USAF Combat Controllers

· Combat Control Orientation Course, Lackland Air Force Base, Texas
This two-week orientation course focuses on sports physiology, nutrition, basic exercises, CCT history and fundamentals.

· Combat Control Operator Course, Keesler AFB, Miss.
This 15 ½ -week course teaches aircraft recognition and performance, air navigation aids, weather, airport traffic control, flight assistance service, communication procedures, conventional approach control, radar procedures and air traffic rules. This is the same course that all Air Force air traffic controllers attend and is the heart of a combat controller's job.

· U.S. Army Airborne School, Fort Benning, Ga.
This three-week course teaches basic parachuting skills required to infiltrate an objective area by static line airdrop.

· U.S. Air Force Basic Survival School, Fairchild AFB, Wash.
This two-and-a-half-week course teaches basic survival techniques for remote areas. Instruction includes principles, procedures, equipment and techniques, which enables individuals to survive, regardless of climatic conditions or unfriendly environments and return home.

· Combat Control School, Pope AFB, N.C.
This 13-week course provides final CCT qualifications. Training includes physical training, small unit tactics, land navigation, communications, assault zones, demolitions, fire support and field operations including parachuting. At the completion of this course, each graduate is awarded the 3-skill level (journeymen), scarlet beret and CCT flash.

· Special Tactics Advanced Skills Training, Hurlburt Field, Fla.
Advanced Skills Training (AST) is a 11-to-12-month program for newly assigned combat controller operators. AST produces mission-ready operators for the Air Force and United States Special Operations Command. The AST schedule is broken down into three phases: formal training, core skills, and operational readiness. The course tests the trainee's personal limits through demanding mental and physical training. Combat controllers also attend the following schools during AST:

· U.S. Army Military Free Fall Parachutist School, Fort Bragg, N.C., and Yuma Proving Grounds, Ariz.
This course instructs trainees in free fall parachuting procedures. The five-week course provides wind tunnel training, in-air instruction focusing on student stability, aerial maneuvers, air sense, parachute opening procedures and parachute canopy control.

· U.S. Air Force Combat Divers School, Panama City, Fla.
Trainees become combat divers, learning to use scuba and closed circuit diving equipment to covertly infiltrate denied areas. The four-week course provides training to depths of 130 feet, stressing development of maximum underwater mobility under various operating conditions.

by Staff Sgt. Mareshah Haynes
Defense Media Activity-San Antonio

3/31/2010 - SNOWMASS VILLAGE, Colo. (AFNS) -- In the blink of an eye your life can change forever.

That's exactly what happened to Sean Halsted when he fell 40 feet to the ground while fast roping from a helicopter during a training mission at Hurlburt Field, Fla. He went from an active-duty combat controller to a U.S. Paralympian in the 2010 Vancouver Games.

"I don't remember what happened," said Mr. Halsted, a former combat controller stationed at then McChord Air Force Base, Wash. "I just know one minute I was reaching for the rope and the next I was on the ground with my back hurting and the guys are telling me to lay still. We had some (pararescuemen) there too, and they were telling me to lay still and wiggle my toes. It was just a simple training and I fell off the rope."

As a result of the accident, Mr. Halsted incurred a first lumbar vertebrae burst fracture that damaged his spinal cord.

"That left me a pretty low (paralysis)," he said. "As a paraplegic, that's pretty good because there's a lot of guys who have a (paralysis) in the (thoracic vertebrae) level and they have a lot less function than I do."

Mr. Halsted's outlook about his prognosis of his injury wasn't always so positive.

"When I got hurt it was like, life is over. Good thing there's the Internet; good thing there's DVD players," Mr. Halsted said. "I'll just be sitting in my room passing the time and looking on the Internet. I found out that's not the case. Life goes on. Life is still there."

The Department of Veterans Affairs staff helped Mr. Halsted see he had access to programs to help him get back to living life.

"The VA is a great insurance company," he said. "We've got one of the best programs that help you out with anything that you've got. It's workman's (compensation) basically. I've met a bunch of guys who's workman's (compensation) gave up on them a long time ago and they had to turn to the VA because they didn't know what was available to them. I was just lucky I had the right people in the right places that said no, you're good to go, you've got these support systems. It's there, don't worry about. If things happen it's there. There are people to look after you."

The Washington State University graduate said his physical training as a combat controller also helped him on his road to recovery.

(As a combat controller) you have these expectations," Mr. Halsted said. "You can't accept sitting in your room. It took me a while to get through that because I was stuck in my room. I couldn't do the level of stuff I used to do. The training really did help me because my expectations were a lot higher."

Upon the urging of his physical therapist and the staff at the Department of Veterans Affairs, Mr. Halsted discovered a program that met his high physical expectations: the National Disabled Veterans Winter Sports Clinic.

"I started at winter sports clinic in 2001," he said. "It took three years to get here because I thought, 'Why would anyone want to put themselves through that kind of gut check; to come up to the mountains and wheel around in the snow?' I thought, 'What's the point?' Then I came and I was like, 'Wow, I was such an idiot!"

Once Mr. Halsted started attending the NDVWSC, he realized he had a passion for adaptive Nordic skiing versus the adaptive Alpine skiing he was doing before.

"I went with cross country skiing because I like that endorphin rush and it's fun being out in the woods and it's fun being on the slopes," he said. "I was an Alpine skier before. Racing Alpine just isn't my thing. I just wasn't getting that exertion that I used to get. For me it was just a natural fit to come to Nordic skiing. It just fit everything I wanted."

The training at the winter sports clinic helped Mr. Halsted go on to compete at the next level.

"It was essential basically because it exposed me to what was possible," he said. "Without that exposure, I don't know that I would've tried. I think it would've taken me a lot more to get out and start doing stuff. I would've just stuck with wheelchair basketball and I wouldn't have been happy. It was because they exposed me to these sports that it was like 'Oh wow, there's more out there.'"

In the 2010 Vancouver Paralympic Games, Mr. Halsted finished in the top 10 in all three of the events he participated in and he's not planning on slowing down anytime soon.

"I'm definitely going to try to keep trying to go with the Nordic adaptive ski team," he said. "Hopefully it'll mean (Sochi Russia 2014 Winter Games) in the next four years and definitely it'll mean World Cups in Europe and where ever they are in the next fours years. I want to push it as far as I can but I also want to open to the sport. I don't want someone to be like, 'I wish I had known about that.' I can't let that be an excuse. The worst excuse I can hear is I wish I had known about that. I want to be part of the solution and make sure more people know and more people get involved."

What does Mr. Halsted have to say to disabled veterans who haven't been to the NDVWSC?

"Get off your (butt) and get out here," he said. "There's a lot of (disabled veterans) who've got their couch potato tickets and they're punching them. Life is still going on, you have to live life. It gets me all riled up, but you don't stand out side the fire, you keep going. Don't exist, live."

5/19/2009 - HURLBURT FIELD, Fla. (AFNS) -- A combat controller, who is now charged with helping fill the special tactics ranks, was presented with two Bronze Stars with valor during a ceremony held recently at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas.

Master Sgt. Ken Huhman, a special tactics recruiter in San Antonio, received the medals for his actions during a 2007 deployment to Afghanistan while assigned to the 23rd Special Tactics Squadron at Hurlburt Field, Fla.

"His contribution to the special tactics teams, and all our combat controllers who are embedded, is just immeasurable," said Brig. Gen. A.J. Stewart, Air Force Recruiting Service commander, after he presented the medals to Sergeant Huhman. "What they are able to do, and do it under fire in the mountains of Afghanistan, is amazing."

During his deployment, Sergeant Huhman was attached to an Army Special Forces Operational Detachment-Alpha, or ODA. The special operations team conducted multiple combat reconnaissance patrols throughout Afghanistan's volatile Kandahar province.

This was Sergeant Huhman's second deployment to the country. The combat controller, who was a force reconnaissance Marine before joining the Air Force in 1996, also has a tour in Iraq to his credit.

"The main reason I became a combat controller was for the mission opportunities," Sergeant Huhman said.

Two such "mission opportunities" during this deployment landed Sergeant Huhman the medals.

One took place Sept. 5 and 6, 2007, while his team was patrolling a Taliban-controlled area of the province searching for stolen Afghan National Police vehicles.

When the team reached the target, they "disturbed a hornet's nest," Sergeant Huhman said.

They were attacked by small-arms and machine gun fire and rocket-propelled grenades from two directions. The team split up to maneuver around the enemy threat, with Sergeant Huhman's team taking cover behind a mud wall.

Using his joint terminal attack control skills, the combat controller directed a flight of F-15E Strike Eagles to drop two 500-pound bombs 50 meters from his position. The "danger close" drops successfully eliminating enemy fighters embedded on a hilltop.

Sergeant Huhman, repeatedly exposing himself to enemy fire, continued to call in close-air support for the team and coordinated a route allowing them to escape from the valley. In total, he directed the release of more than 8,000 pounds of ordnance and controlled six different attack and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft during the 26-hour ordeal.

Despite the barrage of gunfire and length of the battle, the combat veteran maintained his composure and killed 41 enemy fighters, all without losing a single American life.

"With combat control and all the responsibilities you have, all you have time to do is think about what happens next," Sergeant Huhman said. "You're just worried about making sure your team is safe and thinking about what you do next to keep them safe."

This approach enabled Sergeant Huhman to successfully employ close-air support even after his GPS broke in the middle of the battle, forcing him to revert to other, less technological techniques.

About two months later, Sergeant Huhman earned another Bronze Star with valor for a second firefight with Taliban militants.

In November 2007, the special operations team was conducting reconnaissance on a known enemy strongpoint. Using ISR assets, Sergeant Huhman was able to identify seven Taliban fighters setting up a mortar position. He called for air support and took out the enemy before they could attack coalition forces.

A while later, the convoy again found itself in a heated firefight as they moved through the terrain. Sergeant Huhman was temporarily blinded when a round impacted near his position.

However, he wasn't concerned about his own life.

"At the time I was just worried about the team," Sergeant Huhman said. "Once I couldn't see, I used the aircraft as my eyes to make sure they could see the convoy. I let them know I didn't have visual and that I had to rely on them."

The combat controller regained his site just in time to see a Taliban fighter aiming his RPG launcher at the convoy.

"He popped out of a doorway and dialed in on the vehicle," Sergeant Huhman said.

Sergeant Huhman fired off one 84mm rifle shot at the building before reengaging with his M-4 rifle.

He directed gun runs from support aircraft as the team pushed through the barrage of enemy fire toward their objective. Once there, Sergeant Huhman continued to identify and destroy enemy fighting positions throughout the village. In total, he spent 11 hours directing close-air support, completely emptying the ammunition on two F/A-18 Hornets and one AC-130 gunship.

Later that night, the team used intelligence assets to identify a meeting of high-level Taliban leaders in a nearby cave. Sergeant Huhman called in yet another precision airstrike that launched two 500-pound bombs and one Hellfire missile, eliminating the enemy.

"After we took out those guys, nothing happened in that area for six months," Sergeant Huhman said.

"They're life savers," General Stewart said of combat controllers such as Sergeant Huhman. "Had it not been for the air support he was able to call in, then perhaps things (would have turned) out differently in those situations."

But the quiet professional is not quick to tout his success on the battlefield.

"I was just one of the many guys doing his job," he said. "I was in the right place at the right time. Any controller in that position would have done the same things."

However, Sergeant Huhman says he is willing to tell potential combat control recruits his story. He is one of 12 special tactics Airmen from the Air Force Special Operations Training Center embedded with recruiting units throughout the country.

According to one of Sergeant Huhman's former teammates, those young men should listen up.

"He's definitely walked the walk," said Capt. Steve Cooper, who was Sergeant Huhman's team leader at the 23rd STS. "Recruits are going to listen to what he has to say."