Battle Management with Colonel Mark "Boner" Waite
Description
Welcome to the sixty-fourth episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast! I am your host Mark Hasara, Air Force vet and KC-135 pilot.
Colonel Mark Waite took a very interesting route to fill one of the most critical positions in the Air Force as Airborne Battle Manager, surveilling the air over a battlefield and directing fighters and bombers to targets. Boner was a Senior Director in the E-3 AWACS on the opening night of Desert Storm. He's a graduate of the US Air Force's Weapons School and later an instructor in the Command and Control division. Some of his most interesting lessons learned come from serving in the Al Udied CAOC during the Afghan elections and now working in the cyberspace world, both offensively and defensively.
This episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast is financially supported by Wall Pilot, custom aviation art for the walls of your home, office, or hanger. Over one hundred thirty incredibly detailed Ready-to-Print side view profiles of famous aircraft are available on the www.wallpilot.com website, in four, six, and eight-foot-long prints.
The E-3C Airborne Warning and Control System or AWACS aircraft from the 961st ACCS based at Kadena Air Base where Mark was stationed is available in the Ready-to-Print section.
The RC-135 Rivet Joint provides battlefield electronic and signals intelligence to commanders and a Ready-to-Print graphic of the 38th Reconnaissance Squadron, the new RJ with the CFM56 engines is available on the Wall Pilot website.
The U-2 Dragon Lady spy plane works closely with the other Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) aircraft on the battlefield through datalinks which Mark discussed in the podcast. The U-2R Dragon Lady continues to fly ISR missions all over the world at 70 years of age!
The F-15E Strike Eagle was one of the airplanes in the Close Air Support role during the Afghan elections and this 335th Fighter Squadron Strike Eagle is loaded for that typical CAS role.
The B-1B Lancer bomber carried out CAS missions during the war in Afghanistan. This B-1B graphic is the 77th Weapons Squadron flagship, a division of the US Air Force Weapons School.
Thanks for downloading and listening to this of the LEssons from the Cockpit podcast, found on the www.markhasara.com website under the Podcast pulldown tab. The previous sixty-three episodes of the Lessons from the Cockpit show can be downloaded from my www.markhasara.com website.