Air & Space Power Journal articles from December 2008

Air & Space Power Journal archives from December 2008

Lichte on leadership: a Yankees fan's perspective.(Senior Leader Perspective)(New York Yankees)(Essay)
December 22, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] AS A STUDENT of leadership over the past 37 years, I've received numerous briefings and read countless works on the subject. I quickly found out that the range of different perspectives rivaled the number of works...

Global vigilance, reach, and power.(Focus Area)
December 22, 2008... THE US AIR Force has long characterized its mission in global terms. Gen Hap Arnold chose Global Mission for the title of his memoirs, published in 1949. An Air Force white paper of 1990, Global Reach--Global Pouter, articulated a vision of how...

Honoring Maj Gen I. B. Holley for his many years of service to Air and Space Power Journal.(Prelaunch Notes)
December 22, 2008... MAJ GEN I. B. Holley has announced his retirement from Air and Space Power Journal's (ASPJ) Editorial Advisory Board (EAB--its board of directors, charged with determining the journal's strategic direction). A military-history icon, he has been...

Airpower Imbalance.(Ricochets and Replies)(Letter to the editor)
December 22, 2008... Air Commodore Tariq Mahmud Ashraf's article "Airpower Imbalance: Nuclear Pakistan's Achilles' Heel" (Fall 2008) is intriguing. However, the points that he chooses not to address are extremely disturbing. Specifically, what is the definition of...

Airpower Imbalance: the author responds.(Ricochets and Replies)(Letter to the editor)
December 22, 2008... Pakistan has had only one main seaport at Karachi, and although it has been supplemented somewhat by the construction of Port Qasim and the Gwadar Port, India's blue-water-capable navy could still attempt to choke Pakistan's principal shipping...

Strategy and Cost.(Ricochets and Replies)(Letter to the editor)
December 22, 2008... I really enjoyed Lt Col Lawrence Spinetta's article "Strategy and Cost: A Gap in Our Military Decision-Making Process" (Fall 2008). Last year, while attending the Army's Command and General Staff College, I came to the same realization as...

The Role of Air Force Civil Engineers in Counterinsurgency.(Ricochets and Replies)(Letter to the editor)
December 22, 2008... Lt Col Kendall Brown's article "The Role of Air Force Civil Engineers in Counterinsurgency Operations" (Summer 2008) does a wonderful job of outlining the capabilities of Air Force civil engineers (CE) and the ways they have been effectively...

Lorenz on Leadership.(Ricochets and Replies)(Letter to the editor)
December 22, 2008... The articles "Lorenz on Leadership" (Summer 2005) and "Lorenz on Leadership: Part 2" (Spring 2008) by Gen Stephen Lorenz are superb, and I hope to see a third article or even a book. I had the great personal honor of sitting in the front row at...

Lorenz on Leadership: Part 2.(Ricochets and Replies)(Letter to the editor)
December 22, 2008... "Lorenz on Leadership: Part 2" (Spring 2008) is a fantastic article. It not only tells about the art of leading servicemen but also radiates humaneness. Military leaders should manifest themselves as seniors because "you truly never know when...

Airpower's Crucial Role in Irregular Warfare.(Ricochets and Replies)(Letter to the editor)
December 22, 2008... I very much enjoyed both the Chinese and English versions of Maj Gen Allen G. Peck's article "Airpower's Crucial Role in Irregular Warfare" (Summer 2007). I admired the author's broad experience in operational airpower and enjoyed the wisdom...

Lean Uniforms: Cutting the "Waste" Line.(Ricochets and Replies)(Letter to the editor)
December 22, 2008... I enjoyed the article "Lean Uniforms: Cutting the 'Waste' Line" by Lt Gen Terry Gabreski, Maj Gen Loren Reno, and Brig Gen Robert Allardice (Spring 2007). It introduced new concepts of uniform design to us in Iraq. If the article's concepts...

Reply to "A Look Down The Slippery Slope: domestic operations, outsourcing, and the erosion of military culture".(The Merge)
December 22, 2008... MAJ BRYAN D. Watson's article "A Look down the Slippery Slope" (Air and Space Power Journal, Spring 2008) should be required reading for every military commander, contracting officer, and support-function service member who looks only for the...

Comments on "Weather and the Calculated Risk".
December 22, 2008... I WAS VERY PLEASED to see Maj Anthony Eckel, Capt Jeffrey Cunningham, and Maj Dale Hetke's article "Weather and the Calculated Risk: Exploiting Forecast Uncertainty for Operational Risk Management" (Air and Space Pouter Journal, Spring 2008). I...

Reply to "Military Transformation: Ends, Ways, and Means".
December 22, 2008... DO NOT INTEND to make a complete commentary on Dr. Jack D. Kem's very interesting article "Military Transformation: Ends, Ways, and Means" (Air and Space Power journal, Fall 2006); instead, I will outline a few thoughts that it inspired in one...

An Airman's view of United States Air Force Airpower.
December 22, 2008... THE FOLLOWING DISCUSSION resulted from a review of a proposed revision to Air Force Doctrine Document (AFDD) 1, Air Force Basic Doctrine, and the author's belief that it fails to adequately describe the airpower of the United States and of the...

Asking the right questions.(on counterinsurgency)(Essay)
December 22, 2008... REFLECTING UPON Mr. Remy Mauduit's excellent article "Effects-Based Information Battle in the Muslim World" (Air and Space Power Journal Spring 2008), I found that I had more questions than answers. Reflecting further, I realized that this was...

Asymmetric air support.(close air support in Iraq and Afghanistan)
December 22, 2008... THE INITIAL PHASES of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom involved extensive close air support (CAS). Just as the battlefield has evolved into a more asymmetrical composition, so have ground-force requests for support. Most...

Human performance enhancement: uberhumans or ethical morass?
December 22, 2008... Ritalin seems to have become the drug for our day. As competition on every level intensifies, our preoccupations as a culture increasingly center on performance. And our children, whether we realize it or not, have been serving as a proving...

Air-mindedness.(airmen's duties)(Essay)
December 22, 2008... WHAT MAKES AIRMEN different from soldiers or sailors? It has to be more than the uniform they wear or the technology they maintain and operate. The distinction is the unique perspective they bring to the art of warfare--an attribute we loosely...

The reconstitution imperative.(counterspace forces)
December 22, 2008... It is thus an essential condition of strategic leadership that forces should be held in reserve according to the degree of strategic uncertainty. --Carl von Clausewitz, On War THE US SPACE community was alarmed by China's antisatellite...

Self-evaluation: a disconnect in our values.
December 22, 2008... IN THE LAST two years, I've drafted a dozen performance reports and recommendations for officer promotion. That may seem like a reasonable number that ought not be too burdensome for one officer to handle, but I find it quite unsatisfactory....

Control of theater intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance for the ground commander.(Viewpoint essay)
December 22, 2008... I READ WITH GREAT interest Lt Col Michael Downs's article "Rethinking the Combined Force Air Component Commander's Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance Approach to Counterinsurgency" (Fall 2008). I agree that the system needs reform...

Developing Airmen for integration into air, space, and cyberspace: the new aggressors.(PIREPs)
December 22, 2008... REVITALIZATION OF THE aggressor program provides expanded training opportunities in the air, space, and cyber realms. The following discussion details basic principles of the aggressor program, developed over time by organizations whose express...

Journals for space professionals: so much to read, so little time.
December 22, 2008... SPACE WAS THE final frontier--later, the ultimate high ground. Today we squeeze space in between air and cyberspace in the Air Force's responsibility--a fact certainly reflected in Air and Space Power Journal. But two other journals provide...

Defense of US space assets: a legal perspective.
December 22, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] THE U.S. IS more dependent on space than any other nation. Yet the threat to the U.S. and its allies in and from space does not command the attention it merits." (1) This was the conclusion of a space commission...

Shifting the Air Force's support ideology to exploit combined arms in the close fight.(United States Air Force)
December 22, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] THE NORMANDY INVASION lost momentum in June 1944 as Allied troops encountered hedgerow country. Here, German soldiers made each hedgerow a fortified line, every encircled pasture a killing field. With machine-gun...

Why we should end the Aviator Continuation Pay Bonus Program.(Viewpoint essay)
December 22, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] A NOTE IN THE Air Force publication Roll Call pointed out that extending the length of military assignments from three to four years would produce cost savings that the service could use to recapitalize its...

Red Rogue: The Persistent Challenge of North Korea.(Book review)
December 22, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Red Rogue: The Persistent Challenge of North Korea by Bruce E. Bechtol Jr. Potomac Books (http://www.potomacbooksinc.com), 22841 Quicksilver Drive, Dulles, Virginia 20166, 2007, 288 pages, $23.96 (hardcover). ...

Phantom Reflections: The Education of an American Fighter Pilot in Vietnam.(Book review)
December 22, 2008... Phantom Reflections: The Education of an American Fighter Pilot in Vietnam by Mike McCarthy. Praeger/Greenwood Publishing Group (http://www.praegercom), 88 Post Road West, Westport, Connecticut 06881, 2006, 200 pages, $44.95 (hardcover). ...

The Rise of China: How Economic Reform Is Creating a New Superpower.(Book review)
December 22, 2008... The Rise of China: How Economic Reform Is Creating a New Superpower by William H. Overholt. W. W. Norton and Company (http://www.wwnorton.com), 500 Fifth Avenue, New York, New York 10110, 1994, 432 pages, $16.95 (soft cover). Over the past...

Battling Tradition: Robert F. McDermott and Shaping the U.S. Air Force Academy.(Book review)
December 22, 2008... Battling Tradition: Robert F. McDermott and Shaping the U.S. Air Force Academy by Paul T Ringenbach. Imprint Publications (http://www.imprint-chicago.com), 230 East Ohio Street, Suite 300, Chicago, Illinois 60611, 2006, 333 pages, $24.95...

On Call in Hell: A Doctor's Iraq War Story.(Book review)
December 22, 2008... On Call in Hell: A Doctor's Iraq War Story by Cdr Richard Jadick with Thomas Hayden. New American Library, a division of Penguin Group (http://us.penguingroup.com), 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, 2007, 288 pages, $24.95...

Seeing the Elephant: The U.S. Role in Global Security.(Book review)
December 22, 2008... Seeing the Elephant: The U.S. Role in Global Security by Hans Binnendijk and Richard L. Kugler. National Defense University Press and Potomac Books (http://www.potomacbooksinc.com), 22841 Quicksilver Drive, Dulles, Virginia 20166, 2007, 336...

Airpower in Small Wars: Fighting Insurgents and Terrorists.(Book review)
December 22, 2008... Airpower in Small Wars: Fighting Insurgents and Terrorists by James S. Corum and Wray R. Johnson. University Press of Kansas (http://www kansaspress.ku.edu), 2502 Westbrooke Circle, Lawrence, Kansas 6604511444, 2003, 560 pages, $24.95...

Tempered Steel: The Three Wars of Triple Air Force Cross Winner Jim Kasler.(Book review)
December 22, 2008... Tempered Steel: The Three Wars of Triple Air Force Cross Winner Jim Kasler by Perry D. Luckett and Charles L Byler. Potomac Books (http://www.potomacbooksinc.com), 22841 Quicksilver Drive, Dulles, Virginia 20166, 2005, 320 pages, $22.36...

The Specter of Munich: Reconsidering the Lessons of Appeasing Hitler.(Book review)
December 22, 2008... The Specter of Munich: Reconsidering the Lessons of Appeasing Hitler by Jeffrey Record. Potomac Books (http://www.potomacbooksinc.com), 22841 Quicksilver Drive, Dulles, Virginia 20166, 2006, 160 pages, $19.96 (hardcover). Say what you...

Silver Wings, Golden Valor: The USAF Remembers Korea.(Book review)
December 22, 2008... Silver Wings, Golden Valor: The USAF Remembers Korea edited by Dr. Richard E Hallion. Air Force Historical Studies Office (http://wwwairforcehistory.hq.af.mil/publications.htm), Publications Division, 3 Brookley Avenue, Box 94, Bolling AFB,...

Heirpower! Eight Basic Habits of Exceptionally Powerful Lieutenants.(Book review)
December 22, 2008... Heirpower! Eight Basic Habits of Exceptionally Powerful Lieutenants by CMSgt Bob VLquez, USAF, retired. Air University Press (http://www.maxwell.af.mil/au/aul/aupress), 131 West Shumacher Avenue, Maxwell AFB, Alabama 36112-5962, 2006,88 pages,...

Billy Mitchell: "Stormy Petrel of the Air".(Book review)
December 22, 2008... Billy Mitchell: "Stormy Petrel of the Air" by Roger G. Miller. Air Force Historical Studies Office (http://www.airforcehistory.hq.af.mil/publicationa.htm), Publications Division, 3 Brookley Avenue, Box 94, Bolling AFB, Washington, DC...

Who Guards the Guardians and How: Democratic Civil-Military Relations.(Book review)
December 22, 2008... Who Guards the Guardians and How: Democratic Civil-Military Relations edited by Thomas C. Bruneau and Scott D. Tollefson. University of Texas Press (http://www.utexas.edu/utpress), P.O. Box 7819, Austin, Texas 78713-7819, 2006, 336 pages,...

Science, Strategy and War: The Strategic Theory of John Boyd.(Book review)
December 22, 2008... Science, Strategy and War: The Strategic Theory of John Boyd by Frans E B. Osinga. Routledge (http://www.routledge.com), Taylor and Francis Group, 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxford OX14 4RN, United Kingdom, 2006, 336 pages, $125.00...

Bomber Boys: The RAF Offensive of 1943.(Book review)
December 22, 2008... Bomber Boys: The RAF Offensive of 1943 by Kevin Wilson. Weidenfeld and Nicolson, Orion Publishing Group (http://www.orionbooks.co.uk), 5 Upper St Martin's Lane, London, WC2H 9EA, 2005, 464 pages, $39.95 (hardcover), $12.95 (softcover) (2006)....

Into the Wild Blue Yonder: My Life in the Air Force.(Book review)
December 22, 2008... Into the Wild Blue Yonder: My Life in the Air Force by Allan T. Stein. Texas A&M University Press Consortium (http://www.tamu.edu/upress), John H. Lindsey Building, Lewis Street, 4 354 TAMU, College Station, Texas 77843-4354, 2005, 200 pages,...

Regional Guide to International Conflict and Management from 1945 to 2003.(Book review)
December 22, 2008... Regional Guide to International Conflict and Management from 1945 to 2003 by Jacob Bercovitch and Judith Fretter. CQPress (http://www.cqpress.com), 1255 22nd Street, NW, Suite 400, Washington, DC 20037, 2004, 400 pages, $118.00 (hardcover). ...

Beyond Close Air Support: Forging a New Air-Ground Partnership.(Book review)
December 22, 2008... Beyond Close Air Support: Forging a New Air-Ground Partnership by Bruce R. Pirnie et al. RAND (http://www.rand.org/publications/index.html), 1776 Main Street, P.O. Box 2138, Santa Monica, California 90407-2138, 2005, 214 pages, $25.00...

Semmes: Rebel Raider.(Book review)
December 22, 2008... Semmes: Rebel Raider by John M. Taylor. Potomac Books (http://www.potomacbooksinc.com/Books/Features.aspx), 22841 Quicksilver Drive, Dulles, Virginia 20166, 2003, 128 pages, $15.96 (hardcover), $10.36 (softcover) (2005). The two best known...

Code Names: Deciphering U.S. Military Plans, Programs and Operations in the 9/11 World.(Book review)
December 22, 2008... Code Names: Deciphering U.S. Military Plans, Programs and Operations in the 9/11 World by William M. Arkin. Steerforth Press (http://www.steerforth.com), 25 Lebanon Street, Hanover, New Hampshire 03755, 2005, 624 pages, $27.95 (hardcover). ...

My Battle of Algiers: A Memoir.(Book review)
December 22, 2008... My Battle of Algiers: A Memoir by Ted Morgan. Smithsonian Books, imprint of HarperCollins (http://www.harpercollins.com/index.aspx), 10 East 53rd Street, New York, New York 10022, 2006, 304 pages, $24.95 (hardcover), $14.95 (softcover) (2007)....

Corky Meyer's Flight Journal: Dodging Disasters--Just in Time.(Book review)
December 22, 2008... Corky Meyer's Flight Journal: Dodging Disasters--Just in Time by Corwin H. Meyer Specialty Press (http://www.specialtypres&com), 39966 Grand Avenue, North Branch, Minnesota 55056, 2006, 252 pages, $27.95 (softcover). Want excitement? Try...

Uneasy Balance: Civil-Military Relations in Peacetime America since 1783.(Book review)
December 22, 2008... Uneasy Balance: Civil-Military Relations in Peacetime America since 1783 by Thomas S. Langston. Johns Hopkins University Press (http://www.press.jhu.edu), 2715 North Charles Street, Baltimore, Maryland 2121811363, 2003, 208 pages, $39.95...

Thunder over the Horizon: From V-2 Rockets to Ballistic Missiles.(Book review)
December 22, 2008... Thunder over the Horizon: From V-2 Rockets to Ballistic Missiles by Clayton K. S. Chun. Praeger Security International, imprint of Greenwood Publishing Group (http://www.greenwood.com/psi), 88 Post Road West, P.O. Box 5007, West port,...