Quote Originally Posted by slapout9 View Post
I got it! We should just draft everybody in the Air Force, Army and Navy and put them in the Marine corps They must be laughing at us because how long have they had the concept of a combined Air, Land and Sea Force adapted to what ever situation they currently face.
When I came to the AF as a newly minted 2d Lt some years back, I was still imbued with 13 years of Marine Corps time behind me. The Air Expeditionary Force concept was just coming online and I made the mistake of observing to my CO (a Major just graduated from the Air Command and Staff College, who in actuality turned out to be a great American) that the AEF looked a whole lot like a MEU, but without the robust organic support structure and rifles. The lecture which followed took me through a textbook litany of the virtues of the AEF and how this (as yet unproven) concept was far superior to the MEU/MEF concept of operations. Fast forward 8 years and the AEF is still teetering on maturity, albeit more effective by a magnitude of 10 than it was then--and 'surprise'; I think they may have picked up some expeditionary operating concepts from the Marine Corps in the intervening years.

What I learned from that short conversation with my new CO was that parochialism was strong in the AF, and that the "not invented here" syndrome was alive and well. It's not an AF unique issue--it's the same in any service, as well as in the joint world (did you know that "joint" is actually spelled "Army"?)

The ILO taskings LawVol referred to have Navy and AF enlisted and officers filling traditional big Army functions (MiTT, convoy, security, etc) AF Lieutenants/Captains were filling Army Company CO positions in Army Trans Bns (until the AF brought them back into the AF fold...); Airmen were manning .50 cals in the back of up-armored security vehicles (and by the way, they were the ones welding the armor to the trucks on days when they didn't have runs scheduled) There are success stories out there that anyone (Doggie, Jarhead, Squid, or Flyboy) would be proud to brag about over a beer (or warm Coke, depending on your locale)

What I see happening at the O-3 to O-5 level (pilots excluded) is that we're starting to gain an understanding of how to operate in a joint environment to achieve common objectives. (Holy Buckets!!!! that sounds like the road to interoperability!) I think,we'll see General officers 20 years from now who'll be significantly less parochial than some serving today.

As far as pilots go, well, I just don't know what to say. The AC-130 and MC-130 pilots I know are great guys (and gals), the airlift pilots can't be paid enough based on what they're actually worth, and the fighter pilots believe they've been anointed by the almighty. Personally I think we should bring back Warrant Officer aviators...but that's another post.