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Report from the battle zone

Former McIntosh student to talk about war on terror

By MICHAEL BOYLAN
mboylan@TheCitizenNews.com

Senior Airman Jeff Emanuel spoke to students at his alma mater, McIntosh High School, after returning from the war in Iraq. Emanuel will speak to the students again tomorrow, this time about his job as a highly decorated Special Tactics Operator from the Air Force Special Operations Command and his role in the war on terror.

Emanuel was an Air Force Combat Controller. The mission of a Combat Controller is to deploy by the most feasible means available; sea, land or air, into combat and non-permissive environments.

Combat Controllers are Special Tactics Operators perform assault zone assessment and establishment, air traffic control, command and control communications, special operations terminal attack control, and removal of obstacles with demolitions.

As a member of the highly classified Task Force 20 and Task Force 121 from the Joint Special Operations Command serving in Iraq, Emanuel served on missions that included the captures of vice President Tariq Aziz and terrorist Abu Abbas and the rescue of PFC Jessica Lynch, among others.

He split 2003 between Fort Lewis, Wash. with the First Special Forces Group and Iraq, with Joint Special Operations Command. He left active duty in January 2004 and is now in the Air National Guard.

Emanuel graduated from McIntosh in 1998. He played football in school and was also a member of the Young Republicans and the Model U.N.

Emanuel joined the Air Force in 1999. He underwent a rigorous Special Tactics training “pipeline” which included Navy SEAL underwater operations training, Special Forces parachute training, Air Traffic Control school and several other courses ranging from Key West, Fla., to Spokane, Wash.

Emanuel was stationed at Fort Campbell, Ky., with the Fifth Special Forces Group from late 2000 until the end of 2001. He was then stationed at Camp Red Cloud, South Korea, where he performed a homeland defense mission and trained Korean Special Forces in operational skills.

Tomorrow’s talk was originally scheduled to be before a joint meeting of the Young Republicans and Young Democrats at the school, but interest in the talk among the student body has grown and it will now be before a larger portion of the student body.

Emanuel’s brother, Joe, is a member of the Young Republicans and the talk was set up by Joseph Jarrell, Emanuel’s favorite teacher when attending McIntosh and also the sponsor of the Young Republicans club at the school.

“The core message of my talk will be relating my experiences within the war on terror,” said Emanuel. “There’s no political message and this isn’t a recruiting visit, it’s just the facts of my experiences.”

Emanuel will address the students in the school’s library tomorrow at 7:30 a.m.