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2008-06-10 Home Front: Politix

Repeated screwups result in non-fighter jock as Air Force Sec'y

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Posted by gromky 2008-06-10 06:36|| || Front Page|| [11132 views ] Top

#1 I'd say what is needed is UAVs that can boost to Mach 10 and chase down any manned plane.

Posted by phil_b 2008-06-10 07:17|| 2008-06-10 07:17|| Front Page Top

#2 If lotp didn't spend so much time moderating we'd have one.

Posted by Nimble Spemble 2008-06-10 07:21|| 2008-06-10 07:21|| Front Page Top

#3 ...I dunno. If McCain gets elected, you KNOW we're gonna get a Top Gun (or more appropriately, Red Flag) type at the top of the USAF, and if Obama gets elected, his senior military advisor right now is Tony McPeak, who's about as close to the stereotypical egomaniac fighter jock as people can get and still live. I think that as good as this is for the USAF, GEN Schwartz' term will be the last one for a transport driver for a VERY long time.

Mike

Posted by Mike Kozlowski 2008-06-10 08:03|| 2008-06-10 08:03|| Front Page Top

#4 I suspect you are misunderestimating McCain, Mike. And I hope we get a chance to find out who's correct.

Posted by Nimble Spemble 2008-06-10 08:20|| 2008-06-10 08:20|| Front Page Top

#5 I'd say what is needed is UAVs that can boost to Mach 10 and chase down any manned plane.

Mach 10 and 2000 degrees celsius.

Posted by JFM">JFM 2008-06-10 09:14|| 2008-06-10 09:14|| Front Page Top

#6 I crinch with the thought of McPeak near the top powers AGAIN. If we had followed everything these has-been warriors suggested, we would have at more 9/11 because the Jihadists would think we are pussies.

Posted by Cyber Sarge 2008-06-10 09:15|| 2008-06-10 09:15|| Front Page Top

#7 McPeak is one more reason not to vote for Obama. The man was a walking clusterf--k as Chief of Staff of the AF. From his perverse ideas of what an AF uniform should look like to the abomination of AEF concept, the man did terrible damage to a proud institution. He, personally, should be held responsible for the problems with nukes because of the organizational and cultural changes he jammed down the service's throat. Having not heard his name in a while, I had hoped he was dead or exiled to some European capital.

Posted by RWV 2008-06-10 09:27|| 2008-06-10 09:27|| Front Page Top

#8 Obama has McPeak? Yeeeesh. HE typifies everything that could go WRONG with the USAF. Kinda like being to the AF what Weasely Clark was to the Army.

Here's McPeak on why the "neocons" went into Iraq:

"Let's say that one of your abiding concerns is the security of Israel as opposed to a purely American self-interest [ed: This means Jews], then it would make sense to build a dozen or so bases in Iraq. Let's say you are a born-again Christian and you think that Armageddon and the rapture are about to happen any minute [ed: this means any evangelical Christian] and what you want to do is retrace steps you think are laid out in Revelations, then it makes sense."

They guy is saying we only went to Iraq because Jews ("necons" is his codeword for that) and fundamentalist Christians forced us to do so, to do Israels bidding.

What a f**king moron. And this is Obama's main military advisor?

Barak Obama is the leader of one of the most anti-Israel, anti-Christian, and anti-American coalitions yet to push for public office in the US. The antisemitism stuff on his "My Obama" site was clearly reflective of it. Its very telling that they had months of vile anti-Jew anti-Israeli and anti-Christian stuff spewed and blogged all over the "My Barak Obama" site for months!

They only took the action of scrubbing it when it was exposed by bloggers (and is still being conveniently ignored by the mainstream press as to how many hate filled bigots Obama has under his wing).

I don't like McCain, but I'll be damned if I let this jackal Obama and his cabal of socialists, hate-filled antisemites, and vengeance filled power mongers ruin our nation. This kind of stuff is enough to make me want to donate to the McCain campaign.

Posted by OldSpook 2008-06-10 09:28|| 2008-06-10 09:28|| Front Page Top

#9 "No, no, what we need is more air superiority fighters."

Nah, in case of a war with an enemy requiring those we could ramp up production and have what we need in only a decade or so.

Posted by crosspatch 2008-06-10 10:46|| 2008-06-10 10:46|| Front Page Top

#10 OS,

If McPeak said that, he is a disgrace to the uniform AND the oath he swore - and I'll say it to his face. You realize that we could end up with a SecDef McPeak...?

Mike

Posted by Mike Kozlowski 2008-06-10 11:02|| 2008-06-10 11:02|| Front Page Top

#11 Merrill McPeak

Posted by RD">RD 2008-06-10 12:01|| 2008-06-10 12:01|| Front Page Top

#12 Crosspatch, we have enough F-22s already to sweep the skies of any AF that might challenge us. They will be augmented by the F-35 in the future and, quite frankly, the F-35 is a generation newer and significantly better than the F-22. The fighter mafia has been making the argument that more F-22s are needed as stealth fighter bombers.

We have enough fighters and way too many generals.

Posted by RWV 2008-06-10 12:36|| 2008-06-10 12:36|| Front Page Top

#13 As I read the public info, the outgoing leadership failed to follow what amounted to a direct order to get more UAV's in operation. That was the last straw in a series of foulups.

The Air Force continues to insist that only a handful of men are qualified to fly UAV's from the safety and comfort of Nellis AFB. They all have to be fighter pilots and officers, first and foremost.

Abolish the Key West agreement and turn UAV's over to the Army and Marines.

Posted by Chuck Simmins">Chuck Simmins 2008-06-10 13:14|| http://northshorejournal.org]">[http://northshorejournal.org] 2008-06-10 13:14|| Front Page Top

#14 Chuck, UAV piloting ought to be a Warrant Officer job. The Army uses its Intel and Flight warrants and Enlisted as well, to operate their UAVs and have been quite good at it.

Maybe thats what the flight suit mafia is frightened of - losing their exclusivity to the Army and others, and to the enlisted.

Posted by OldSpook 2008-06-10 13:37|| 2008-06-10 13:37|| Front Page Top

#15 ...Oh, Lord, NO: Yahoo News says McPeak may be on the short list for Veep. Some of the other 'military' names on there will also scare the hell out of you, like Wesley Clark.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080610/ap_on_el_pr/obama_veepstakes

Mike

Posted by Mike Kozlowski 2008-06-10 14:47|| 2008-06-10 14:47|| Front Page Top

#16 Haha, I like that name. I am aka AllahHateMe. With today's UAV systems a freaking high-schooler could fly them. It will be good for the USAF to not have a fighter-jock at the head, even if it is only for a short time. As for McPeakee-boo, like we need another reason not to vote for the Obamessiah? There isn't an air force in the world that can touch what we currently field (mostly F-15's) as those get replaced by F-22's and F-35's our air superiority is all but guaranteed. What I'd like to see is a hyper-sonic UAV/Missle. The day of the manned-bomber is done, take a hypersonic weapon and make it remote controlled (hypersonic only from launch to theater, then simply supersonic). What would that get you? 30 minutes from command to target anywhere in the world.

Posted by Galactic Coordinator Thromoque2155 2008-06-10 14:49|| 2008-06-10 14:49|| Front Page Top

#17 What they overlook is Gen Schwartz is a SOCOM guy: Chief of Staff of the Joint Special Operations Task Force for Northern Iraq in operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm.

Aircraft flown: MC-130E/H/P, AC-130H/U, YMC-130, MH-53 and MH-60

Flying MH-53 PAVE-LOW and AC-130 Spectre and the MC-130 Combat Talon is hardly "cargo hauling". Biggest cojones in the AF short of the PJs he was hauling around.

Posted by OldSpook 2008-06-10 16:33|| 2008-06-10 16:33|| Front Page Top

#18 July 1989 - July 1991, Director of Plans and Policy, Special Operations Command Europe, Patch Barracks, Stuttgart-Vaihingen, Germany

August 1991 - May 1993, Deputy Commander for Operations and Commander, 1st Special Operations Group, Hurlburt Field, Fla.

May 1993 - May 1995, Deputy Director of Operations, later, Deputy Director of Forces, Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Plans and Operations, Headquarters U.S. Air Force, Washington, D.C.

June 1995 - May 1997, Commander, 16th Special Operations Wing, Hurlburt Field, Fla.

June 1997 - October 1998, Commander, Special Operations Command, Pacific, Camp H.M. Smith, Hawaii

October 1998 - January 2000, Director of Strategic Planning, Deputy Chief of Staff for Plans and Programs, Headquarters U.S. Air Force, Washington, D.C.

January 2000 - September 2000, Deputy Commander in Chief, U.S. Special Operations Command, MacDill AFB, Fla.

Hey, Besoeker - still think this guy spent his time at Camp 'Howling Mad' playing golf?

Posted by Pappy 2008-06-10 16:52|| 2008-06-10 16:52|| Front Page Top

#19 #5: I'd say what is needed is UAVs that can boost to Mach 10 and chase down any manned plane.

Ummm, we already have them, they're called "Missiles".

Posted by Redneck Jim">Redneck Jim 2008-06-10 16:55|| 2008-06-10 16:55|| Front Page Top

#20 Don;t know what a YMC-130 is? Took massive ones to fly this thing.

Posted by OldSpook 2008-06-10 17:08|| 2008-06-10 17:08|| Front Page Top

#21 Anyone flying that has lots more guts than any fighter jock.

Posted by OldSpook 2008-06-10 17:10|| 2008-06-10 17:10|| Front Page Top

#22 STOL capabilities not much worse than the Osprey but can carry armored vehicles?

Posted by Glenmore 2008-06-10 19:36|| 2008-06-10 19:36|| Front Page Top

#23 As long as it doesnt burst into flames upon landing.

This was originally a lash-up that was tested for the Iran rescue mission - able to land and take off in a stadium (open at one end).

Posted by OldSpook 2008-06-10 19:58|| 2008-06-10 19:58|| Front Page Top

#24 Gotta have huge brass or zero sense to be on it when the retro-rockets fire. YMC-130H

Posted by ed 2008-06-10 20:10|| 2008-06-10 20:10|| Front Page Top

#25 *yikes* Ed!

Posted by Frank G">Frank G 2008-06-10 21:20|| 2008-06-10 21:20|| Front Page Top

#26 COmpare wid TOPIX > WILL THE AIR FORCE GARRISON CYBERSPACE? Militarization of the Net.

Posted by JosephMendiola 2008-06-10 22:51|| 2008-06-10 22:51|| Front Page Top

#27 ION AIR FORCE > WAFF.com > WILL THE US AIR FORCE LOSE JOINT STARS/JSTARS [To US Navy?]; + THE DEVELOPMENT OF INVISBLE BOMBERS IN THE WORKS.

Posted by JosephMendiola 2008-06-10 23:00|| 2008-06-10 23:00|| Front Page Top

#28 ION KOMMERSANT > RUSSIAN MILITARY TO SECURE INTERESTS [Russian State] IN ARCTIC. Ostensibly under the military responsibilities of the Russ Leningrad, Siberian, and Far East Mil Districts. Two TU-95 nuke-capable heavy bombers also to maintain routine patrols over the Arctic UNTIL RUSS MAKES A FINAL DTERMINATION/SELECTION OF MILFORS.

WAFF.com/TOPIX > RUSSIAN MISSLE SUBS TO BEGIN PATROLS IN ARCTIC.

Posted by JosephMendiola 2008-06-10 23:54|| 2008-06-10 23:54|| Front Page Top

23:54 JosephMendiola
23:46 JosephMendiola
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22:46 RD
22:46 Anonymoose
22:19 SOG475
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21:46 Abdominal Snowman
21:45 AzCat
21:39 Frank G
21:37 Frank G
21:26 JosephMendiola
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