So why not get rid of the Air Force? Navy, Army, and Marines all need the equipment and the pilots.
“So why not get rid of the Air Force? Navy, Army, and Marines all need the equipment and the pilots.”
Still smarting from the sting of the insult, I see: when USAAF came out of nowhere to win WWII. Some transgressions can never be forgiven.
And, of course, it makes much more sense to let the senior armed services, who cling to two-dimensional thinking and worship backward gazing as holy tradition, to take over the activities of the one armed service that makes a point of thinking in three dimensions. Or four, if one chooses to define space as a dimension distinct from the atmosphere. And possibly five - or maybe even six - depending on how one defines electronic combat and digital/cyberspace environments.
Interservice rivalry is unending. It also predates the founding of the country. A price we must pay, perhaps, to retain control of the military under civilian leadership. Better the service departments contend with each other, than to join hands and seek to dominate the entire nation. A matter of some concern to the Founders, as I recall.
One thing is for sure: the logic of functional organization is incontrovertible. See the history of Britain’s RAF. In civilian terms, this means that allowing the Army and Navy to own and operate airplanes is a poor idea. Tends to lose wars.