Fighter Jock blues

Discussion in 'Miscellaneous' started by pettyfog, Jun 22, 2008.

  1. pettyfog

    pettyfog Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jan 4, 2005
    Success is its own reward. Too much success leads to.. well.. getting your ass 'made redundant'.

    That's what happened recently to the AF top brass who had the bad judgment to remain 'Old School'. SecDef fired them for paying more attention to getting money for more F-22's and other air superiority projects than to fighting the wars we're in now and likely to be in the future.
    Couple that with numerous recent incidents of lax security handling nukes and -voila!

    As a result, the new AF boss is a C-130 {Yay!} pilot. Insult to Injury!

    Here's a more specific article.. and I think it's pretty enlightening. It's hard to believe how much warfare has changed just in the last 5 years.

    Well, maybe the Fighter jocks need to adopt the same mindset as the former SAC pilots.

    They're not there for the action, they're there to keep the peace.
     
    #1
    pettyfog, Jun 22, 2008
  2. HatterDon

    HatterDon Moderator

    Joined:
    Mar 18, 2006
    Location:
    Peoples Republic of South Texas
    it was time for the worm to turn, since LeMay and is SAC bomber people faded into the woodwork, CSAF seemed always to be a fighter jock. Glad to see a "trash hauler" as fighter jocks always denigrated them is in charge. He's much closer to the "fly and fight" front line than the fighter jock.

    by the way, 'fog; you were way ahead of your time. I flew in Goonies.
     
    #2
    HatterDon, Jun 23, 2008
  3. Spencer

    Spencer Active Member

    Joined:
    Jul 1, 2005
    yep you were right Don
    http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/16/opini ... ref=slogin

    Good on Gates for forcing the change, he seems much more up to the job then his predecessor.
     
    #3
    Spencer, Jun 23, 2008
  4. pettyfog

    pettyfog Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jan 4, 2005
    One of these days, I'm going to have to write a defense of Rumsfeld. He was only trying to work with what he was given. Remember that no matter who the SecDef is, he has to deal with some pretty strong Generals, who, by the way, have their own cliques... and not just in the Pentagon.

    The USAF has some real adjustments to make. They still have to provide strategic bombing, air superiority, and all the traditional roles, but it's tough for them to see that reconnaisance/attack aircraft MAY be actually under control of a mid-level sgt with vast gaming background back in Florida.
    OR by a soldier on the ground with an Army unit using a laptop.
     
    #4
    pettyfog, Jun 24, 2008
  5. HatterDon

    HatterDon Moderator

    Joined:
    Mar 18, 2006
    Location:
    Peoples Republic of South Texas
    as soon as it became possible to launch nukes from a C-130, tradional concepts of strategic bombing became redundant. The FB-111 fiasco pretty much proved that -- I mean it did a fairly good job at everything except for what it was built for. B1Bob Dornan kept THAT piece of crap funded for years to no real benefit for the US. Stealth technology and "smart" bombs delivered the knockout punch to strategic bombing. And then, of course, the fact that bombers are just a wee bit vulnerable to the crew-served anti-aircraft weapons we GAVE to every private warlord in the middle east in the '80s. The ONLY reason to keep even a scintilla of a strategic bombing mission around is that it is the ONLY reason to keep a separate Air Force.

    'fog, you've hit the nail squarely on the head about fighter jocks reeling at the idea of being manned drones under the control of a "battlefield tech," but there's not a whole lot of ME-109s or MiG-15s for us to claim air superiority over. The Air Force has to grow up and get real. Build your worth around MAC-birds, close air support aircraft, and small tactical assault forces.

    Now if we could just agree on the need to get over that other wastefully expensive sacred cow with imaginary potential value to our national defense -- SDI!

    Oh, and pard, when you start writing your defense of Rumsfeld, let me know and I'll start writing one defending McNamara -- RACE YA TO THE FICTION AISLE! :3d laughing: :3d funny:
     
    #5
    HatterDon, Jun 24, 2008
Similar Threads: Fighter Jock
Forum Title Date
Miscellaneous Tressel-think: nerd-jock football is a winner for the school Oct 29, 2006

Share This Page