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File: aabgb_11.txt
By that time the bombs are uploaded, we go jump in the
airplanes, crank them up, taxi out of the ICTs into the hot
pits, where we get our INS [inertial navigation system]
alignments and get a full load of gas. From there, which
takes roughly 10 minutes, we taxi down to the end of the
runway, which takes another 5, and we are ready for takeoff.
In effect, we have a scheduled ground time of probably an
hour. We could do it in less than that. We probably have
10 or 15 minutes of sluff.
We take off, and we are so close to the border in the F-16,
as opposed to the A-10. It flies so quickly that it takes
us roughly 5 to 6 minutes to get to the border. By that-
time, it's airborne; we are talking ABCCC [Airborne
Battlefield Command and Control Center] and Bulldog, which
is the AWACS [Airborne Warning and Control System], getting
any specific changes to this mission that have occurred
while we were out of contact.
Generally speaking, for the last couple of weeks we have
been working with a fast FAC [forward air controller], call
sign of "Pointer," so AWACS will tell us, "Okay, here is
your frequency; contact Pointer such and such," so then
about the time we are crossing the border, we will be
talking to Pointer on one of our UHF of VHF radios. He
will, in the meantime, have found targets for us. He will
pass us the coordinates. We will type them into the
computer and, depending upon where those coordinates are, it
may be anywhere from 5 to 10 minute, from the target area.
We generally give him a 2-minute call; i.e., we are 2
minutes out from the target. He is probably circling the
target. Then we give him a minute call; we are a minute out
of the target. By that time, he rolls in with a mark of a
single Mark 82 or CBU [cluster bomb unit] or some type of
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