My friend Brian Shul, aviator, author, and photographer, has a poster hanging in his gallery of the A-7 attack aircraft (which he flew after recovering from his burns after his crash in Vietnam).  The poster shows A-7’s and has this caption: No weapon too short for a brave man.  Thanks to the Google.books link here, I am able to quickly get to the full quote, written by Richard Steele and published in the Guardian in 1710.  Extract follows

•  This brings to my mind what I have formerly read of a king of Arabia, who showing a rich sword, that had been presented to him, his courtiers unanimously gave their opinion, that it had no other fault, but that of being too short ; upon which the king's son said, that there was no weapon too short for a brave man, since there needed no more but to advance one step to make it long enough. To this I shall subjoin, by way of corollary, that there is no weapon long enough for a coward, who never thinks himself secure while be is within sight of his adversary's point. I would therefore advise these men of distant courage, as they tender their honour, to shorten their dimensions, and reduce their tilters to a more reputable, as well as a more portable size. 

This site has seen much traffic related to counterinsurgency airpower and the continuing struggles of the Air Force, two topics seemingly intertwined.  Over the next few weeks, I am going to sponsor a new project, pro bono, to seek out ideas for the new leadership team in the Air Force.  We’ve seen recent stories of missileers falling asleep with while on duty with nuclear components and of course, the head shaking saga of the “comfort capsules” for distinguished personnel, which  follows all of the dramas that preceded the resignation/firing of the USAF Chief of Staff and Air Force Secretary.

There are some promising signs though, comments by former Secretary Wynne (http://www.airforcetimes.com must search their site, links aren't working) they in fact were considering creation of a nuclear command, perhaps even resurrecting the Strategic Air Command. And much more promising are stories of acquisition of a small gunship, an AC-27, based on the new joint cargo aircraft as well as potentially more acquisition of small light cargo and intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft (50 Beech C-12’s according to the New York Times here) and of course, continuing unmanned aerial systems procurement.

The most important weapons we possess are our intellects.  As I’ve said describing the concept of Excalibur R&D, I think collectively, we can come up with as good or quite often better, than the think-tanks that populate DC and the organizations within the services charged with new ideas and concept development.  In the weeks ahead, I will provide some personal anecdotes illustrating my own experiences.  But right now, please start thinking of what you feel is wrong with the Air Force and more importantly, ideas and concepts on how to improve it.  To quote Secretary Gates from his address to the Air War College in the wake of the removal of the Air Force leadership:

•  In an era when we are most likely to be challenged in asymmetric ways, I would ask you to think through how we can build the kinds of air capabilities most likely to be needed while continuing to offer a strategic hedge against rising powers.