A decision made in 1991 by this guy
who is now campaigning (left in the picture) for
Anyone else think it's a coincidence?
Posted on 06/06/2008 12:30:46 PM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach
A word on today's purging of USAF leadership. Official line is that Air Force brass let the nuclear mission slip in the years since the Berlin wall fell. That's true, for a variety of reasons. Standing down Strategic Air Command, the post-Vietnam leadership handoff from nuclear bomber pilots to fighter pilots, the odd square peg that is the kinetic-effects-based Air Force in the round hole of the low-intensity war on terrorism, and the end of the Cold War... all contributed to an overall deemphasis on strategic operations.
Still, this is a really old school way of doing business. Back during the Strategic Air Command days, a Wing Commander who lost custody of one of his bombs--even for a second-- would be immediately relieved. Secretary Robert Gates is an old SAC hat--he was an intelligence officer assigned to a strategic missile wing--so I can't say I'm surprised that he dealt with the Minot AFB and ICBM fuze screwups with Strategic Air Command's tell-tale iron fist.
All that said, the USAF has a ways to go. Looking back on its history, dismantling SAC ranks up there in the service's all time worst decisions.
(Excerpt) Read more at weeklystandard.com ...
A decision made in 1991 by this guy
who is now campaigning (left in the picture) for
Anyone else think it's a coincidence?
Thanks,...didn’t know that.
second pic is a little white box with a red “x” in it.
GENERAL MERRILL A. MCPEAK Retired Nov. 1, 1994.
*********************EXCERPT******************
He is a command pilot, having flown more than 6,000 hours, principally in fighter aircraft. He flew two years as a solo pilot for the elite aerial demonstration team, the Thunderbirds, and flew as an attack pilot and high-speed forward air controller in Vietnam.
Both pictures worked here...
************************EXCERPT*************************
By
Published 3/24/2008 12:07:43 AM
Last week, Barack Obama's military adviser and national campaign co-chairman Merrill "Tony" McPeak accused former President Bill Clinton of "using divisive tactics and unfairly trying to question Barack Obama's patriotism." McPeak, a former chief of staff of the Air Force, previously supported Howard Dean and then John Kerry. He has campaigned for Obama and cut commercials claiming that Obama has the "right stuff" to be Commander in Chief. His job is to burnish Obama's image as a guy tough enough to be President. So who better to go after Bill Clinton and get the Obama campaign back on offense?
In off-the-cuff remarks to reporters Friday he even compared the former president's comments with the actions of Joseph McCarthy, the 1950s communist-hunting senator.
"I grew up, I was going to college when Joe McCarthy was accusing good Americans of being traitors, so I've had enough of it," McPeak said. And last month McPeak had to retract his statement that as president, Obama would not be reduced to "crying fits" like Mrs. Clinton
Well, it is likely that Obama will soon be having to retract Merrill McPeak. McPeak, who was arrested last year for driving under the influence, apparently has a problem controlling more than his thirst for fermented beverages. He also has a penchant for bashing Israel or, more particularly, Jews who oppose negotiating with terrorists.
McPeak has a long history of criticizing Israel for not going back to the 1967 borders as part of any peace agreement with Arab states. In 1976 McPeak wrote an article for Foreign Affairs magazine questioning Israel's insistence on holding on to the Golan Heights and parts of the West Bank.
In recent years McPeak has echoed the Mearsheimer-Walt view that American Middle East policy is being controlled by Jews at the expense of America's interests in the region. In a 2003 interview with the Oregonian, McPeak complained of that the "lack of playbook for getting Israelis and Palestinians together at...something other than a peace process....We need to get it fixed and only we have the authority with both sides to move them towards that. Everybody knows that."
Wait until Obama is elected.
We have had air supremacy for so long, we now take it for granted. Big mistake. Without the best aircraft and pilots we will not keep it. Drones are great for some missions, but are nearly useless in air to air combat or heavy bombing. The Russians, Chinese, and even the Europeans (who sell abroad) are not sitten on their laurels here. The danger is that we come to consider low intensity warfare as the standard and then a big conflict comes along and bites us in the a$$. And it will take us far longer to add air wings than it will take us to add Army divisions.
Absolutely. McPeak was an unmitigated disaster for the Air Force, and to misquote Jeremiah Wright, “the Air Force’s chickens are only now coming home to roost.”
“Tony” McPeak is, in so many aspects, responsible for the current “one mistake” Air Force. Too many good people saw their promising careers cut short, while others whose only talent was butt-kissing progressed long past the point where they were incompetent, all due to McPeak’s influence, which is still felt to this day.
SAC is successful, let’s redistribute its mission and assets. Great idea.
What goes around, comes around. During Viet Nam people said the bomber guys screwed the fighter jocks; TAC could have been described as the Tactical Nuclear Deployment Command - and it showed early in VN. SAC guys got a bum rap. They hadn’t planned for SEA.
Now the fighter jocks can’t manage nuclear missions. Perhaps folks should look to the civilian masters to pinpoint responsibility for any particular deficiency in operational emphasis.
But hey, I’ll going along if folks want to point a finger at Tony(I now go by Merrill)McPeak. Thunderbirds are generally a great bunch, but They picked some doozies for the general officer gigs. How does McPeak get picked over a Jack Chain or Bob Russ type?
Yeah, and he also changed to uniform to something that looks like absolute crap.
This old sarge says its about time, glad the SecDef kicked a** and took a few names.
podium sign says “Judgment to Lead”
Doesn’t seem like McPeak OR Obama meet the standard.
This former captain agrees, though it saddens me to see Buzz Moseley pay a price for the mess McPeak left behind. If only Mike Dugan had kept his mouth shut in 1990...
Your description is racist. :-)
Nope. It's just what I thought of.
Merrill McPeak isn’t fit to lead a Boy Scout troop, let alone the US Air Force. Sadly for Obama, he’s chosen to listen to the WORST ever Chief of Staff of the Air Force.
Back in 1996 I took the Director (two stars) of the DoD agency I was stationed at to Belgium for some meetings regarding nuclear stuff.
When we were done we were at Brussels airport and he was wearing his new uniform while I was in my old style uniform.
An older lady walked up to him and started asking about her flight times (United Air Lines) and which gate she should be at.
She had mistaken him for a civilian airline pilot!
Thank God my Director had a sense of humor as he started cracking jokes to me about the incident.
By the way, he was an old B-52 pilot not some single seat jock.
Sacrilege!
Please pardon the vanity, I can’t help myself. McPeak was my next door neighbor on Richenbacher at Nellis. His career-path was similar to my old man’s, and they knew each other pretty well.
McPeak’s rise was surprising to many, many people. However, that can be said about the success of a lot of folks in all walks of life. The man had a fine reputation as a pilot, demonstrated some political savvy, but was not regarded as a stud leader.
I ran into an intelligence officer who briefed the inner-sanctum types in the 80s and 90s. McPeak was described as brittle and aloof. A coffee pot was behind him as he was seated at his desk, the IO goes for a cup and McPeak loses his cool - can’t be as informal as to walk behind the man.
OTOH, same IO briefs Gen. Robert Russ - boss walks in, sits down, puts his feet up on the desk, lights up a cigar and says, “Whatcha got?”.
Who would you want to work for?
I served in the Air Force as a pilot during McPeak’s time and agree completely and wholeheartedly with that assesment. We went through “quality Air Force”, the uniform stupidity and the reorganization of the traditional wing structure to something that was unwieldy and unworkable. He was a complete failure as a leader.
I’ll take Gen Russ...
For all of a year, in the middle of a war. Even I served longer than that, and had quite a bit of voluntary time in the reserves, some of that supporting a SAC Wing's intell shop.
An intell officer at the wing level, or below, is pretty much a briefer. He has nothing to do with the weapons, their maintenance, or getting them on target. In a Bomber Wing, he might have helped with operational matters, such as laying out EWO missions for the flight crews, although those were planned at SAC Hq at Offutt.
Mc Peak was Vermin when I was in and still is
I wouldn't say that. It's as good a measure of aerobic fitness as a mile and half run. Just easier on the knees.
I was a Staff Sergeant crew chief during the McPeak years. Granted, the favorite sport of crew chiefs, pointy heads, spark chasers, metal peckers and other flight line creatures is “speed b*tch*ng” but even down at our level we knew something was grossly wrong.
For long time Air Force members, Obama’s descision to have McPeak serve on his campgain is even more troubling than any “whitey” video tape or race baiting preachers. Has Obama ever actaully assocated with any decent person?
Hmm. Tried reloading page several times and each time the second pic did not load. Weird. I mean, I know that Internet Explorer never has any problems.
It’ll get straightened out, there’s still a lot of good officers and NCO’s in uniform. There will be a lot of senior officers replaced at the Pentagon, people will get the word, and they will snap-to.
Must be bucking for Sec-Def.
I was a butter bar El-Tee during the end of the McPeak years, in the maintenance field. It was bad enough being a wet-behind-the-ears El-Tee...even worse having to defend as a gold bar the McPeak changes to “MY Air Force” to all my ammo troops, crew chiefs, etc...
Was that the uniform designed and purchased from McPeak's wife? $$$$$ for McPeak on that contract?
Wish I knew one way or the other.
That was the first thing I noticed when I reviewed the Cyber Command PPLAN a few months ago. Couldn't non-concur just for that though!
Soon...;0) 
Hackers...;0)
Tony “The Putz” McPeak ruined the Air Force.
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