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Kerry Barret ReportingF-16 pilots out of Hill Air Force base are using their jets in Iraq in ways they've never really been used before. They're being used for non-traditional tasks, like reconnaissance and surveillance, intelligence gathering and tracking insurgents, supporting the ground forces however they need it.
Capt. Scott Johnson, Pilot: "I didn't know where I was because it was my first flight. I only knew there was a river and we were going to drop a bomb soon. And that's when things started getting a little different. Your heart starts pumping."
Captain Scott Johnson's experiences are not unlike those of the pilots he's flying with; many of them are experiencing combat for the first time.
Lt. Col. Peter Gersten, Pilot & Commander of the 4th Fighter Squadron: "Welcome to the war. You're certified two months ago, you're a brand new flight lead, oh by the way, here's your first combat mission and you're leading it."
They're tied to army troops, called in when they need an area bombed, but they're doing so much more than most imagined, like gathering intelligence and using their targeting pods to track.
Capt. Chris Vasquez, Pilot: "Our pods are incredible. They have a seeker on the bottom of the aircraft that can look at heat signatures and camera images."
And it's not always bomb.
"We're often time asked to look behind the back of a building, look on top of the building, and if someone makes a break for it, an insurgent makes a break for it that they're trying to apprehend, we're simply tracking them with our systems."
"Today our job was to watch the guys making Jed's, to make sure they didn't run off before the army guys got there."
They can call down and keep their troops away until they've got the area cleared. Sometimes it doesn't take much.
"There were full on armed, rocket propelled grenades, machine guns, all that kind of stuff. And as we showed up, I didn't have to do anything, it was just the jet noise and they literally dropped their weapons and surrendered."
But it's not always easy and it's not always insurgents. The weather can be a very unforgiving factor as well.
"You have to go to alternate locations sometimes by yourself, with no other support, show up at a different landing spot. And you'd be on your own, there was no support, just you and the runway and at that point you hope the training has set in."
Even the best of circumstances are wildly different than in the US.
Capt. Scott Jones, Pilot: "We're used to nice lighting radar rules and regulations, but out here you pretty much have to look out for yourself."
Lt. Col. Gersten says shortly after they got there, they began to send back information to the States for training, telling them what challenges they're facing, what they need to focus on and where it looks like things are headed.
