[On the bombing of the hospital run by Doctors Without Borders in Afghanistan]

This incident underscores two very important questions for our Commander in Chief. Why would we have Afghans calling in close air support of our assets? And how do we define close air support — and what type of assets do we have to conduct the mission?

Close air support is the implementation of air assets in conjunction with ground troops in contact with the enemy. It involves the use of ground tactical air controllers (GTACs) or, at a minimum, someone who’s been trained in directing close air support. As a young artillery officer at Ft. Sill, Oklahoma, we all had to qualify on calling in a close air strike coordinating artillery smoke to direct/vector in aircraft. And our Special Operations forces are all trained in the employment of close air support. We know the enemy was occupying a hospital and directing fires against our forces…