Now this is gonna be interesting.
Gee...maybe its because there are only a handful of those assets left.
Those of us in the US Army never had a problem with the Chair Force. Whenever we had a mission to run they were always happy to give us a ride. They also serve the best box lunches.
This is a perfect example why Clinton or Obama shouldn’t be President of the U.S. The military, in general, would not trust them. They wouldn’t respond to anything they wanted to do. There’s a lot the military can do to thwart a direct order from the President if they don’t trust the person or have little or no respect for them. Would you go into a battle, like Somalia, under another Clinton?
I’m puzzled by this very public smackdown of one of the service branches.
This is a very serious criticism, and it is unusual for it to be levelled on the USAF’s home turf in such a public fashion.
There must be steam coming out of certain offices in the Pentagon right about now.
“Real pilots” resent having to fly the toys. They can’t log time in their little book to qualify for those cushy airline jobs.
Plus, it is a real pain to get decent tee-times in Iraq-a-stan, and good caddies are real hard to find.
Funny, the AF has been on war footing over Iraq since 1991. Enforcing all those no fly zones over the years has worn out our fleet.
Gosh, did he really have to go to the press with this? I mean couldn’t he just go to the Secretary of the Air Force and find out what more they can do. I am not in the Air Force but this seems piss poor to me. I would be pretty upset if he did this to the Navy.
Any chance this was a pre-emptive smackdown against another election-year campaign on Capitol Hill by the USAF for more F-22s?
First you are going to have to get the pilots out of the bars and off the golf courses. If you want them to fight tell them that a golf course is in danger, they will defend it to the very end. I have two very close friends (AF pilots) that recently retired and both have a handicap in the low single digits.
This Air Force Pilot is not impressed. He is listening to Army folks who have failed in their ISR management and is now balming the USAF on it.
I resent that he pokes the USAF int he eye at Maxwell. Some inspiring leader when you have that happen.
Well, if Gates was an officer in any branch of the military, there once was a good rule to live by:
Praise in Public!
Criticize in Private!
He’s the freakin’ SecDef for crying out loud! He could have come down on the AF CS during a staff meeting and given the AF a whatfor by when.
Using the press, is only going to make it worse. Did Gates ever ask why the AF couldn’t provide assets for recon??? Did he ask how he as the SecDef could expedite their needed actions? There are a lot of things Gates could have asked and done before going public, but remember Gates is a Democrat and its an election year too....
This is not the first time he has called out the AF on this issue. This is reminiscent of the situation in the early 1960s when the AF would not supply sufficient ground support to the army.
Gates said in a speech at Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala., that getting the Air Force to send more surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft to Iraq and Afghanistan has been "like pulling teeth."
Doesn't the Secretary of Defense have the authority to do something about it rather than complain that "it's hard to get them to cooperate"?
Just let some MARINE aviators “borrow” a few of the Air Force’s planes.
If the Air force is not doing enough for the war effort is that not the fault of the Secretary of Defense? I mean is he in charge or not?
I just thought the AF was running out of targets.
OTOH...
UAVs Earning Their Keep In Sadr City Battles, al-Qaeda Still Taking A Beating
Strata Sphere | Monday, April 21st, 2008 at 4:25 pm. | AJStrata
Posted on 04/21/2008 4:35:28 PM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2004954/posts
Thanks Ernest.