Quote Originally Posted by slapout9 View Post
Steve, I don't believe in one stop shopping units either and I don't believe I said that but in the context of the Israeli conflict a Dragoon type unit would have be the better way to go.
No worries, slap. Never thought you did...even if your missile fixation almost seems LeMay-ish....

Gavin had some good ideas, and many of the ideas put forward in the Howze report were never fully tested. I don't think he foresaw the LZ dependence because in the early stages I don't really think anyone understood just how much work would be involved lifting larger units via helicopter. I know none of the early airmobile folks really understood just how effective air cavalry would turn out to be...or how impressive it would be once it was combined with an armored ground element (the division cavalry squadron). It's a shame how quickly so many of those lessons were lost.

Missiles are good, like any other weapon, in their proper context. And even some they're not designed for...how many times have we been bitten in our institutional ass because someone forgot what the RPG can do? But if you're dealing with an opponent that doesn't have armored vehicles, missiles can become dead weight...or considered too valuable to use on anything other than a tank. Usually it sorts itself out. But it's also a good example of the situational aspects of conflict.