DENVER -- A large part of the homeland security plan involves fighter jets. You may not see them, or know they're there, but they're armed and ready, patrolling the skies over Colorado and the rest of the country.

Video

Fly Aboard An F-16 Over Montana

7NEWS Investigator John Ferrugia recently took a ride in the backseat of one of these F-16 fighters.

Loading weapons and getting ready for battle -- this could be Afghanistan or the Middle East. But this is Montana.

"You are always practicing and scrimmaging. In the national guard, that's your whole role in life – training," said Col. Pat Pauli, Commander of the 120th Fighter Wing. "Always training, but never getting in the game. But now all of a sudden we are in the game. Nobody ever thought we would be doing homeland defense within Great Falls, Montana. It's unfathomable."

Air National Guard pilots here in Colorado and across the country have been flying classified sorties, responding to the intelligence warnings, and taking orders from the North American Air Defense command in Colorado Springs.

Guarding America's skies -- that says it all.

On this day, the assignment was to patrol an area several hundred miles south. As we climbed rapidly toward our cruising altitude, we paired up with a wingman who would be along for the six-hour combat air patrol. It is an impressive sight to see an F-16 bristling with armament.

For many, it might be part of the childhood fantasy of building model airplanes. But it is a sobering thought for the pilots, and for an observer, to think of how these war machines might have to be used in American skies.

"Is the reality of having to shoot down one of our airliners a tough thing to think about?" John Ferrugia asks the F-16 pilot.

"Yeah, I think it would be a tough thing for anybody to think about … but there's another (side) you know. How many more people that are just innocent civilians that are on that thing … it would be a pretty tough call," the pilot said.

As we settled in for the six-hour sortie, we pass the Airborne Warning And Control Surveillance plane or AWACS plane which will vector us and our wingman toward any unidentified target which might present a threat.

Pilot to Ferrugia: Are you comfortable back there?
Ferrugia: Yeah
Pilot: Let's see what your answer is three hours from now!
Ferrugia: Yeah, the seat and I are going to be good friends by that time.

But there wasn't time to get too comfortable. The call came from the AWACS. There is an unidentified plane flying at 11,000 feet. Our plane, Posse 71, was vectored toward it.

We spot it. It's just a small speck when you're near 30,000 feet but it could be a real threat.

"Continue to monitor that track until he extends five miles to the northwest," a person on the radio says.

Along with his wingman, Posse 71 monitored the small plane until he was out of the area, and then broke off the surveillance.

As dicey as it may seem, airborne refueling at 300 knots at 30,000 feet is as routine for this pilot as take-offs and landings.

But for an observer in the back seat, it can be a bit unnerving to see that pressurize nozzle come within a few feet of the canopy. That is why none of these professionals is complacent. A mistake at this point could be fatal for everyone.

On this combat air patrol, the dams, reservoirs and other civilian and military targets in this area of southern Idaho and northern Utah are evident.

But I am not told the specific threat prompting a 24-hour scramble. Even though there has been no successful terrorist attack since Sept. 11, this pilot is alert.

"You know what if this is the one, because we never know what the terrorists are going to do or what anybody is going to do. You know that is something we all think about," the pilot said.

Ferrugia: Did you ever think you would be flying combat air patrols over your own territory?

Pilot: Not really. Never did think that. Certainly thought, you know, training to basically go to war -- to go to war someplace else.

While the F-16 and all its hardware are impressive, the most impressive part of the 120th fighter wing is it's people. The same is true of the 140th Wing of the Air National Guard covering the skies of Colorado and adjoining states from Buckley Air Base in Aurora.

These are some of the people that are allowing all of us to carry on with our lives in this very tense time.