A SOLDIER'S PERSPECTIVE
THE WEB'S LEADING MILITARY BLOG SINCE 2004
Within the services we love to screw with each other. Each service is better than the others in our eyes. The others are always inferior. But, when it comes down to it, we’re all in the same fight and brothers and sisters in arms. The New York Slimes editorial today emanates the height of ignorance on behalf of this nation’s media:
the Air Force should be eliminated, and its personnel and equipment integrated into the Army, Navy and Marine Corps. Second, the archaic “up or out†military promotion system should be scrapped in favor of a plan that treats service members as real assets. Third, the United States needs a national service program for all young men and women, without any deferments, to increase the quality and size of the pool from which troops are drawn.
You heard that right – the NY Slimes wants the Air Force eliminated. These complete morons think that “the Army, Navy and Marine Corps are at war, but the Air Force is not.” The Air Force is VERY much in this fight! Who the hell do they think is providing our mid-air refueling? Who is providing close air support? Who was dropping the JDAM (man, I love the sound of a JDAM in the morning!)?! Yes, the Army and Marines are bearing the brunt of these deployments because THIS IS A GROUND WAR! There’s a reason they’re called the AIR Force. Every time we actually use the Air Force, the damn chairborne rangers in our media and body politic criticize them for it! The Air Force does their job and decimates their targets and these morons who write for a living complain about dead bad guys!
Sure, let’s get rid of the Air Force and just HOPE TO GOD that N. Korea, China, Iran, Russia and other great militaries with somewhat formidable air components never attack us! This op-ed is the utter epitome of stupidity and I’m shocked.
I would probably not be alive today without the Air Force. Their close air support saved my life and the lives of at least 130 other Soldiers in the unit I was attached to in Iraq.
War is no longer made up of set-piece battles between huge armies confronting each other with tanks and airplanes.
Perhaps not now, but does Mr. Kane think that every future enemy of this great nation is going to cower in fear behind IEDs and suicide bombings? This is the exact same mindset that got us into trouble to begin with as it relates to manning and equipment. There’s a reason we separated the Army Air Corps after WWII. Clinton decimated our military end strenght and the moonbats have been out in force complaining about the strains on our military ever since. Now this moron wants to cut it out again! Have we learned nothing? Or does this administration and it’s supportive media simply not care about our military?
Which service is it again that has B-52s? Which service provides the refueling tankers? Which service has all the stealth fighters and bombers? Which service provides the AC-130 gunships? Which service provides the AWACS capabilities? I could go on.
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NY-David
Relatively unknown is the fact that the Air Force has contributed much, if not at the forefront in the Cyber Warfare arena.
God Bless them flyboys!!
NY-David
Jessdawn
This is like having brothers and sisters, as a kid you go at each other’s throats. However, if anyone outside the family teased a brother or sister all the siblings rally in support. So even though I have been a part of the whose the better service argument before, I would never want some outsiders coming in to take one a way.
Stephen
Hate to defend the journalistic idiot, but I think you are blowing the article’s comments on the Air Force out of proportion. The guy doesn’t want to scrap the Air Force, he simply is suggesting a return to the integration of Air Force functions into the other branches (as the Air Force was integrated with the Army before 1947).
Shannon
What a slap in the face for all that the USAF has done for this country. God Bless all the services, for whithout them we wouldn’t be the great nation we are today.
Russo
I agree with Stephen. The op-ed is not suggesting the elimination of Air Force capabilities, only of the bureaucratic entity. The same fancy hardware would be flown by the same guys doing the same job, they’d just wear different uniforms and cost less in administration.
There are other potential benefits as well. Fewer competing services could allow for military procurement to more accurately reflect our nation’s needs. Integration of air capabilities may also reduce complexity of command, granting better (not worse or reduced) air support to ground forces.
Nobody likes change. Then again, the status quo never stays the best thing.
CJ
Well, hell! In that case, let’s get rid of the Marines too. We already have an Army and the grunt work can just be combined as well! Why do we need two infantries?! And since we have a Navy, let’s also roll the Coast Guard up into there. Man, this is awesome! We can save BILLIONS!!
Russo
You’re not helping your case with sarcasm.
The Coast Guard quip is facile, like suggesting the FBI and CIA be joined into one agency. Their separate existence is a reflection of their separate missions.
Yes, folding the Corps into the Army is largely the same as folding the Air Force into all the other services. Yes, the goal would be to save money. What’s wrong with that if we manage to avoid reducing our military capabilities?
You did bring up a good question: Why DO we need two infantries? Leaving it unanswered suggests we don’t.
Marcus
Are you KIDDING me? You obviously know nothing of Marine Corps history and tradition. Yes, the Corps has moved away from it’s amphibious roots in assaulting beaches during combat operations over the last several decades due to threats coming form land locked countries, but I dare you to ask an Army unit to conduct an amphib landing. It’d be a JOKE. Now, ask the Marines and you’ll see some awesome stuff.
Bottom line: we need an infantry that can move itself from a big ship to the beach and then assault enemy positions.
CJ
How about this too while we’re at? We combine the FBI and CIA into one agency as you indicate and there is a domestic and overseas branch. Then, we could roll up the DEA, Border Patrol, and BATF into the DOD as well with an expanded mission.
I mean we could save all sorts of money by just integrated all our military and militia-like entities into one.
Even within the services we can combine everything. We could create infantry pilots so that when/if they get shot down, they can keep on fighting. Engineering intelligence Soldiers could blow stuff up and then collect intelligence on what they just destroyed, or vice versa. The possibilities are endless. We have been so inefficient all these years and didn’t even know it!
Military police cooks! Holy cow, I’m on to something here!
Ray Hamilton USN from Boston, Mass
Soo what I’m hearing (from Russo)is loose the individuality purpose and the knowledge of tatctical warfare specialty of a service to aleviate competing service issue?? So you think the services do not currently have good lines of communication in the aspect of air/ground support? Yeah, right, I don’t think so. Each service is a unique enity with a specific mission of specific techincal warfare which was formed from lessons learned of men and women before us. I do not think we can afford, now or in the future, to gamble on repeating lessons learned how invaluable those seperate knowledge and missions are. If we do deseminate the Air Force and take the moving parts and place it into another service, shall we have Webster define the word Air Force as: a service that was once a usefull freedom tool but served no further use after 2009?
OEF_Veteran
I have to side with the journalist here as well. If we integrated the mission into the other services…which ALL already replicate some of the same missions…we could probably save a lot of money.
For the record, I am also in favor of mandatory service between 18-20 (doesn’t have to be in the military) and a complete revamp of the antiquated rank structure in the military.
I know change is scary, but if you don’t like it…turn off your HD TV and your internet and go sit by the radio.
OEF/OIF Vet
The author of the article clearly stated that the Air Force should be eliminated. The Air Force has a seperate mission then that of the Army, Navy and Marines. Why should we stop at that? Why not split up the Army so that all of the Services could have an abundance of ground troops? Does that make sense? No. Each branch of service has a uniquely diverse mission. We need skilled technicians in each branch of service to keep America free. I’m not just throwing daggars here, I’ve been in the military for 9 years. Eight of those years were spent at Air Force Special Operations Command, where I had the opportunity to work with all of the services in Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom. It was on the battlefield where our unique services banded together to fight terrorism in the enemy’s backyard. As far as the journalist who wrote this goes, it’s easy to throw out ideas that affect the lives of our Soldiers, Airmen, Marines and Navy–when you’re not the one in danger depending on each of these services to have your back so that you may live to see another day. Why don’t you take a trip to the desert and put your life in harms way so that you have to depend on each service and actually see what the men and women of this nation are doing so that you may express your views. Even though I may find the ideas of the journalist idiotic, I’ll die for his freedom to defend them. The reason that our military is so great is because our men and women VOLUNTEER to put their lives in harms way to keep America free. To all of my brothers and sisters in Arms–thank you for keeping me free! I look foward to working with you on the battlefield, you are all heros in my book!
Jim Cochran
You know we have the joint chiefs that are to tie all this together. If we had it combined you would have the same problem you have in the NFL – if the coach was a defensive he would try to build a defensive team. If he was offensive an offensive team. I could imagine the internal budget fights pushing one focus or the other. I think we now need a cyber branch of the military to help protect communications and hardened it for the other branches. Yes separate – They might win wars before the enemy got off of the ground. Forget the civilian corps – it will evolve into the NAZI brownshirts for the socialist commies in our midst to control elections – watch and see.
Russo
Alright, a lot being said against my argument tempts me to say a lot in response, but I will try to keep it short and to the point.
1. I respect the armed forces and all the men and women who sacrifice, at home and abroad, to serve our country and protect the freedoms we enjoy as Americans. I’m nearly 22, graduating college this May and working towards Marine Corps OCS this October. I want to do my part to serve the nation. I’m not some anti-military liberal trying to cause trouble. I’m here to discuss and learn.
2. Please read my posts more carefully. CJ misunderstood my last post. I did not, nor would I ever, suggest the FBI and CIA be combined. I presented them as an example of agencies that should NOT be combined, like the Coast guard and Navy, because they have clearly different missions.
3. Everyone is generally arguing that if we agree to combine the Air Force into the other services then it would never stop and we would inevitably compromise our national security. As I have intimated before, however, there is a definite line between expensive redundancy and a good investment in mission specialization. In my opinion folding the Air Force into the other services does not at all lead to the logic that all the services should be combined.
4. Lastly, if we were to embark on any such policy at all, we should analyze the pros and cons of every instance.
5. I want to say so much more because posters are bringing up valid points. Generally I agree with all of them. I only disagree that the situations you present, rightly, as undesirable, would occur at all. ie. We’d still have the Joint Chiefs, the Army/Marines would still have amphibious assault capabilities, etc.
So, have at me…
CJ
Russo, I won’t ever accuse of not supporting the troops. Don’t worry about that. I just disagree with you. The Air Force and Army, like the FBI and CIA, have VERY different jobs as well. That is why they were split after WWII.
Russo
Thank you, CJ.
One thing I think we can agree on related to this debate: Defense contractors in this country make too much of a profit. Yes?
Just in principle, I don’t think any company should be allowed to make a profit on the tools of our nation’s defense. Profiting on those tools is profiting on the dangers to our nation, and that’s treason.
We should pay the true cost of developing and building weapons systems, without the ridiculous markup (anyone have figures?) that the defense contractors put on them.
Thomas Patrick Folan
Good Job C.J.
Long live the U.S. Air Force !
Down with the N.Y. Times.
No one should purchase this newspaper.
If they continue with anti-military editorials like this,
they’ll go right out of business.
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