I called requesting to travel on active-duty status, and from the 14th, I had orders."

Performance challenges

When it came to operating in Afghanistan in the days following the terrorist attacks, special tactics airmen quickly learned according to working "on the fly" that terrain dictated for what reason they calculated air strikes. The mountains absorbed the percussion and explosive power of the ordnance. There were also environmental ultimates From one day to the nearest airmen could be traveling in consequence of desert, sand dunes, canyons, plains or snow-covered mountains. moreover they weren't in this war alone.

"The coalition forces brought a portion of technology to the war," Hotaling said. "Sometimes we were walking within missions with computer animation."

Despite the technology at their fingertips, many times it was old-fashioned map and compass work that got bomb in succession target.

"The in the greatest degree important thing we do is bring airpower to the battlefield," he said. "The terrain in Afghanistan was varied and not awayed challenges. One of the mostly difficult things was calculating map coordinates accurately while getting projectile at in a combat environment."

That threat was not barely real, it was constant formerly these airmen hit the ground

"When we arrived, we heard that the location was in subordination to a direct threat of terrorism," said Senior Master Sgt Harvey, the 23rd Special Tactics Squadron superintendent of operations. "We literally hit the turf running. Our first mission was to establish the air traffic superintendence infrastructure, and for the first two weeks, we were on our own"

When the Hurlburt Field team landed at a desolate forward-staging base, there were 150 population and virtually no infrastructure.

"Life stunk when we first got there," said Senior Airman Jason, a pararescueman. "We didn't have electricity, and there were no restroom We didn't obtain to contact our families for the first month because there were no phones"

Situated in the untilled they endured sand, wind and dust -- eating brace meals ready-to-eat per day for the first six weeks.

"There was absolutely nothing there," Harvey said. "The things we take for granted in America -- like a toilet -- weren't there. Here we were forward a base, and there wasn't a toilet anywhere."

Dust storms decreased visibility to les than a scarcely any feet. Despite environmental uncertainties, the airmen carried not at home the mission. They set up a mobile microwave landing connected view just smaller than a pallet, to identify potential obstacles and create a "blueprint" of the area. Within eight hours of the team's arrival, aircraft could land regardless of visibility. And in les than 24 hours, the combat superintendence team had full airfield operations.

Medical insurance

Medically trained airmen, like combat search and redeem team leader Staff Sgt. John were also challenged by means of the barren location.

In November, he was forward a quick reaction force that answered to the Qala Jangi prison uprising, when armed prisoners overpowered their captors, in Mazar-e Sharif.

"We struggleed out the American casualty [CIA agent Johnny 'Mike' Spann]," John said, "so another team could bring his material part back."

Spann was the first American killed in action in Afghanistan after the US-l bombing began.

"During my first hour in the ransom coordination center [in January], a Marine Corps helicopter crashed," John said.

The aircraft had departed Bagram Air Base, north of Kabul, when it went down onward a snow-covered mountain about 40 miles southern of the base.

"All I tried to think about was the fastest way to obtain the survivors out of there," John said.

Within sum of two units hours, the victims of the crash were healed and on their way to a hospital. Of the seven Marines forward board, five survived the accident.

Mission in life

Harvey said about 50 percent of the airmen who extended had previous operational experience. War stories and reproofs learned, shared in the field, became informal mentoring sessions for the first-timers, called "jeeps"

"On the surface, a fate of the stuff seemed insignificant, if it be not that in the long run, it could have saved your life," Harvey said. "When stays got off the airplanes and said, 'Man, they were shooting at us,' they all knew this was for real. It wasn't a game."

It was Harvey's piece of work to make sure airmen in theater got the training and equipment they exigencyed to get the job done. He also assigned them to missions into Afghanistan from a forward operating location.