Hey y’all, I’m Nikki! My husband has been a TACP in the Air Force for almost 12 years now. We have been married for 10 of those years, have 2 beautiful girls, and are at his third duty station! I’m here to tell you a little bit about what it’s like to be married to a TACP. “A TAC…what?” Is usually what you’ll hear after talking to a lot of other WAF’s. Don’t know what a TACP is? It’s okay, sometimes I feel like I don’t fully understand it either. Let me also preface this by saying that this is my husband’s timeline and journey in this career field when he joined back in 2007. Everything, and I mean just about EVERYTHING is changing, as we speak, about this career. From how long tech school is all the way down to specialty schools and how soon you’ll be at your first duty station. Everyone’s journey in this “party” is a little different and I think that is half of the fun. Yes, I said party. After all, it’s what the “P” stands for.`
WHAT IS IT?
The Tactical Air Control Party (TACP) makes up a small portion of the Air Force known as the combat airman or special operators. They are embedded in Army and Marine units on the front line with the responsibility of communicating with various types of aircraft to bring support to the mission by using air power when they become JTAC qualified. Or in “civilian talk”, how my husband explained it to me, “we wear radios and drop bombs.”
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU BECOME A TACP?
After Basic Military Training (BMT) you will go to Tech School. During that time your spouse will be tested both physically and mentally to determine if they are capable of becoming a TACP.
Once your spouse graduates Tech School they earn their black beret! At this point, my husband attended SERE training and was assigned to his first duty station. Once he was at his duty station and had two, 6-month deployments under his belt…he was offered a slot to attend the Joint Terminal Attack Controller Qualifying Course (JTAC-QC). All of the timelines and regulations are different now (and still changing), so your spouse may have a different path than this. According to the Air Force website, the new expected timeline is: BMT-8 weeks, Special Warfare Preparatory Course (SW PREP)-8 weeks, TACP Preparatory Course-1 week, TACP Apprentice Course-12 weeks, Airborne School-3 weeks, SERE Training-3 weeks.
MY SPOUSE GOT HIS FIRST DUTY STATION, BUT WHY ARE WE GOING TO AN ARMY BASE?
My husband’s first duty station was Fort Drum, New York. Because this job works hand in hand with the Army, you can expect to be stationed at an Army base (with some exceptions). This poses its own set of problems when it comes to a lot of things, but it also has its perks! When there is a small community of Air Force in the middle of a huge Army base, you can almost always count on becoming a family. We had a pretty tight group of spouses at Drum and it made the long deployments and even longer winters manageable. I am obviously biased, but the TACP community is one of the most inclusive communities I have ever seen in the military. The guys have each other’s backs down range and the spouses have each other’s backs on the home front. We all take pride in being a part of the TACP family!
WHAT IS THEIR DAY TO DAY WORK LIFE LIKE?
Your spouse will most likely (not always) work at something called an Air Support Operations Squadron(ASOS). Everyone’s day will look different. There is really no knowing what your spouse will be doing during their time stateside from day-to-day. They don’t do shift work, but they also don’t work 9-5. It really is all about where they are in their training or career and the ops tempo of that individual squadron.
WILL MY SPOUSE BE GONE OFTEN?
Well, friend, there is no easy way to confront this part of being a TACP spouse. The answer is yes…a LOT. This is one of the downsides of having to be stationed at an Army base. They will have to travel for just about every training they need. One of those major trainings is Joint Terminal Attack Controller-Qualification Course (JTAC-QC) at Nellis AFB in Las Vegas or in Vilseck, Germany. To complete this training they will go to a Combat Training Squadron for about 4.5 weeks. While they are there they will be training to achieve a JTAC qualification. This qualification grants them the authority to actually call in the airstrike. Once they become JTAC qualified they have to maintain their currency and proficiency, which is where most frequent TDYs come in. However, other TDYs are required for training purposes.
WHAT ABOUT THE DREADED “D” WORD?
Oh, the deployments. Just like every other job in the military, deployments are inevitable. However, most of the time, these deployments won’t be the Facetime every day, talk all the time type of deployments some of your WAF friends may have experienced. Due to their combat work, they will most likely be in more remote areas with very little internet access rather than in a big city. But, like I have said before, everyone’s deployment is different so it really is a case-by-case scenario.
The demands of this type of job are very high, but don’t let that scare you. If you have a good support system and a strong family foundation it is possible to have a successful marriage and family life in this career. The operation tempo is going to be different at ever squadron you are in and every family has their own ways of making it work. My advice to you is to find your tribe and settle in for the ride! Besides, aren’t we all just making it up as we go anyway? Cheers, sister!
MEET NIKKI
