Air & Space Power Journal articles from December 2007

Air & Space Power Journal archives from December 2007

The Coalition Air Force Transition Team: rebuilding Iraq's air force.(Senior Leader Perspective)
December 22, 2007... ANYONE WHO WALKS into the dayroom of the Iraqi Air Force's 2nd squadron at Taji Air Base would likely see a group of pilots sitting around, talking flying with hand movements ("shooting their watch"), and sipping tea fromporcelain glasses--a...

ASPJ's peer-review process and presenting the latest Chronicles Online Journal articles.(Prelaunch Notes)(Air and Space Power Journal)
December 22, 2007... AS THE PROFESSIONAL journal of the US Air Force, Air and Space Power Journal (ASPJ) offers a forum for debating alternative solutions to national-security challenges. Reasonable people can disagree about proposed solutions but cannot dispute...

Introducing the Chinese ASPJ.(Ricochets and Replies)(Air and Space Power Journal)(Letter to the editor)
December 22, 2007... Air and Space Power Journal is a distinguished military-academic publication. the launch of its Chinese-language edition will have a very positive impact and help gain more Chinese-speaking readers. i wish to thank the editors. Sun Dejian...

A rescue force for the world.(Ricochets and Replies)(Letter to the editor)
December 22, 2007... As a rescue professional and advocate myself, I agree with everything said in the article "A Rescue Force for the World: Adapting Airpower to the realities of the Long War" (Fall 2007), but I want to speak to one point that is missing. the...

Coalition operations.(Ricochets and Replies)(Letter to the editor)
December 22, 2007... I read Lt Col Paul Berg's editorial "Coalition Operations" (Fall 2007) and agree that the United States has enjoyed many close and personal partnerships with other countries; however, based on what I have seen of the war on terrorism over the...

Revisiting Leadership in the Armed Forces.(Ricochets and Replies)(Letter to the editor)
December 22, 2007... I liked Air Commodore Aslam Bazmi's article "Revisiting Leadership in the Armed Forces" (Fall 2007) for the clear and concrete guidance he provided on what it takes to become a great leader--guidance that applies in both military and non...

Nash in Najaf.(Ricochets and Replies)(Letter to the editor)
December 22, 2007... I think that Dr. Hank Brightman's article "Nash in Najaf: Game Theory and Its Applicability to the Iraqi Conflict" (Fall 2007) made a valiant effort to quantify the incentives facing both the Iraqi domestic insurgents and the indigenous...

Maj Gen William "Billy" Mitchell: a pyrrhic promotion.(Ricochets and Replies)(Letter to the editor)
December 22, 2007... I disagree with what Lt Col Donald Rehkopf says in his article "Reply to 'Maj Gen William "Billy" Mitchell: A pyrrhic promotion'" (Fall 2007). I deem the demotion and early retirement of Brig Gen Billy Mitchell to have been a great injustice....

Defining Information Operations Forces.(Ricochets and Replies)(Letter to the editor)
December 22, 2007... I agree with the authors of "Defining Information Operations Forces: What Do We need?" (Summer 2007), who note the numerous information operations career fields within the Air force and other services. It seems only natural that there should be...

Leadership: an old dog's view.(Ricochets and Replies)(Letter to the editor)
December 22, 2007... "The leader is the first into the traces and the last out. The leader eats last and eats least. The leader treats every member of the team with meticulous fairness. The leader encourages affection for the team but never for himself or herself....

Airpower's crucial role in irregular warfare.(Ricochets and Replies)(Letter to the editor)
December 22, 2007... I read with great interest Gen Allen G. Peck's article "Airpower's Crucial Role in Irregular Warfare" (Summer 2007). With his experience and strategic vision, General Peck has crafted a well-considered response and line of thought adapted to...

Fit (and ready) to fight.(Ricochets and Replies)(Letter to the editor)
December 22, 2007... The Iron Tiger martial-arts concept mentioned by 2d Lt Nickolas Stewart in his article "Fit (and Ready) to Fight: Strengthening Combat Readiness through Controlled-Aggression Training" (Summer 2007) is a great idea. Unfortunately, the USAF...

The effects-based approach to operations (EBAO).(Ricochets and Replies)(Letter to the editor)
December 22, 2007... I enjoyed the articles "The Effects-Based Approach to Operations: Questions and Answers" and "Five Propositions Regarding Effects-Based Operations" (Spring 2006). They accurately and objectively clarify the concept and general idea of...

Integrity, Service, and Excellence are the enduring touchstones of the United States Air Force, and discipline is at the core of all three.(Brief article)
December 22, 2007... Integrity, Service, and Excellence are the enduring touchstones of the United States Air Force, and discipline is at the core of all three. A disciplind force puts mission first; flies, fights, and wins as a team; knows the rules; pays...

Airpower and irregular warfare.(Focus Area)
December 22, 2007... AIR FORCE DOCTRINE defines irregular warfare (IW) as "a violent struggle among state and non-state actors for legitimacy and influence over the relevant populations," adding that "IW and traditional warfare are not mutually exclusive and both...

Israel's failure: why?(The Merge)
December 22, 2007... ISRAEL'S 34-DAY CAMPAIGN against Hezbollah in the summer of 2006 had people lining up to place blame for its failure even before it ended. Indeed, Hezbollah's survival and increased influence in Lebanon does seem to indicate that Israel...

Cyberspace is not just a computer on your desktop.(Brief article)
December 22, 2007... Cyberspace is not just a computer on your desktop. It is the way that we as an Air Force intend to fly and fight. --Lt Gen Robert J. Elder Jr., USAF

What do we do next time? Fighting America's wars after Iraq.(The Merge)
December 22, 2007... ACCORDING TO FIELD Manual 3-24/ Marine Corps Warfighting Publication 3-33.5, Counterinsurgency, airpower plays primarily, if not exclusively, a supporting role in counterinsurgency operations such as the ones we are currently conducting in iraq...

Reply to "Defining Information Operations Forces: What Do We Need?".(The Merge)(Letter to the editor)
December 22, 2007... I READ WITH INTEREST the article "Defining Information Operations Forces: What Do We Need?" (Summer 2007). I've been assigned to a joint information operations (IO) organization for the last two years (including two tours "doing IO" in Iraq)...

Author's reply to Lieutenant Colonel Beebe's comment about "Defining Information Operations Forces: What Do We Need?".(The Merge)(Letter to the editor)
December 22, 2007... I APPRECIATE THE INSIGHTFUL comments made by Lt Col Kenneth Beebe in the preceding article. When we wrote "Defining Information Operations forces: What Do We need?" (Summer 2007), my coauthors and I focused on the process of transitioning from...

Comments on "The Hyphenated-Airman".(The Merge)(Letter to the editor)
December 22, 2007... WHEN I READ Lt Col Robert Poynor's "The 'Hyphenated Airman': Some Observations on Service Culture" (Fall 2007), I got no further than the fifth paragraph before I was brought up short. How did "multicultural tribalism... a contemporary...

The paradox of irregular airpower.(PIREPs)
December 22, 2007... THE UNITED STATES Air Force entered the twenty-first century as the most capable purveyor of airpower in history. Following the success of the air campaign in Operation Desert Storm, airpower seemed likely to become a dominant force in all...

Irregular warfare and the US Air Force: the way ahead.(PIREPs)(Report)
December 22, 2007... IRREGULAR WARFARE (IW) in general and counterinsurgency (COIN) more specifically require a particular mind-set and specific talents not entirely applicable or common to more traditional styles of warfare. That does not suggest that COIN...

Chinese servicemen's views of USAF Airmen and education.(PIREPs)(United States Air Force)
December 22, 2007... Editor's Note: In 2006 a delegation from the People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) visited US Air Force (USAF) facilities, including the USAF Academy in Colorado; Air University at Maxwell AFB, Alabama; and Bolling AFB, Washington, DC....

Minting COIN: principles and imperatives for combating insurgency.(PIREPs)(counterinsurgency)
December 22, 2007... THE WORLD BECAME aware of the existence of a coherent body of theory about insurgency as a result of the revolutionary upheavals accompanying the deterioration of empires following World War II. Along with the propagation of ideas from Mao...

Air-minded considerations for joint counterinsurgency doctrine.(Army Field Manual 3-24 and Marine Corps Warfighting Publication 3-33.5, Counterinsurgency)
December 22, 2007... Editorial Abstract: According to the author, the recent publication of Army Field Manual 3-24/Marine Corps Warfighting Publication 3-33.5, Counterinsurgency, reflects a distinctly "surface-minded" perspective. Since airpower possesses unique...

To bomb or not to bomb? Counterinsurgency, airpower, and dynamic targeting.
December 22, 2007... Editorial Abstract: Air strikes, independent from ground operations, are known as "dynamic targeting." These types of strikes have typically been counterproductive in counterinsurgency campaigns due to subsequent collateral damage, whether real...

Maritime homeland defense: a role for land-based airpower?
December 22, 2007... Editorial Abstract: Given the increasing frequency and resourcefulness with which terrorists have planned and carried out attacks, it is reasonable to believe that maritime operations at US ports and on the high seas are in danger. Lieutenant...

Dawn of the Cognetic Age: fighting ideological war by putting thought in motion with impact.
December 22, 2007... Editorial Abstract: Colonel Johnson uses the term "cognetic" to mean putting thought into motion, ideally with global impact. Militant Islam has proven very adept at exploiting the cognetic realm to foment disillusionment and advance its...

New USAF doctrine publication: Air Force doctrine document 2-3, Irregular Warfare.(Doctrine Note)(United States Air Force)
December 22, 2007... AS AIRMEN, WE have a unique war-fighting perspective shaped by a century-long quest to gain and maintain the high ground. We must be able to articulate Air Force capabilities and contributions to the irregular warfare [IW] fight, with its...

The Airman's Creed.(Brief article)
December 22, 2007... THE AIRMAN'S CREED I AM AN AMERICAN AIRMAN. I AM A WARRIOR. I HAVE ANSWERED MY NATION'S CALL. I AM AN AMERICAN AIRMAN. MY MISSION IS TO FLY, FIGHT, AND WIN. I AM FAITHFUL TO A PROUD HERITAGE, A TRADITION OF HONOR,...

Vietnam Diary: From inside Air Force Headquarters.(Book review)
December 22, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Vietnam Diary: From inside Air Force Headquarters by Dr. Herman L. Gilster. RoseDog Books (http://rosedogbooks-store.stores.yahoo.net/index.html), 701 Smithfield Street, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15222, 2005, 370...

The Regulars: The American Army, 1898-1941.(Book review)
December 22, 2007... The Regulars: The American Army, 1898-1941 by Edward M. Coffman. Belknap Press of Harvard University Press (http://www.hup.harvard.edu/index.html), 79 Garden Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, 2004, 528 pages, $35.00 (hardcover); 2007,...

Carriers in Combat: The Air War at Sea.(Book review)
December 22, 2007... Carriers in Combat: The Air War at Sea by Chester G. Hearn. Praeger Security International, Greenwood Publishing Group (http://psi.praeger.com), 88 Post Road West, P.O. Box 5007, Westport, Connecticut 06881-5007, 2005, 336 pages, $49.95...

Protecting Liberty in an Age of Terror.(Book review)
December 22, 2007... Protecting Liberty in an Age of Terror by Philip B. Heymann and Juliette N. Kayyem. MIT Press (http://www-mitpress.mit.edu), 55 Hayward Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142-1493, 2005, 160 pages, $20.00 (softcover). Authors Heymann and...

Finding Amelia: The True Story of the Earhart Disappearance.(Book review)
December 22, 2007... Finding Amelia: The True Story of the Earhart Disappearance by Ric Gillespie. Naval Institute Press (http://www.usni.org/press/press.html), 291 Wood Road, Annapolis, Maryland 214025034, 2006, 296 pages (with DVD supplement), $28.95 (hardcover)....

The Limits of Air Power: The American Bombing of North Vietnam.(Book review)
December 22, 2007... The Limits of Air Power: The American Bombing of North Vietnam by Mark Clodfelter. University of Nebraska Press (http://unp.unl.edu), 1111 Lincoln Mall, Lincoln, Nebraska 68588-0630, 2006, 312 pages, $16.95 (softcover). The first edition...

The North Korean People's Army: Origins and Current Tactics.(Book review)
December 22, 2007... The North Korean People's Army: Origins and Current Tactics by James M. Minnich. Naval Institute Press (http://www.usni.org/press/press.html), 291 Wood Road, Annapolis, Maryland 214025034, 2005, 164 pages, $27.95 (hardcover). The...

Space Warfare: Strategy, Principles and Policy.(Book review)
December 22, 2007... Space Warfare: Strategy, Principles and Policy by John J. Klein. Routledge (http://www.routledge.com), Taylor and Francis Group, 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxford OX14 4RN, United Kingdom, 2006, 196 pages, $115.00 (hardcover). ...

Into the Unknown Together: The DOD, NASA, and Early Spaceflight.(Book review)
December 22, 2007... Into the Unknown Together: The DOD, NASA, and Early Spaceflight by Lt Col Mark Erickson, USAF. AirUniversity Press (http://www.maxwell.af.mil/au/aul/aupress), 131 West Shumacher Avenue, Maxwell AFB, Alabama 36112-5962, 2005, 682 pages, $50.00...

Finding the Target: The Transformation of American Military Policy.(Book review)
December 22, 2007... Finding the Target: The Transformation of American Military Policy by Frederick W. Kagan. Encounter Books (http://www.encounterbooks.com), 900 Broadway, Suite 400, New York, New York 10003, 2006, 432 pages, $29.95 (hardcover). Historian...

All Roads Lead to Baghdad: Army Special Operations Forces in Iraq.(Book review)
December 22, 2007... All Roads Lead to Baghdad: Army Special Operations Forces in Iraq by Charles H. Briscoe et al. USASOC History Office (http://www.gpo.gov), Fort Bragg, North Carolina 28307, 2006, 517 pages, $45.00 (softcover). Written by people involved in...

Flying through Midnight: A Pilot's Dramatic Story of His Secret Missions over Laos during the Vietnam War.(Book review)
December 22, 2007... Flying through Midnight: A Pilot's Dramatic Story of His Secret Missions over Laos during the Vietnam War by John T. Halliday. Scribner, imprint of Simon and Schuster (http://www.simonsays.com), 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, New York...

Imagined Enemies: China Prepares for Uncertain War.(Book review)
December 22, 2007... Imagined Enemies: China Prepares for Uncertain War by John Wilson Lewis and Litai Xue. Stanford University Press (http://www.sup.org), 1450 Page Mill Road, Palo Alto, California 94304-1124, 2006, 384 pages, $60.00 (hardcover). John Wilson...

Al enemigo primero lo descerebramos.(Book review)
December 22, 2007... Al enemigo primero lo descerebramos by Comodoro Miguel Angel Silva, Fuerza Aerea Argentina, retired. Revista de la Escuela Superior de Guerra Aerea (RESGA), Argentina, 2003, 168 pages. (Not sold commercially.) Al enemigo primero lo...

General George Washington: A Military Life.(Book review)
December 22, 2007... General George Washington: A Military Life by Edward G. Lengel. New York: Random House Publishing Group (http://www.randomhouse.com/rhpg), 1745 Broadway, 18th Floor, New York, New York 10019, 2005, 496 pages, $29.95 (hardcover); 2007, 512...

Sky Walking: An Astronaut's Memoir.(Book review)
December 22, 2007... Sky Walking: An Astronaut's Memoir by Tom Jones. HarperCollins Publishers (http://www.harpercollins.com/hc), 10 East 53rd Street, New York, New York 10022, 2006, 369 pages, $26.95 (hardcover). Most readers of Air and Space Power Journal...

The Age of Total War, 1860-1945.(Book review)
December 22, 2007... The Age of Total War, 1860-1945 by Jeremy Black. Praeger Security International, Greenwood Publishing Group (http://www.praeger.com/psi), 88 Post Road West, Westport, Connecticut 06881, 2006, 216 pages, $44.95 (hardcover). The term total...

Atlas: The Ultimate Weapon.(Book review)
December 22, 2007... Atlas: The Ultimate Weapon by Chuck Walker with Joel Powell. Apogee Books / Collectors Guide Publishing (http://www.apogeespacebooks.com), 1440 Graham's Lane, Unit no. 2, Burlington, Ontario L7S 1W3, Canada, 2005, 304 pages, $29.95 (softcover)....

The Tet Offensive: A Concise History.(Book review)
December 22, 2007... The Tet Offensive: A Concise History by James H. Willbanks. Columbia University Press (http://www.columbia.edu/cu/cup), 61 West 62d Street, New York, New York 10023, 2006, 272 pages, $29.50 (hardcover). In every American war, one battle...