Good Lord! but there is a lot of stupidity on this thread.
The reason we need an independent Air Force is that the Army is clueless about airpower.
The best employment of CAS is to prevent the Army from ever encountering the enemy. You do this by bombing the enemy BEFORE they become ‘close’. Remember when our troops in Iraq were stuck in a ‘quagmire’? The press said that because our troops were not advancing - but during that ‘lull’, the USAF was pounding the enemy. When our troops started moving forward, their path was clear of main Army units.
Where did I learn this lesson? 3 rotations at NTC.
Ground pounders are not qualified to think on how to employ fast moving aircraft. That’s OK - I wouldn’t want a bunch of Air Force folks in command of a tank unit.
The main job of the USAF has NEVER been to strafe the enemy, nor should it be. CAS is not the main job of the USAF, nor should it be - that is a TERRIBLE way to employ airpower. Marines can get away with it only because the USAF is doing the job for them past the FEBA.
As for Iraq and Afghanistan - in case y’all missed it, the overall commander is an ARMY general. I remember making a Brigade CC pissed when I told him he wouldn’t get air support because he wasn’t the priority.
“Who in the hell are you to tell me that?”
“Sir, that is per the written orders of the DIVISION/CC.”
“Well”, said the Brigade CC, “I’ll be talking with the Division CC tomorrow!”
Two days later, he told the staff to take into account the fact that we were not the priority of effort and that Division assets might not be available...
“The reason we need an independent Air Force is that the Army is clueless about airpower.”
Wow, where do I start with this statement? Ignoring the blatant insult to the Army, you’re using circular logic here. Airpower first flourished under the Army, becoming the most powerful air power of its time. Its kind of hard to say that the Army was “clueless” about airpower when strategic bombing, transport of airborne infantry, and ground support ops were all nurtured during the time when the Air Force was the Army Air Corps.
“Ground pounders are not qualified to think on how to employ fast moving aircraft.”
That’s because fast moving aircraft absolutely suck at close air support. The very reason the A-10 was created was born from our experiences in Vietnam where F-4’s couldn’t hit the side of a barn when it came to troop support, and the Army demanded (and got) slow movers like Sandys and Puff that could actually hit their targets. Interdiction is not the same as close air support, and some people in the Air Force still don’t see the difference. The very fact that USAF brass tried to replace A-10’s with F-16’s painted lizard green (and rebadged “A-16”) shows this mentality is still alive in USAF. Bomb trucks for grunts don’t look good on recruiting posters. Lets get some more sports cars, boys!
“The main job of the USAF has NEVER been to strafe the enemy, nor should it be. CAS is not the main job of the USAF, nor should it be - that is a TERRIBLE way to employ airpower.”
And the ghost of Billy Mitchell lives. You just admitted what critics of the Air Force have been trying to deny for years...that airpower has been corrupted, from a tool to support our larger force objectives, to a a branch of the military that exists simply for the sake of having warplanes. We live here on the surface of planet earth. We sometimes have to fight for it. If an air force doesn’t exist to support the forces that are fighting for that ground, then why the hell does the Air Force exist at all? Simply for the sake of existing, like some government agency that has no purpose other than to perpetuate itself? Or does the Air Force live in floating cities high up in the clouds, far above the rest of us mortals?
Airpower originally consisted of planes spotting enemy positions to help our ground troops. Then those planes starting dropping bombs to help those ground troops. Then those planes starting shooting down other planes to protect those ground troops. At what point did airpower become a law unto itself, ignoring the very reason for its existence in the first place? Are you one of those people that honestly thinks airpower can win all wars by itself?
“Ground pounders are not qualified to think on how to employ fast moving aircraft.”
They’re damn sure qualified to tell you WHERE they need those strikes put. You said you wouldn’t want an air force officer in charge of armor battles. Why would you want an air force officer in charge of deciding where ground forces need support? Aren’t they the ones on the ground?
“Marines can get away with it only because the USAF is doing the job for them past the FEBA.”
Marines “get away with it” because the have the right idea in the first place; airpower is for supporting the total force objectives, and that first duty is to protect our own forces, not act independantly of them while they’re being shot up on the ground.
“Where did I learn this lesson? 3 rotations at NTC.”
I always saw one main problem with NTC or JRTC.
The unit being evaluated was always the main effort so too many officers expect that when they deploy. They expect to be the main effort and will get all this support.
Part of the problem is perception. Ask a general if he got all the Fire Support, artillery, he needed, and he will say yes. Ask one of his company commanders and they will say no since the Fire Support didn’t support his unit.