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June 06, 2008
Dull Brass in the Air Force
Ousted brass: Chief of Staff Air Force General T. Michael Moseley
and Air Force Secretary Michael W. Wynne
On Thursday, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates ousted the Air Force's senior civilian official and its highest ranking officer after it was revealed that nuclear weapons and components were mishandled. Recently, Seraphic Secret published Officer Rot, by Air Force Officer, a clear-eyed view of systemic problems in the Air Force.
Here, Air Force Officer sheds light on these high level Air Force firings.
See, what did I tell our wonderful readers?
Yesterday's purge wasn't so much a re-commitment to the strategic mission as it was a message to the entire service: GET YOUR ACT TOGETHER.
Now granted, the nuclear mission needs work and the fighter pilots who have run things since Linebacker I & II* have largely ignored the strategic force. Can't say I blame them, they're tactical guys. Jet to jet combat is how they think.
Plus, the nuclear mission has been screwed since the early 90s when the Air Force stood down Strategic Air Command. Mighty Mother SAC, once the ruler of all things blue, went the way of the dinosaur and she took her nuclear dominance with her. So we put our ICBMs under Space Command (doesn't make sense to me either) and our bombers under the conventional weapons orientated Air Combat Command. The Air Force merged the ICBM career path with the Space career path and lost an entire generation of officers who were “grown” to be nuclear experts. Oh, and we also lost control of six bombs for several hours and accidentally shipped ICBM fuses to Taiwan.
You know, little things.
So really, it was only a matter of time. General Moseley and Secretary Wynne just happened to be in the driver's seat when the decrepit nuke community crashed into the proverbial tree.
Secretary Gates is an old SAC guy, so I understand that he's reinstituting the old “zero defects” mentality that made Strategic Air Command great.
But...
I also think that Gates just sent a warning shot over the bow of the Air Force as a whole. He's tired of the acquisition disasters and he's tired of Air Force generals going behind his back on the F-22. He's tired of their reluctance to send more UAVs to theater and he's tired of the Air Force's clamoring for pricey weapon systems.
Especially when 100 dollar Iranian bombs are killing million dollar weapons systems in Iraq.
I suspect Gates just got sick of all the excuses and embarrassments and ego and finally had the wherewithal to put his foot down.
Questions abound. Will the bomber generals return to their throne? Are the fighter generals done? Will the new Chief and Secretary be company men, or will they be free-thinking innovators who have had it with the bureaucracy and red tape? Will close air support become a primary mission? Will strategic forces grow after 16 years of cuts?
And lastly, can anyone deny that there was—and is—a “rot” in the Air Force ranks?
As an Air Force officer, I sense a wonderful opportunity in this George C. Marshall style cleansing. I hope we take advantage.
Aside, but somewhat related: I ran into a Squadron Commander recently who banned MS Powerpoint in his command. Just mentioning this because I hear there's vacancy at the top of the chain...
*Operation Linebacker was a strategy to bomb the will to fight out of North Vietnam. The two-part operation caused enormous destruction, but failed to break the NVA. We took terrible B-52 losses during the missions, and the fighter pilots seized on the bomber pilots' failure—even though the B-52 drivers were trained to fly nuclear strike missions over the pole, not convention missions above dense jungles. The fighter pilots have been in control of the Air Force ever since.
Karen and I wish all our friends a wonderful miracle in Shabbat .
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at June 6, 2008 07:39 AM
Comments
Seraphic Secret is private property, that's right, it's an extension of our home, and as such, Karen and I have instituted two Seraphic Rules and we ask commentors to act respectfully.
1. No profanity.2. No Israel bashing. We debate, we discuss, we are respectful. You know what Israel bashing is. The world is full of it. Seraphic Secret is one of the few places in the world that will not tolerate this form of anti-Semitism. That's it. Break either of these rules and you will be banned.
" ... Here, Air Force Officer sheds light on these high level Air Force firings. ... "
much better than the mainstream media,
speaking of which,
littlegreenfootballs has a great parody on how the MSM today might report the Normandy invasion :-)
(sobering reality summary given at the end of the clip)
http://littlegreenfootballs.com/article/30215_D-Day-_Crisis_On_Omaha
(p.s.
--Robert,
what did you think of the production from the screenwriting/film-making aspect ?)
Posted by: exdemexlib at June 6, 2008 12:33 PM
Well that's good to hear, there's some more specific information about what "mishandling" entails here:
http://www.236.com/news/2008/06/06/air_force_officials_fired_over_6989.php
Posted by: Alyssa at June 6, 2008 01:10 PM
Thanks of your thoughts. I find it very interesting that the author of the report was an Admiral. That tells me everything I need to about what the Pentagon thinks about the Air Force High Command.
Posted by: lplimac at June 6, 2008 02:05 PM
" ... I find it very interesting that the author of the report was an Admiral. That tells me everything I need to about what the Pentagon thinks about the Air Force High Command. ... "
as an ordinary patriotic citizen who has not served in the military,
i think i missed something here?
if the report is accurate,
does it matter which Service of the military the author is from,
and if it is 'not' accurate,
is it because of petty interbranch infighting?
as the navy has its own nuclear responsibilities, it presumably has a house of its own to protect,
and even if,(afaik) there are no reports that their house is a glass one,
still, if the Admiral's report were biased, wouldn't it invite unwelcome scrutiny into the Navy's way of dealing with this?
Posted by: exdemexlib at June 6, 2008 02:31 PM
I've never quite understood the rationale for shutting down the production line on an expensive but effective weapon system before the total anticipated order is filled.
The cost of test, tooling, training, and development has already been paid. Once the first 100 planes have been turned out, the rest are far less expensive. Shutting down the line also prevents export sales to folks like Japan, for example.
The only extenuating circumstance that I can see for such a move is the anticipation of stealth negation in less than a 10 year time frame. Otherwise, this is a false economy.
Posted by: Rufus ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.seraphicpress.com/nav-commenters.gif)
at June 8, 2008 02:25 AM
"Will close air support become a primary mission?"
Close Air Support IS a primary mission. CAS, along with airlift, is the main thing the USAF does in SWA. I don't see how anyone could look at this chart and argue that CAS is not a "primary mission" of the USAF.
"Will strategic forces grow after 16 years of cuts?"
Depends on what you mean by "strategic forces". If you mean nuclear forces, it is not clear that they should grow. We don't exactly have a gap in our capability to throw nukes around if we want to, and putting a lot of money into a mission that we're highly unlikely ever to do doesn't seem to smart to me. Now, if by "strategic forces" you mean forces able to conduct long-range precision strikes, then I certainly hope these forces do grow, because that is a mission that currently resides in a handful of B-2s and the aging, non-stealthy B-1 and B-52 force.
Posted by: AJDP at June 8, 2008 08:04 AM
You're right, AJ. Though I don't think anyone would argue that the ground-pounders are less than satisfied with the Air Force's commitment to the CAS role.
As for "growing" the nuke force. Well, I'm not sure. Other nations are growing their own strategic forces, so I think we might stop the kill order on the Deuce Minuteman III and I *know* that they stopped the kill order on 1/4 of the B-52 fleet.
My question there was: what are the next generation systems, and will the USAF grow them?
Posted by: An Air Force Officer at June 8, 2008 09:54 PM
Update: LA Times says new USAF Chief of Staff is Gen. Norton A. Schwartz, a former cargo pilot. That's a loud and clear FU to the fighter mafia, isn't it? The pain! The pain!
Respectfully,
Brian P.
Posted by: Brian Pendell at June 10, 2008 04:49 AM
Open Letter to NS Navy CNO:
Dear Adm. Roughhead, CNO, US Navy:
Like huindreds of thousands of concerned Americans (and ALL Active Duty Military Members) I am very concerned with the fate of SEALs, Matthew McCabe, Jonathan Keefe and Julio Huertas. I am a Strategic Air Command vet and like THOUSA...NDS of SAC Warriors and fellow Americans who knew the vital nature of our nuclear mission, we stood by broken-hearted and dismayed (yet without raising a single word because our duty precludes our voicing our personal feelings) as politicians-in-uniform (Generals, McPeak, Butler, etc.) stood-down SAC and rolled it's vital mission into a newly-named (but still-the-same) Tactical Air Command. I sir (like MANY enlisted troops, active and retired) didn't serve for the money, or other such meaningless reason, we served because at our core, we LOVE our nation and it's Constitution; and if it came to it, were and are more then willing to lay down our lives for her. I must VENT a bit of sidebar before I lay out the crux of my appeal to you regarding these brave SEALS: as CNO, you will have to agree with this Air Force NCO/vet when I state that 'Tactical Air Power' WAS, IS, and always will be the domain of USN Carrier Air Groups, who can within very short timeframes, 'project' American Interests anywhere in the world without having to 'ask' for permission or depending on 'friendly' nations to allow us to fly sorties from our bases within their boarders. The 'Chinese Firl-Drill' that was stood-up to replace SAC (USSTRATCOM), and the subsequent emasculated (non-majcom/three-star led) Global Strike Force is a sad joke when compared to SAC and what we provided America. We veterans know it (the embarressing TAC/ACC SNAFUS/FUBARS prove it) and what's dangerous, the Russians and Chinese know it as well. SAC is gone and I won't cry over spilled milk, but we WERE duty-bound warriors and we WERE betrayed by politicians masqerading in uniform as they attempted to win favor of civilian politicians..
Navy SEALS are an amazing precision tactical warrior-force as you are well aware, and along with our Delta Troopers, Air Force TACP, Combat Controllers, Para-Rescue and Marine Force Recon, make-up the tip of the sword of our countries forces. As such I appeal to YOU sir, as Naval CNO, to be the uniformed leader you are sworn to be and a four-star leader such as MacArthur, LeMay, Puller, Nimetz, Mitchell and Meyer, who stand behind their troops, behind sound mission doctrine & strategies and behind the TRUTH. I pray that you're not but another pathetic M. McPeak, Wm. Crewe, Geo. Butler and B. Arnold, who disgraced the uniform and betray their troops rather then stand-up for Honor, Duty and Country. Please don't betray these brave SEALS.
Cordially,
Mark Douglas Baker
SSgt.(Veteran), USAF (SAC)
Grand Ledge, MI.
Posted by: Mark D. Baker at December 20, 2009 10:05 AM