There’s lots of press about the US Air Force these days, much of it negative. Yesterday, this New York Times article featuring Lt.General Gary North predicted an increased role for airpower as the drawdown of forces continues in Iraq, with potential acceleration based on election results next year. Lt General North is quite right that airpower will play an increased overwatch role. Then two stories about personnel departures, one a senior acquisition official, Ken Miller, looks like he was caught up in the ongoing tanker controversy and according to some folks including Stepehen Trimble, might have been leaking information to the press.
The next official to go, Mr. William Anderson, claims to have resigned because he didn’t have enough top cover in the Pentagon and the personnel changes “limit his ability to take care of the airmen and their families with the vigor they deserve.” What a load of BS. My guess is that there are a lot of folks beholding to the previous USAF leaders and in advance of the housecleaning and wire brushing that may soon be applied, some of the folks are exiting rather than be fired. There is also the natural tendency for people in Washington to depart in advance of a change of Administrations.
Finally, a really odd story late last night, an Air Force Wing Commander, Brigadier General Thomas L. Tinsley (apparently) shot himself with a handgun in his house on Elmendorf AFB in Anchorage Alaska. Numerous stories quote various people as saying he was a likeable officer who really cared for his troops. But interestingly, General Tinsley’s most recent assignment was as executive officer to the recently retired Chief of Staff General Mosely.
Finally, in completely different type of news (and something I will expand on soon) it looks like the Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC) is going to acquire a C-27J and convert it to a gunship. AFSOC currently operates two gunship variants, both based on the C-130 airframe but has previously operated other, smaller gunships in Vietnam. This story is interesting on many points most notable is that the idea of acquiring a new, smaller gunship may finally show some movement towards increasing our aerial capabilities for counterinsurgency and may be the vanguard for a new fleet of other aircraft.