Couldn't have expressed it better myself. Like my dear Uncle - an Air Force P-51 pilot in WWII said to me "I can't believe I have a Nephew stupid enough to join the Marines during a war".
You say the Army's happy with your new and improved CAS? Sure they are, since something's better than nothing. The difference with your version of CAS and ours is that our pilots start out as infantry officers as all of us do and we know them and they know us. They are committed to helping us gain our ground objectives even if they lose their lives doing it (and our helicopter pilots will come for you if you're wounded, no matter what). We are a single team and that's the secret of our success and why we hang onto our air wing with all of our strength.
Close Air Support is very, very effective at cracking the enemy's hold if it is precise and it is the right weapons. General MacArthur discovered that for himself in the battle for Luzon when he used Marine SBDs and our FACs to eradicate Japanese strongpoints in front of his advancing infantry. He requested Marines because the Army Air Forces wouldn't or couldn't provide that kind of responsive support. As I said earlier, Normandy would have gone much better if the landing forces had dedicated and pinpoint CAS to take out the German defenses. Would have saved innumerable soldiers' lives. Instead the Army Air Forces provided medium and heavy bomber interdiction which was for the most part helpful except for the big strike that landed on our forward force near Caen, killing scores and breaking our assault for the Germans.
There are two points you don't want to understand:
1. Air power supports ground objectives. You don't win any wars by air power alone. You don't win any war until the ground forces run our flag up the enemy's flagpole, period.
2. The ground Marines and Soldiers and Navy Corpsmen are just as valuable as any pilot. Their lives are every bit as worthwhile. We aren't just customers for bombs, we aren't expendable and our families grieve just as much as any airman's family. Rabbiting off 30mm or rockets or bombs or any other munition when you aren't absolutely sure - so sure your own son could be there on the ground too - before you pull the trigger is a crime, period.
"Somebody just gave the wrong grid" is an excuse, a poor excuse for flaws in the targeting and coordinating and deconfliction system. You have to have skin in the game.
“Somebody just gave the wrong grid” is an excuse...”
Actually, it is the reason things went wrong in the case you cite. The airplane wasn’t wrong, the bombs used were not wrong, the crew was not wrong - they hit the target ground commanders told them to hit. The error was not in the air, but on the ground.
“Just “we do things better now”...”
Yep. This is not 1944 nor 1964. Ground pounders were MORE LIKELY TO DIE in 1944 or 1964 from poorly done CAS than they are now. Because in the US Air Force (and Army & Navy and even Marines), we keep trying to get better!
“Air power supports ground objectives.”
No kidding. That is why, in Afghanistan (while filling in for the ALO), I told the Army BDE/CC he would not get any air support for his mission. He tore me a new butthole. When he ran out of steam, I pointed out the Army General’s direct order - “all available air” would go to a higher priority operations and “none” would be sent to his area of operations.
He stormed off, called his boss, then returned and told his staff that there would be ZERO air sent our way - by order of the 2-star.
When I was in Korea, my 3-star worked for the Army 4-star. When working logistics issues, I always won and the Marines always lost. Why? Because I was arranging what the 4-star said was HIS #1 priority, and the Marines were pushing the Army 4-star’s 8th or 9th priority. Not mine. Not my 3-star USAF general’s. The 4-star USA commander’s priorities.
The Marine officer finally complained it wasn’t fair. The US Army Colonel running the show said the only fairness he was interested in was carrying out the 4-star’s plan. The 4-star US ARMY Commander.
When I was a BDE/ALO, every target I gave the fighters was approved by either the XO or CC. 100%. Not 25%, not 50% - EVERY TARGET I GAVE THE FIGHTERS WAS FIRST APPROVED BY THE GROUND COMMANDER OR HIS XO.
After all: “That’s the Air Force way, alrighty!” The USAF - giving the ground commander what he wants!