HILL AIR FORCE BASE, Utah -- The blast of desert heat, the grit of sand, the distant thrum of artillery – these were the sensory hallmarks of Kirkuk Air Base, Iraq, in 2003. Stepping off a dusty C-130 into that austere reality, a young captain confronted a bare base, a blank canvas upon which mission success had to be painted with minimal resources. This was not a training scenario; it was the sharp edge of Operation Iraqi Freedom, a proving ground for adaptability in the face of chaos.
Does this sound familiar?
This was the reality I faced in 2003. With a rapidly evolving situation, we were forced to adapt quickly and find creative solutions to the challenges we encountered. In this commentary, I share my perspective and the lessons I learned about operating in a demanding environment and how this experience can be the foundation for supporting the future fight in a Strategic Competition world. My experience (and that of many Airmen) holds vital lessons to demystify ACE for today’s Air Force, poised to engage in the New Strategic Environment.
Echoes of the Past, Imperatives for the Future
Operation Iraqi Freedom, launched in the wake of 9/11, rapidly transitioned from conventional combat to a complex stabilization effort. Kirkuk Air Base, a makeshift airfield just north of Baghdad carved from the Iraqi countryside, became a microcosm of this transition. The fractured security landscape, decimated infrastructure, and the constant threat of asymmetric warfare demanded more than just running checklists with standard operating procedures; it required a culture of innovation and resilience.
The lessons we learned at Kirkuk are not merely historical anecdotes. They are strategic imperatives for the era of Agile Combat Employment (ACE) today. In a world where contested environments and dispersed operations are the new normal, the ability to rapidly establish and sustain bare bases is paramount. My personal experience taught me that ACE is not just about moving disbursed assets; it's about empowering Airmen to solve problems, build partnerships, and operate with maximum efficiency under extreme duress.
Kirkuk's Blueprint, Forged in Fire, Tempered for ACE's Five Pillars
My experience in Iraq, offers a powerful lens through which to examine the five core elements of ACE from AFDN 1-21: posture, command & control, movement and maneuver, protection, and sustainment. By aligning our past experiences with today’s modern ACE framework, we can ensure we are prepared today for the battlespace of tomorrow:
- Posture is the starting position from which subsequent actions take place. At Kirkuk, our “posture" was primarily reactive. However, we quickly established a bare base in a contested environment under threat of mortar attacks, with no forklifts, minimal security, and a few rations. We quickly organized into an air expeditionary group, established working relationships with the Army’s 173rd Airborne Brigade as well as with local Iraqi government leaders through written memorandums of understanding, while prioritizing our needs. However, this experience highlighted the need for more proactive strategic positioning in advance.
Today, this means pre-positioning critical assets, developing adaptable basing options, and understanding the strategic importance of key locations in a potential conflict. At the 419th Fighter Wing, our “Griffin Strategy” lays out a framework to better position our Airmen through incremental improvements that focuses on skill training, individual readiness, and mission command.
- Centralized command, distributed control, and decentralized execution provide the framework for the Command & Control part of ACE. Kirkuk was a masterclass in decentralized command. With limited guidance from higher headquarters, our commander fostered a “culture of initiative”. The now-famous "goat grazing" solution (by having herders bring their goats on base to chew down the overgrown airfield) was not just a clever workaround that allowed aircraft to land; it was a testament to empowering Airmen to think creatively while we waited weeks for lawn mowing equipment to be shipped in.
Today, this translates directly to ACE's C2 element, which emphasizes distributed control, resilient communication networks, and the ability to operate (and innovate) in degraded or denied environments. During exercise GRIFFIN AWAKENING, an Airman overcame the jamming of radios by quickly deploying legacy wired field phones to ensure C2 was maintained between the command post and perimeter sentries.
- ACE provides greater agility to outpace an adversary’s action through Movement and Maneuver. Joint integration with the 173rd Airborne to teach Airman how to lead supply convoy operations in northern Iraq (without any prior home station training) highlighted the importance of ensuring rapid movement and maneuver by “MacGyvering” in the field (and I will admit that it took a number of tries to get it right).
Today, this translates to Mission Ready Airmen, capable of rapidly deploying and establishing austere operating locations (potentially over vast swaths of ocean). Recently, the 419th Fighter Wing has been iterating ACE principles in exercises such as Bamboo Eagle that stretches force elements and command-and-control structures across several “hub and spoke” locations across the western United States to fully exploit the 5-domains of warfare (air, land, sea, cyber, space).
- To stay in the fight, a combination of active and passive Protection is necessary to counter threats in all 5-domains. The incidents at Kirkuk, from several accidental weapon discharges (during security details) to an unplanned munitions storage fire (that started from an unsecured trash burning event), underscored the need for better training and more robust protection measures.
In today's ACE framework, this means improving inter-service integration, better individual training, and leveraging active and passive defense measures against new threats such as drone and cyber attacks. Last year, the 419th Force Support Squadron incorporated warrior skills training (such as base defense, weapons handling, and combatives) with SILVER FLAG training to better prepare our Airmen for a wider range of threats, at home station or abroad.
- Sustainment requires infrastructure innovation, operationalized war reserve materiel, and prepositioned equipment. Back in 2003, we did not deploy with everything we needed for the mission. In fact, we had to pool our resources (such as body armor and personal weapons) for use by those Airmen going “outside the wire”. We also learned creative ways to share our spare vehicle parts with the Army so we could sustain convoy operations (particularly when our logistics systems could not “talk” to each other).
Today, there is no perimeter wire to protect us in a 5-Domain world. This means ensuring timely access to pre-positioned equipment, resilient distributed logistics networks, and 3-D printing to ensure continuous sustainment in contested environments. Also, interoperability (with other Services and Allies) must be practiced so we may learn from our failures, identify pain points, and show us how we can improve as we have done with exercises like VERSATILE SERPENT.
From Past Experience to the Future Fight
My lessons forged in the crucible of Kirkuk extend far beyond the specific circumstances of Operation Iraqi Freedom. They offer a boilerplate of best practices for Agile Combat Employment 20-years later, particularly as we face the challenges of a rising peer adversary. As Col. Ronald Sloma, 419th Fighter Wing commander recently said, we can be “Ready Now” by executing a solid game plan and staying two steps ahead of our adversaries. His message emphasizes the importance of preparedness and adaptability in an ever-changing global landscape as a best practice to foster a “culture of initiative” thinking.
Strengthening joint interoperability is just as crucial to creating desired mission effects rather than relying on mission platforms. We must also encourage deeper partnerships with our Allies to leverage the unique capabilities each partner nation brings to the fight. Why? Because instead of nearby forward operating bases that you can drive to, we may be on islands potentially thousands of miles away from the main base separated by water. And instead of mortar attacks, it may be ballistic missiles.
Finally, investing in resilient force development, building Airmen who can withstand the stresses of contested environments, will be essential for maintaining mission effectiveness when the going gets tough. We must build a team culture embodying the "Griffin Grit, Never Quit" spirit, where success is born from hard work, perseverance, and teamwork. This culture, fostered through feedback mechanisms and efficient processes, will ensure we are "Ready Now" as a force our adversaries are unwilling to face tomorrow. In essence, we must view the hard-won lessons of Kirkuk as the blueprints for our own "DeLorean Time Machine," allowing us to accelerate our adaptation to effectively counter emerging threats and requirements.
By internalizing these hard-won lessons from Kirkuk and embracing the principles of our Griffin culture, the Air Force can ensure it is prepared to execute ACE across the spectrum of conflict, maintaining air, cyber, and space dominance in an era of Strategic Competition, while actively building a force that is both revered by our allies and feared by our enemies.
Col. Kuzma is the 419th Mission Support Group Commander at Hill AFB, Utah and is a recent graduate of the Joint & Combined Warfare School-Hybrid. The views expressed in this commentary are his own.