US Army Air Corp; to the gates of Hell.

View 842 Thursday, September 11, 2014

“Transparency and the rule of law will be the touchstones of this presidency.”

President Barack Obama, January 31, 2009

 

And now for an important message:

 

Dr. Pournelle,

Solar Flare due to hit Friday:

"An updated CME prediction model released by the NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center is calling for the plasma cloud generated by the X1.6 solar flare to impact our geomagnetic field by Friday. A moderate to major (G3) geomagnetic storm watch is now in effect. Solar wind speeds are predicted to reach near 800 km/s and could add fuel to another geomagnetic disturbance already in the forecast resulting from an earlier M4.5 flare and CME event. Sky watchers at middle to high latitudes should be alert this weekend for visual aurora displays. "

http://www.solarham.net/

Batten down the electronic hatches.

-d

The President has said that he will destroy the Caliphate, but that was not accompanied by any shock and awe. The enemy is left to judge what will come by what we have promised and done. We have in total sent 157 sorties against ISIS; a serious effort to destroy that entity would have had that many every day.

Of course one can only send what one has. What is really needed is Delta Force ground units with several squadrons of Warthogs (A-10 Thunderbolt). Actually, P-47 Thunderbolts would do, but we don’t have any of those. Ground units with adequate sir support under an air supremacy umbrella is generally successful in any kind of war, whether the enemy is the Wehrmacht or the North Vietnamese Army of 1972 when it invaded the South. Note that in that campaign, the North Vietnamese lost over 100,000 in killed, disabled, or captured; the US lost under 500 troops total in battles involving more enemy armor than most World War II engagements.

What is really needed is to form a new United States Army Air Corps with a 3-star general in command; its mission would be to design, develop, procure, train, and generally plan operations of air weapons suitable for support of the field army. That structure would provide a career path for those who wish to specialize in air/ground war.   Of course USAF will never allow this, although they don’t understand or want the ground support operations mission, even though that is what is decisive in this kind of war. Air/ground warfare is the new decisive arm, and America has the most experience in using it; but the USAF which will never give up a mission is doing its best to lose all that experience that we paid blood and treasure to acquire.

USAF has one of the world’s best civil engineering capabilities: they build and operate bases. Perhaps the Army could borrow USAF construction units to build bases in Peshmurga controlled Iraq; the Army would have to provide security. Under present USAF/US Army turf treaties, the Army has to use helicopters, which are far more vulnerable to ground based opposition. This gives hot USAF pilots more missions, since air supremacy (which includes elimination of ground based anti-air weapons) is an Air Force specialty and they are very good at it. The problem is that when it comes to any budget crises, it’s the Thunderbolts that go first, leaving the Army stuck with vulnerable helicopters. Helicopters are not the right weapons for air/ground warfare. They are very good for what they are good at, but they cannot fly direct support, recce/strike, interdiction, and other missions to isolate the battle area.  Neither can high speed high tech jet aircraft, vital as those are to secure air supremacy.

An American ground/air expeditionary force with unified command structure sounds like the Marines, but they don’t have optimum ground army support aircraft either.

Four squadrons of Warthogs and a regiment of Green Berets would eliminate the Caliphate in short order, recapturing or destroying the expensive weapons we gave the ineffective Iraqi forces which threw them down in their retreat from ISIS. Of course it would be hard on the areas that must be reconquered, but so is occupation by the Caliphate.

Regarding the President’s speech, in the wake of our operations since Benghazi, I am not sure that the Caliphate has been impressed. Had dawn come up over Iraq to reveal massive air strikes including carpet bombing by B-52’s, along with a maximum effort from Navy and Marine aircraft, the result might be different. But since the speech was not followed by unleashing the dogs of war, the Caliphate will take it as a warning, and prepare.

We have Delta Force, the CIA teams, and the Green Beret forces; we have ground support aircraft, and we have an Air Force that, once it is told unmistakably that the mission is to support our Legionnaires who will guide the Peshmerga, can do this job. Of course that is expensive. Perhaps we can take some of the profits from the oil fields we will liberate. I am sure the Kurds will be glad to share that revenue with us. And the sight of a US-Kurdish cooperative venture resulting in victory over the Caliphate that sent the Iraqi Army running in fear should provide a salutary lesson to the new Iraqi government – as well as give Iran something to think about.

Of course nothing of this sort will happen under President Obama. One does wonder what Vice President Biden would do if put in charge. At least he has said that we will pursue the Caliphate to the gates of Hell.

“[W]hen people harm Americans, we don’t retreat. We don’t forget,” Biden said during a speech in New Hampshire. “We take care of those who are grieving, and when that’s finished, they should know, we will follow them to the gates of hell until they are brought to justice. Because hell is where they will reside. Hell is where they will reside.”

…

“The American people are so much stronger, so much more resolved than any enemy can fully understand,” Biden added.

Biden made his remarks during a scheduled appearance at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in New Hampshire.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2014/09/joe-biden-isil-react-110558.html#ixzz3D2WagLe5

Another example of our Capital showpiece education system:

D.C. Public Schools homework assignment asks 6th graders to compare Bush to Hitler

A D.C. public school gave a sixth grade class a homework assignment that required students to draw comparisons between former President George W. Bush and Adolf Hitler.

The assignment was given out this week at McKinley Tech Middle School in Northeast and has angered at least one parent who complained about the homework.

Read more: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/sep/10/dc-public-schools-homework-assignment-compare-bush/#ixzz3D2AaEkrI

I warn you this is an annoying web site that keeps wanting to talk to you rather than just let you read it, but as far as I can see the story is accurate. I have no idea what will be done about it, if anything.

: You’re aboard a sailing vessel, anchored in that part of the world and everyone’s asleep? Really?

(U) MADAGASCAR: On 20 August, one robber armed with a knife boarded the sailing vessel SOLACE while anchored in the port of Diego Suarez. The boarding occurred at 0200 local time and the thief attempted to steal the portable generator, which was on deck, just behind the aft cabin hatch where the owners were sleeping and was secured with two ropes, but no lock. The owners did not hear the intruders approach, or board, but noises on the back deck woke the skipper up. It is likely that the thief didn’t realize the weight of the generator as he dragged it on the deck in order to lift over the side. The yacht’s owner then confronted the robber, who dove into the water and escaped in a waiting dugout canoe. (Noonsite)

Freedom is not free. Free men are not equal. Equal men are not free.