USAF Ordered to Step Up and Man Up

Strategy Page ^ | 3-23-08 | Jim Dunnigan

[Jet Jaguar]

I will freepmail you.

[flowerplough]

Do I want my country’s AF personnel living in crappy conditions? No. Nor to I enjoy spending extra tax money to give my country’s AF personnel better living conditions than my country’s Army personnel of Marine personnel.

[FreedomCalls]

Many are of the opinion that Air Force officers sometimes deserve a goodly portion of the verbal abuse that enlisted men and men from the other services seem to heap upon them. Never around Air Force when I was in the Army, but do remember reading David Hackworth explaining that in First Iraq, the Air Force pilots’ air-conditioned buses, the ones that ran between the airbase and their hotel billets, kept washing dust all over the Marine pilots who were sleeping in their foxholes next to their planes.

I would think that if that story were true, then it is the Marines' senior officers who deserved the scorn for making their pilots sleep in foxholes next to their planes when there was perfectly acceptable hotel billets available nearby.

[usmcobra]

Ya know if the Air Force would give the Predators over to The Marines, then they could concentrate on flying the real thing...

Here let me save you some effort.

The Real Thing, Mr. Towns?

[SIDENET]

Should they live under better conditions than soldiers, Marines, and SEALS?

Should that dictate how the AF treats its people?

The Air Force takes good care of its own and I appreciate that it does.

[tongue-tied]

Rog. I'm enjoying the posts so far...

Navy P-3 squadrons are our bane: we joke that if the ATM inside the aircraft is down, they aren't allowed to launch. But if you talk to P-3 folks, they smile and say "Whatever", as they count their Per Diem money.

[Jonah Hex]

I can honestly state this: Thank God for Marine CAS and USAF hog drivers!! HOOAH!!!

[SIDENET]

Wow. I haven't seen that movie for a long time.

I'm surprised that Hollywood hasn't remade it by now.

(maybe they have, I don't know)

[flowerplough]

” ...Marines’ senior officers who deserved the scorn for making their pilots sleep in foxholes next to their planes when there was perfectly acceptable hotel billets available nearby.”

Guns of Butter, bullets or billets. In Hackworth’s opinion, the Air Force had its spending priorities, and the Marine Corps apparently had slightly different priorities.

[NonValueAdded]

As to the former, it should; the latter shouldn’t play into it, except for the command officers.

[FreedomCalls]

Nor to I enjoy spending extra tax money to give my country’s AF personnel better living conditions than my country’s Army personnel of Marine personnel.

You should be upset that the Army and the Marines are forcing their highly skilled aviators to sleep in foxholes when there are perfectly acceptable hotel rooms nearby.

[Jonah Hex]

See my post 27.

[usmcobra]

I’m not upset that Marine officers are sleeping in foxholes next to their aircraft, their troops there too.

[joe fonebone]

Everybody knows the air farce is not the real military.

[SIDENET]

Big agreement there.

[Mustng959]

Each of the services has their own mission. I have the utmost respect for the Marines, the Navy, the Army, and the Coast Guard. If the Air Force isn’t ponying up to what it is tasked to do (I’m an Air Force veteran) then I’d be griping also and demanding they get off their butts. Though I have tremendous respect for pilots abilities and the leadership of many officers, a college degree and a commission does not a leader make. Many NCO’s in all services have college degrees also and are perfectly capable to not only fly but lead as well.
Many people have misconceptions when they think of “Air Force” ... very few have jobs that involve actually flying, just support of the air mission itself. Many jobs must also get down and dirty in the Air Force (Combat controllers, PJ’s, Security Forces, to name a few). We as a superpower in the world can only achieve this by the combined missions of each individual service working in unison. I had a nephew who was a Marine, I wish that he had worn AF blue myself, but he always dreamed of being a Marine. He also died like a Marine in Afghanistan in 2004 ... out of ammo and fighting hand-to-hand. My respect for the Marines through his actions is immense!

[SIDENET]

Everybody knows the air farce is not the real military.

This from a Squid?

(Just some friendly service rivalry, folks. Said only in jest.)

[Armando Guerra]

I can see the need for wanting your best out there when there is a good chance that they may be shot down and captured well behind enemy lines. However, with the UAV’s having remote operators flying by joystick, I would think the best pilots for those would be teenage boys who have grown up playing video games.

[Jim Noble]

This thread will probably devolve into a lot of anti-Air Force and anti-officer comments

Do officers get better tee times at USAF golf courses?

[Jonah Hex]

My sympathy for your loss, and respect for your nephew’s courage. May God bless him and comfort you. :-(