Should the U.S. Air Force continue to exist in its current form?

[Ralph_Kirk]

Originally Posted by texdav

fact is I think they should decide what they need and want. So often senators fight to make them buy things from their district but support cuts. I was shocked to see we have 50 fighter squadrons now and 180 at time of gulf war. Could take ten years to rebuild to that strength. Pilots from gulf war are retiring to take commercial airline jobs replacing the Vietnam ear pilots who are retiring. make it worse. We always seem to be unprepared when SHTF in world. Like WWI and WWII when it does it cost thousands if not more lifes.

Pilots from the Gulf War are in their 60s today. Why does it make it worse that they're not still jockeying fighter jets?

[SluggoF16]

Originally Posted by Ralph_Kirk

To be sure, the Fighter Mafia has always considered the A-10 to be the Forrest Gump of the family, and CAS to be the equivalent of cleaning bedpans. It's a cultural element: There are generals and colonels today who were taught as butterbars to despise the A-10 and CAS. That was true of CAS in 1973 when I enlisted, and it was still true in 2000 when retired. Being an A-10 pilot is not on the career path to CoS.

But that's changing despite the Fighter Mafia. At this point, it's A-10 pilots who have the most experience flying and fighting. In addition, the Air Force has been forced to adopt combat drone operations, and the Fighter Mafia had to step quickly to get on top of the drone program they initially disdained (and actually, still do).


The CAS line is pretty easily brightly drawn, and unlike in the 40s, the Army knows now how to deploy and support Corps-level airborne assets.

Not entirely true. The current Chief of Staff, General Welsh, is a first-assignment T-37 instructor whose first fighter was the A-10 (like me) who went on to fly the F-16 (like me) and command an F-16 Ops Group (like me) and subsequently run the Air Force (not at all like me). The F-16 wing I now work for has deployed several times, notably to Afghanistan in 2001 doing CAS exclusively, so the Viper drivers now practice and execute CAS almost as much as their slower Hog brethren.

As a retired fighter guy I still have a huge distaste for RPAs (their correct name... drone implies an unmanned target). But I accept their value as a force multiplier, especially in a radar-dense threat environment that taxes F-16 pilots and is a death knell for the A-10

[Ralph_Kirk]

Originally Posted by SluggoF16

Not entirely true. The current Chief of Staff, General Welsh, is a first-assignment T-37 instructor whose first fighter was the A-10 (like me) who went on to fly the F-16 (like me) and command an F-16 Ops Group (like me) and subsequently run the Air Force (not at all like me). The F-16 wing I now work for has deployed several times, notably to Afghanistan in 2001 doing CAS exclusively, so the Viper drivers now practice and execute CAS almost as much as their slower Hog brethren.

You're right, and I intended to mention him, then forgot where I was going with the point when I said things were changing. I meant to mention both him and his predecessor, General Schwartz--whose appointment was really an epoch event.

[TamaraSavannah]

Something to keep in mind when one is talking CAS and the Marines. Every Marine pilot went through The Basic School first. So for the Marine pilot hearing from some grunt on the ground calling for firepower, not only does he know what the man on the ground is facing but there are decent odds he knows that Marine personally.

This situation is not unique to the Marines but it does take some doing to have it come about with the other services. An army general during the Viet Nam War got better cooperation between the troops on the ground and TAC (think it was the B-57) by having the two groups share their time at the bar together.