Posted on 11/02/2007 1:36:49 PM PDT by DesScorp
Does the United States Air Force (USAF) fit into the post–September 11 world, a world in which the military mission of U.S. forces focuses more on counterterrorism and counterinsurgency? Not very well. Even the new counterinsurgency manual authored in part by Gen. David H. Petraeus, specifically notes that the excessive use of airpower in counterinsurgency conflict can lead to disaster.
In response, the Air Force has gone on the defensive. In September 2006, Maj. Gen. Charles Dunlap Jr. published an article in Armed Forces Journal denouncing "boots on the ground zealots," and insisting that airpower can solve the most important problems associated with counterinsurgency. The Air Force also recently published its own counterinsurgency manual elaborating on these claims. A recent op-ed by Maj. Gen. Dunlap called on the United States to "think creatively" about airpower and counterinsurgency -- and proposed striking Iranian oil facilities.
Surely, this is not the way the United States Air Force had planned to celebrate its 60th anniversary. On Sept. 18, 1947, Congress granted independence to the United States Army Air Force (USAAF), the branch of the U.S. Army that had coordinated the air campaigns against Germany and Japan.
But it's time to revisit the 1947 decision to separate the Air Force from the Army. While everyone agrees that the United States military requires air capability, it's less obvious that we need a bureaucratic entity called the United States Air Force. The independent Air Force privileges airpower to a degree unsupported by the historical record. This bureaucratic structure has proven to be a continual problem in war fighting, in procurement, and in estimates of the costs of armed conflict. Indeed, it would be wrong to say that the USAF is an idea whose time has passed. Rather, it's a mistake that never should have been made.
(Excerpt) Read more at prospect.org ...
Oh yes. However, there are so damned many of them!
I take it you've never seen an Artillery Battery fire a Battery 4 Mission, nor been 2 klicks from the impact as the concussion shakes your track.
It would rival an Air Show, trust me.
The Air Force cannot be Abolished, then where will the military get the BEST MID NIGHT CHOW in the Service?
I agree! the USAF should be done away with... and renamed the US SPACE Force!
“My problem with the Air Force is that too many of their brain trust still have Billy Mitchell’s mentality; air power alone can win wars, and other services are basically outmoded, should be shrunk, and have a portion of their budgets sent to the Air Force. That’s why I think absorbing a semi-independent USAF into the Department of the Army is a good idea. With the advent of submarine launched ballistic missiles, the Air Force lost exclusivity of the nuclear mission anyway, so that mission isn’t a reason for complete independence anymore.”
Hear, hear. I posted post #72 before I saw this. Re the Air Force mantra “air power alone can win wars,” you don’t need the Navy.
“It’s not one of those multi-role do it all type machines.”
Funny, USAF is selling it as a multi-role machine to justify the purchase. There’s a renewed emphasis on its ground attack capability in Congress, and there’s even been talk of using it as a means to jam enemy communications in Iraq (which is, frankly, just silly. The Army can do this with a truck).
Isn't that the same thing?
Hey Mom, a very big thank you to you and your son for his service from me and my Chief.
mrs
back at you...with a thanks, a hug and a prayer.
Excuse me? Obviously you’ve never had midnight chow at Clark AB, Wake Island, McGuire AFB or a tiny base near the bootheel of Italy, near Brindisi. Awful. Even after 45 years I still have an icky aftertaste in my mouth.
One of my relatives was a fighter pilot in WWII, Korea, and finally Vietnam, where he gave his life destroying an important target and was awarded the Cross posthumously. The Air Force is VERY IMPORTANT.
But those were interesting points in the first post. It might make better sense to combine armed forces, making the AF a branch of the Army again.
Hey Natural, sorry about the misunderstanding. My comment was meant to be directed about the article.
Sorry about that, I didn’t mean to direct that to you. We have common ground
2/508 82nd Abn
1980-84
Navy grub beats AF grub any day.
That's a good statement fwingart. Say...is the US government providing funds to the ACLU? If so, we can cut that out right now.
Gary
Overall, we must consider Mister Farley's objectives. It's not to improve our military by consolidation of missions and resources.
To the contrary, it is to use transparent sophistry to imply that the U.S.A.F. is no longer needed because all of our future wars will be against "insurgents"; and, to lie outright that strategic air power was not effective in previous wars.
Mister Farley knows differently; just as do you and I.
His arguments are textbook recitations of serial false premises, designed to kick our military in its figurative teeth.
By-the-way, our other enemies (besides the 5th columnists) like china and Russia, seem to be spending a lot of capital on building an Air Force.
- - A U.S. Air Force vet and proud Dad of a Marine in Fallujah.
I spent a couple of months at an Air Station on a mountain outside of Taipei. The mess hall there was supplied from Navy stores in the city. The mess hall there consistently won the Air Force’s best mess hall.
You’re singing to the choir.
Enuf said!!
LOL! That's good. I've never thought of it that way.
Crew Chief - F100 and F111
AF Ssgt (1968-1972)
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