"It’s been a rough couple of years for the U.S. Air Force. The flying branch has squandered billions of dollars on gold-plated aircraft and other weapons it doesn’t need. It has mishandled nuclear weapons. Airmen in the nuclear force have been caught cheating on exams. And then there are the numerous sexual scandals.
At the same time, the Air Force has struggled to remain relevant during the course of two land-centric wars. The Air Force sends strategic bombers to drop bombs on small bands of insurgents. In nearly 13 years of continuous warfare, the flying branch’s most advanced fighter, the F-22, hasn’t flown a single combat mission.
The air service is also unnecessarily bureaucratic, resistant to systemic change and is the most parochial of the armed services. But there’s an even bigger problem—one that calls into question whether the Air Force should exist at all."...
WE won't miss any of the Armed Forces until we need them and then we will be screaming bloody murder that we don't have them to defend. Russia and China wouldn't mind if we didn't have one.
All organizations should constantly evaluate the need to re-organize and become more efficient. The AF is only one example that could be applied to all levels of gov't, esp. the Federal.
Bonus points for any poster who can explain why this never ever happens in Government (re-org) but always happens over time in private sector. Sorry no link, have to turn on yer Brain!
If you want to be, press one. If you want not to be, press 2
Republicans are red, democrats are blue, neither of them, gives a flip about you.
It's an interesting question. What can the Air Force do that a carrier group and a couple of gator freighters can't? The Air Force has cornered the market on hiring contractors to do a lot of what the Air Force doesn't have the skills or expertise to do in house. Don't get me wrong, all of the branches of the DoD pay contractors to do what they can't but it seems to me that the Air Force does it more than the others.
Need a remote base complete with an air field? Ask the Air Force to set it up and you'll get a white paper detailing a study by a Civil Engineering Squadron and a quote from a contractor like Halliburton detailing what it will cost and how long it it will take to set it up. Ask the Navy and you'll have Sea Bees on the beach wanting to know where you want it to be built and how soon. Sadly, the Navy version of that base might not include a Holiday Inn Express or mess halls with soft serve ice cream machines on day one but it will be up and running in a minimal number of days. In the meanwhile a carrier group will be in the vicinity providing air cover and logistic support.
The Navy doesn't own any C-5s or C-17s but somehow they manage to get men and materials where they need to be when they need to be there. Need the ability to launch an ICBM? The Air Force has land based fixed facilities the bad guys know all about. The Navy has subs that roam the oceans that are almost undetectable that can deliver conventional or nuclear warheads almost anywhere on the planet at a moment's notice. Aside from high capacity cargo aircraft, I can't think of anything that the Air Force does that the Navy doesn't or can't already do. On second thought, the Air Force does have an awesome academy on some of the best land in Colorado and I have to confess I'd rather spend time there than Annapolis...
I can explain it to you but I can't understand it for you.
"Any man who thinks he can be happy and prosperous by letting the Government take care of him; better take a closer look at the American Indian." - Henry Ford
Corruptissima re publica plurimae leges; When the Republic is at its most corrupt the laws are most numerous. - Publius Cornelius Tacitus
LOL wrote: All organizations should constantly evaluate the need to re-organize and become more efficient. The AF is only one example that could be applied to all levels of gov't, esp. the Federal.
Bonus points for any poster who can explain why this never ever happens in Government (re-org) but always happens over time in private sector. Sorry no link, have to turn on yer Brain!
Short answer OPM and lack of accountability.
Slightly longer answer (with a link Bwa Ha Ha)
"The most dangerous mismatch between authority and responsibility lies with the government, and their eagerness to exert authority over fiscal matters, but their complete lack of responsibility when it comes to cleaning up their mistakes. They continue to print more money and devalue the dollar, rather than making hard choices. The American citizen must operate their household with a budget, but Congress continues to ignore, and politicize, their responsibility in this area.
A business that ran their budget with this degree of arrogance, and lack of responsibility, would cease to exist in very short order"
