USAF Patch g CAS PACAF c 603 DASS Direct Air Support Squadron FAC ALO Korea

USAF PACAF 603 DASS Patch Direct Air Support Squadron Forward Air Control Air Liaison Patch Packrats 1968 Korea DMZ uniform removed Local Made embroidered on twill cut edge 65mm by 43mm two and nine sixteenth inches by one and three quarter inches.

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603 Direct Air Support Squadron DASS was activated 15 May 1968 at Osan AB South Korea assigned to 5 Tactical Control Group under 13 Air Force. The Squadron operated a number of two man mobile Air Liaison Officer Forward Air Controller teams attached to the US Armys 7 Division at Camp Casey and Republic of Korea Armys 28 Division.

The teams with radio mounted jeeps for direct voice contact with aircraft pilots accompanied Army units on patrols along the Korean De-Militarised Zone DMZ and were tasked with calling in and controlling USAF ground attack aircraft for close air support for the ground units in the event of hostilities. Patrols were undertaken along rough ground tracks adjacent to the DMZ and the teams had to be on high alert because of the volatile aggressive nature of North Korea which had never declared the Korean War as over and with patrols sometimes encountering fire from the North Korean side of the DMZ. As well as patrolling the teams learnt their local terrain to identify and select with the Army the best vantage points for operation and undertook regular FAC exercises with the US Army and ROK Army including live fire operations.

603 DASS was inactivated on 1 May 1970

This USAF PACAF 603 DASS patch dates from 1968.