Population Centric Warfare

The Air Force, stung by my attacks, is ready to launch a new campaign, doubling its advertising budget at a moment when "service leaders think the stakes are high." Not the stakes in Iraq or Afghanistan, but the budgetary stakes, where the Air Force is hoping to mount a propaganda campaign aimed at winning the hearts and minds of the American people away the other services:

The proposed advertising campaign’s goals are laid out like the strategic targeting plan of an air war. The targets are 220 million adults. The goal is that each adult over a year’s span will see 30 Air Force advertisements, from ads on Web sites to full-page newspaper ads to prime-time television ads.

What they really need to worry about, though, is John McCain. A naval aviator in the White House could be the end of them.

Comments

The advantage that the AF has is that while its purpose might be a bit extraneous and its programs might be wasteful, it is a great branch of the military to serve in, even if you have an only marginal interest in airplanes. I have no doubt that a lot of public support for the AF comes from the fact that a lot of people can say, "I/my relative/my friend was in the air force, and it was a great way to serve in the military."

Posted by Tyro | February 21, 2008 10:49 AM

What they really need to worry about, though, is John McCain. A naval aviator in the White House could be the end of them.

Only if he starts flying again.

Posted by Jim W | February 21, 2008 10:55 AM

Gee, if they didn't waste all those taxpayer dollars on advertising they could afford another, let's see, 2/3 of an F-22.

Posted by Bo | February 21, 2008 11:04 AM

this sounds more like something from Wonkette. The USAF is fighting for the big budget at a time the ground forces are grinding down their equipment.

Posted by Pierre de Fermat | February 21, 2008 11:04 AM

The army has its share of boondoggle, too.

Matt, why don't you go investigate Future Combat Systems and Joint Heavy Lift to see how reality-based the army is. Your knowledge of the full range of U.S. military procurement seems pretty limited.

Posted by Helter | February 21, 2008 11:58 AM

The army has its share of boondoggle, too.

I'm pretty sure the Iraq War has been publicized as thoroughly as necessary.

Your knowledge of the full range of U.S. military procurement seems pretty limited.

Considering the Department of Defense procures hundreds of billions every year and that on average 25% of their budget is completely unaccounted for, I defy you to name anyone who has "knowledge of the full range of U.S. military procurement". I do, however, suspect enough congresspeople and assorted VIPs are 'procured' in this manner to make a public appeal of the type being insinuated here unnecessary.

Posted by Bo | February 21, 2008 12:36 PM

RE "Matt, why don't you go investigate Future Combat Systems and Joint Heavy Lift to see how reality-based the army is."
-----------
Or just consider the likelihood of catching Bin Ladin scampering around 12,000 foot peaks in Afghanistan while carrying these packs:
http://www1.whdh.com/images/news_articles/389x205/soldiers_generic.jpg

Or scan these reports -- I thought it was hilarious when the aghast British discovered that the US Army's "10th Mountain Division" hasn't trained for alpine warfare for decades.

http://www.combatreform.com/realmountaindivision.htm

Posted by Don Williams | February 21, 2008 12:54 PM

I defy you to name anyone who has "knowledge of the full range of U.S. military procurement".

Then insert "full range of public military procurement." It doesn't change the fact that Matt's focus on the F-22 ignores all the other programs out there subject to the same type of attack from opponents.

Posted by Helter | February 21, 2008 12:58 PM

Well, I'd still repeat my casual bet that if you exclude simple transfer-payments and debt-interest, then 80-90% of the entire federal budget could probably be reasonably characterized as being controlled by "corruption" of one sort or another. I also have the casual impression that this ratio is gigantically larger than that of almost any other developed country.

Any poor, unfortunate animal which had 80-90% of its caloric intake being siphoned off by lice, tapeworms, or multiplying bacilli-colonies would long since have just collapsed into a heap and died. Which is why most *natural* parasites try to avoid becoming too "greedy".

Wonder what will be the eventual fate of the American State and its numerous "little friends"...

Posted by RKU | February 21, 2008 1:06 PM

Note that it was Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Colin Powell who established the Army doctrine in the Clinton Administration that "we do deserts but we don't do mountains."
See http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?article=americas_global_role

Bin Laden said "Thanks for the Info" and moved Al Qaeda to Afghanistan.

The "Powell Doctrine" might explain why our soldiers discovered their boots falling apart within weeks of climbing around in Afghanistan.

Posted by Don Williams | February 21, 2008 1:08 PM

I just assumed they had to up their advertising budget because Stargate isn't on the air anymore. But I guess your explanation is equally plausible.

Posted by MikeT | February 21, 2008 2:02 PM

Matt:

I fear you rather understate the case against the Air Force. It's a service branch with a culture that's so pervasively rotten, we might do as well to see it reabsorbed into the Army as to allow it to continue onward.

You're focusing on one part of the broken culture - its absolute dependence on the latest and best toys. The Air Force has an inability to see itself within a boader context. As the most technology-dependent of the services, it also has a more incestuous relationship with the military contractors who supply its toys. That's why we see the constant pressure for procurement, one corruption scandal after another, and a fixation on the most expensive means of achieving any ends.

But the other part of the culture is equally broken. The Air Force is evangelically Christian in a way the other services, despite drawing on some of the same recruits, are not. That's led to scandals at the Academy, and to repeated gaffes by senior officers. It frightens me that any service branch could be allowed to institutionalize religion in this way, and appalls me that the Air Force itself doesn't seem to see a problem with this.

Unfortunately, there's not much hope for reform, as long as the Air Force maintains its independence. Many of the combat branches of the Army have their own endemic problems, but each has to contend with senior officers being rotated in from outside. There's never a general officer trained in Airborne or Armor rotated into command of an Air Wing or a Base - that's what happens when you create a separate branch. The only solution, at this point, is for the Army to re-absorb the Air Force. It may be radical, but it's past due.

Posted by Cynic | February 21, 2008 2:30 PM

As for quality of service, I can remember back in the late 70's in Vietnam what the differences were.

I and some other Army types drove out to the Cam Ranh Bay AFB at one point. The difference was striking.

1) The Army base streets were dirt. The AF base streets were paved.

2) The Army base PX was pathetic. The AFB PX had everything you'd find in a current Wal-Mart.

3) The Army movie theaters were a piece of canvas held up on some wooden posts. The AFB theaters were indoor and air conditioned.

4) The Army barracks were chicken-wire-screened wooden affairs with sand and dust blowing into them constantly. AF base barracks were fully constructed buildings with air conditioning.

There simply was no comparison in the degree of comfort. The best building in Cam Ranh of course was the huge Officers Club on the top of the hill.

Rank - and the Air Force - hath its privileges.

Posted by Richard Steven Hack | February 21, 2008 4:18 PM

Halberstam addressed the major point way back in The Best and the Brightest. I'll try to find the quote, but the gist was that funding expensive aerospace or instrument production could be located in a congressional district, and would be very lucrative to said Congressman.

But if you want 100,000 boots, it's neither as glamorous nor as helpful to this or that Congressional district.

After all, as someone explained to LBJ after McNamara tried to convince him to shut down excess Navy yards, these specialized plants have a strange way of being located in the districts of very important fellows. Yes, LBJ was told, you could save a hundred million bucks or so, but you'd lose Vinson or Stennis or somebody.

Posted by Greg | February 21, 2008 4:54 PM

The USAF is the only service that allows men to carry umbrellas. Bunch of pussies.

Posted by merlallen | February 22, 2008 3:47 AM

Huh?! I don't seem to remember all this AF hatred "AF is pussies" and jealousy "O Clubs in Nam" when the Army and Marine Corps were facing their own certain prediction of 10,000-20,000 KIA in Dec 90 before execution of Desert Storm. The AF in Jan 91 (90% of Allied airpower sorties) blew the living crap out of the Iraqui Army and the Republican Guard in 35 days, eliminating the great threats posed to our ground forces--who as a direct result, enjoyed a far less risky Armor thrust and prisoner collection campaign in 7 days. All I saw and heard afterward for years were grateful Soldiers and Marines thanking me for "kicking ass."

If left to Army plans of Oct-Dec 90, we'd have another memorial in Washington to 10's of thousands of brave, sacrificed US Soldiers and Marines.

You AF-bashers should be F'in ashamed of your sad selves, but I have a feeling its really about your own personal lack of experience about modern Joint Warfare. WE ALL WEAR THE SAME FLAG on our uniform. Get Real and Grow Up, and then come meet me at the Oceana Navy Air O'Club, because that where the really hot women hung out!

Posted by BoBo F-15C Vet | February 22, 2008 11:56 AM