Army adds own aviation unit

[Bando]

From the NY Times:

Ever since the Army lost its warplanes to a newly independent Air Force after World War II, soldiers have depended on the sister service for help from the sky, from bombing and strafing to transport and surveillance.

But the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have frayed the relationship, with Army officers making increasingly vocal complaints that the Air Force is not pulling its weight.

...

But now in Iraq, the Army has quietly decided to try going it alone for the important surveillance mission, organizing an all-Army surveillance unit that represents a new move by the service toward self-sufficiency, and away from joint operations.

With the firing of it's military and civilian heads and the GAO investigation of the tanker contracting, the Air Force has a lot of heat come its way lately, and this is just icing on the cake. Now, I happen to agree with Robert Farley of the American Prospect, who thinks the Air Force should be abolished and folded back into the Army and Navy, but I'm interested in what HoyaTalkers have to say, especially any with relevant military experience.

[Boz]

As long as they can keep beating Notre Dame, I say keep the Air Force around!

(Plus my nephew's going there in the fall to play lacrosse, so I'd hate for him to lose that opportunity).

[theexorcist]

The Army actually has more aircraft than the Air Force.

Abolishing the AF isn't going to happen, if nothing else than the reason that having two services makes every decision a win or a loss for the other. There are other reasons, but this is a nonstarter.

[Coast2CoastHoya]

Paging Bando ... I seem to recall a rather heated discussion on this issue in the back of a Civic late at night with an Air Force Lt.

[kchoya]

Not going to happen:

1. think closing a bunch of military bases went over well with the public and congresspeople, try getting rid of a whole branch of the military

2. what about getting rid of the Navy after Tailhook, the scandals at Annapolis, or after the loss of most of the pacific fleet at Pearl Harbor? Or getting rid of the Army after My Lai?

3. who's Notre Dame going to beat to become bowl-eligible again?

[RusskyHoya]

As exorcist pointed out, the Army already has lots of aviation units. In fact, they have an entire Army Aviation branch! A lot of it is devoted to helicopters, true, but they also fly a lot of fixed-wing craft, like the C-27J and the C-37A.

[Bando]

Jun 30, 2008 15:11:52 GMT -5 Coast2CoastHoya said:

Paging Bando ... I seem to recall a rather heated discussion on this issue in the back of a Civic late at night with an Air Force Lt.

Note to self: Telling a Air Force Lt. that you think her service should be abolished is not a good way to hit on her.

To those who have noted that the Army has more aircraft than the USAF, isn't that symptomatic of the problem, namely that the other services can't rely on the AF to back them up? Why is the Air Force still trying to fight the Cold War or a hypothetical war against SuperChina?

[Boz]

It probably should be noted that the Air Force is responsible for putting Skynet online.

If there is no Air Force....who knows?

[Bando]

More on this from the Washington Monthly.

Gates has taken the tanker contract authority away from the USAF and put it in his own hands.

[theexorcist]

Jul 10, 2008 11:54:40 GMT -5 Bando said:

More on this from the Washington Monthly.

Gates has taken the tanker contract authority away from the USAF and put it in his own hands.

Eh. The original bid went to Boeing, for leasing. McCain raised objections which were proven correct. A lot of people were fired and some served prison time.

When NorGru won Round 2, Boeing's protest was upheld.

The Air Force has struck out twice. Gates probably wants to make darn surn there's not a Round Four.