Quote Originally Posted by Rob Thornton View Post
How do we see the threat, and why? Service cultures play a part in shaping our perspectives, but that does not mean they are irrelevant. In gunnery the crew is taught to engage the most dangerous threat first - there are characteristics given to help qualify that, but it’s still a matter of arbitration. However, let’s say you have a more lethal threat that can engage you, but also have a less lethal threat closer in. Both are lethal. You have some latitude, you can perform a simultaneous engagement, but still, its a divided effort.
Threat perception is perhaps what differentiates the air and ground folks. IMHO, the ground guys tend to focus almost solely on OIF/OEF. Now this is to be excepted given the current fight and the fact that the OIF/OEF threat is staring you right in the face. As a result, I think you (generic use of the term) tend to enlarge that threat. However, OIF/OEF is not a catastrophic threat. No matter what al Qeada, et al. does, there is no threat to our existance.

When you discuss a rising peer competitor, however, there is a potential for an existential threat. The stuff I'm reading about China and Russia indicates that they are extensively reinvigorating their military capability. Russia just conducted a missile launch for a system they say will work against our missile defense system. Whether this is true or not is irrelevant; the fact is that they are trying. We air guys see this as a true threat and one for which we must prepare.

That is not to say that the Army doesn't need upgrades or even more people (I reserve judgment on this), but we cannot leverage our future against a short-term solution to a non-existential threat.

Also, I don't know anything about India's war elephants, but I do know that risking the loss of a 16 million dollar jet for an insurgent is not the same as risking one to take out China's air defense system. BUilding tons of them might have been the idea back in the 1970s when they were first produced, but I don't think we can rely on that now. How will one perform against a 5th or 6th generation fighter? Will the enemy simply be shooting fish in a barrel? I'm not willing to risk it.