Serving with the 366th Fighter Wing and supporting the 28th Expeditionary Bomb Wing during the pre-hostilities and early phases of Operation ENDURING FREEDOM, U.S. Air Force Major Joseph Prue worked in the Mission Planning Cell and was the space support for operations that flew out of Diego Garcia into Afghanistan. He also did mission planning work for KC-135 tanker aircraft and B-1 and B-52 bombers. For Operation IRAQI FREEDOM, Prue was the 366th Fighter Wing's representative as part of Task Force Tiger. Based in Ar'ar, Saudi Arabia, he served as the chief of time-critical targeting for tactical air missions and, in this capacity, was responsible for categorizing targets into those that required immediate prosecution, those that did not, as well as identifying targets of opportunity that F-16 and F-15E fighters could engage. Among the most rewarding aspect of his deployments was Prue's ability to operate in a joint environment. "Being the only person at Space Command that has been a weapons officer – or any level of Space Command to experience a no-kidding mission planning cell – I was able to take that mission planning cell construct and, when I came back to Space Command, work with some general officers to try and develop that same type of cell for some of our other assets that are in Space Command. That’s one of the things I’m pretty proud to say that I experienced first hand,” Prue added, “and now it’s something that’s going to be pushed over to Space Command. Very few people in Space Command have a perspective of what the air guys go through, what they’re required to do, and what their necessities are. You’ve got be able to understand how you’re contributing to the overall air operations or even ground operations.”

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