I’m not a Gates fan, but I have to agree it was time to fire the CSAF. The CSAF has focused on the wrong things. The cut of 40,000 (sometimes discussed as 60,000) active duty USAF personnel without a change in the mission was badly done. And if you do the same with a lot less, and drive it on $$ rather than efficiency - you get lower standards.
And while the Predator problem is as much Gates’ fault as the CSAF, it reflects a lack of concern for our current fighting.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. The Air Force has problems. When an entire branch of the military is run by pilots, you get a very unbalanced approach. What should happen in this instance is the highest ranking AF specops officer should be made CSAF. There needs to be a serious shift in the way the AF thinks and it needs to start both at the top and bottom. The pipeline kids coming out of basic training that I went to tech school with were a joke. They got ONE day of training on the M-16!
Let me write that again to emphasize my point. They got ONE day of training on the M16 in basic! In a professional military that becomes smaller and smaller, where Air Force and even Navy personnel are being cross-tasked into potential combat duties, that is unacceptable!
Now don’t get me wrong, AF spec ops guys are just as high speed as their counterparts. AF security forces get just plain awesome weapons training compared to what I saw in the Army. When I was shooting competetively with the NG the majority of really good pistol guys at the nationals were the AF security forces. That being said, the rest of the AF has no freakin’ clue about defending themselves.
I’m beginning to think that the military needs to go to a “comprehensive boot camp” mentality where all of the services new recruits go through the same blocks of training to include hand to hand fighting, bayonet training, BRM (basic rifle marksmanship) based on the USMC model, and all the other stuff like first aid/combat lifesaving etc...
The USMC model of “Everyone is a Rifleman first” should be every single services way of thinking. Yes, that means you too AF and Navy.
I also think that potential officers should go through the same exact boot camp as everyone else. I don’t care if you spent 4 years in ROTC or got an appointment to an academy. If GI Joe can do it, then you can do it also. (probably) Such a policy would prevent uncomfortable situations like an Air National Guard General having to be shown how to eat an MRE. (yes I really saw that happen)