The Never Ending Airpower Versus Groundpower Debate

[LawVol]

There is a knee-jerk reaction in AF cirlces to want to control everything in the air. However, I see the same thing from the Army. After all, a few of you immediately liked the constabulary idea but wanted it with the ground forces. I see that argument and it isn't without merit. It seems that other branches are quite comfortable with the need to take on air missions (rightfully so, I think, since it folds more neatly into the support role they're looking for airpower to have), but bristle when someone mentions the AF taking more of a ground approach. It just seems curious to me.

I keep going back to the same thing because I do not see an AF constabulary, however, as taking over Marine/Army missions. Typical groundpounders aren't trained for the type of work required in establishing the rule of law in a post-conflict environment and they typically receive very little, if any, training to deal with locals (SOF forces may be the exception). I was just rereading part of Fiasco and a passage out of chapter 8 sort of captures it all. It said that immediately after OIF I the grunts were in the mind set of returning home and losing their motivation because they weren't going home. They did realize and weren't prepared for the fact that they had to establish law and order (remember the looting?). Having AF people trained at this available to move in quickly avoids squandering that golden hour. I could understand how hard it would be for the 3d ID to switch gears from fighting to policing, especially with no training or plan. Developing an AF constabulary would allow us to develop the doctrine and would allow the green force to focus on what they do best.

As for the UAV debate, I'm not a flier so it doesn't affect me like it does our pilots. From what I hear, they see the need but I guess there is some fear that pilots will become obsolete. I was at a base in Iraq with the 101st and they had some small UAVs to use for on-call observation. It seemed like a great idea to me. It was immediately available and I'm sure less expensive than having a viper on scene.