Yet another group of Air Force has rotated through our FOB. The group here when we arrived last December was around for a month or so, then rotated out, replaced by a new group. That group was here for four months, then they left and another new group came in. That group just left, and now the fourth group of Air Force service members has arrived. Four Air Force units, and we’re still here. (Oddly, the unit name never changes. I don’t get that)
One of the obvious questions is, can the AF be effective in such a short time? What about the learning curve? It seems that they are plenty effective, perhaps because what they do here is very similar to what they do before they come here. There have been some glitches, such as when some new airmen shot up a car full of Iraqi civilians, but all in all the AF pulls off the short rotations pretty well. In our area, much of the AF mission is on the FOB, infrastructure support and the like, so it is not new to them.
The last AF rotation was from a base located in our home state, and some of our soldiers live not far from the base. One of the soldiers told me “One of these days when we get back, I’m going to be in [his favorite bar] and I’m going to hear some of these AF guys talk about their four month Iraq rotation. I’m going to be sh*thouse drunk, and it’s not going to sit very well with me, and I might say something I regret.”
I don’t begrudge the AF their short rotations; it’s good work if you can get it. I do think that if the Army can learn entirely new missions, then so can the other services. As reported in the MSM (I’m not giving anything away), soldiers are doing primarily infantry and MP missions here, regardless of their type of unit. So, for example, if tankers can learn to do knock and searches, I would think that airmen and sailors could. I don’t see why some of the other services can’t bear more of the burden of this war. This might even free up National Guard for flood and fire duty.
2 comments:
The reason the unit name never changes is that the airmen are "chopped" to an expeditionary support group. So they might be Security Forces guys from Barksdale or Civil Engineering troops from F.E. Warren, but when their AEF (Air Expeditionary Force) comes up, they deploy into an ESG, as opposed to deploying with their entire home unit. I would guess it is some really big number, like the 7074th or something like that, right?
It's the same concept as chopping flying units to a regional command. For example, in OIF, all of the aircraft were chopped from their home units under ACC command to an Expeditionary Wing under CENTCOM command.
The problem with training USAF and USN personnel to do knock and searches is that the only personnel from either of the two services who would be somewhat competent at that sort of thing would be Security Forces from the USAF. And I agree, by all means, the Security Forces guys should be getting fully involved in the War if they're deployed in-country. But it would be something of a waste to have technician mminded people completely retrained to become warriors.
Alan,
Don't blame the AF guys for their short tours or FOB mission, it's what the Air Staff has developed to ensure a steady state AF deployment schedule comprising of 10 AEF 20-month cycles to keep the AF mission in the AOR sharp (to meet the JTF commander's needs) and troops motivated. The benefit is providing more AF personnel training and combat experience (FOB support) (not in the Army/Marine sense...searching houses like you said) and to retain first-term Airmen and pilots when it comes time for them to reenlist. More info here: https://aefcenter.acc.af.mil If they had 1-year tours like the Army, then training, experience, and reenlistments would suffer across the AF. The Army wouldn't do this because of their deployed numbers and they don't have to cater to the troops reenlistment needs as much of the AF because of the AF specialties and technical training. (Maybe the Army would be wise to change to 6-months instead of a year?) The Army also has reserve/guard units that comprise approx 50% of their AOR forces (like you...an integral part of the total force concept…I don’t think the AF is utilizing the same reserve/guard percentage) I suppose in the near future though, you will see a transfer of AF AEF rotations towards 1-year short tours for AF personnel similar to S Korea but only when the number of the total military force in the AOR is lower, airbases are secured and well established, and AIF activities have significantly subsided. The AF is also using the same rotation schedule for Afghanistan. My guess is in another 12-24 months you'll see the AF switch. As for security forces personnel, their mission is resource protection i.e. personnel and equipment, mainly airbase defense. Army/Marines are the primary infantrymen that are trained to kill an opposing force and not ground support AF personnel…AF aircraft/missiles does the killing for the AF. I applaud your service to our country and someday you too will say "goodbye"…if I see you in that bar when you get back to the world, the first one is on me.
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