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AT War with op-ed author

In his April 21 op-ed in The New York Times, Paul Kane posited that the elimination of the Air Force should be an integral step in the defense secretary’s plans for creating the “right military for the 21st century.” He supported this assertion with a conglomeration of loosely relevant evidence so twisted to the occasion that its validity, even as an editorial, is suspect.

Mr. Kane would have us believe that “at the moment, the Army, Navy and Marine Corps are at war, but the Air Force is not.” He backs this assertion with 2007 figures for the percentage of troops within Iraq who were airmen. What Kane fails to convey to the reader is that the majority of Air Force aircraft in theater make their homes, out of security concerns, in places such as Kuwait, Turkey, Kyrgyzstan and Germany, yet fly daily missions into Iraq and Afghanistan.

The men and women at the controls of these jets, those maintaining them and those supporting their operations don’t count as warriors to Kane. If they are not physically within the boundaries of Iraq, then he doesn’t consider them to be at war. Such a notion is as bewildering to me as the first moment that an SA-7 heat-seeking surface-to-air missile rocketed toward my C-130 during an Operation Iraqi Freedom combat mission that originated in Qatar. Although I didn’t spend that evening on the ground in Iraq, I can assure Mr. Kane that I certainly felt as though I was at war.

Mr. Kane’s statistics give no credit to mobility airmen who have flown nearly a half-million combat sorties, moved 7.6 million troops and 3.2 million tons of cargo and provided more than 19,000 air refueling sorties to over 31,000 receivers (per Air Mobility Command’s 2008 fact sheet). Where would our national war effort be without them? The Marine Corps and Army would be incapable of prosecuting the front-line portions of this effort without the Air Force’s air mobility support.

Further discounted are the half-million sorties that have been flown by the bombers, fighters and surveillance aircraft of Air Force Special Operations Command and Air Combat Command. How many Marines owe their lives to timely intelligence delivered by an Air Force Predator or Global Hawk? How many more have ridden to victory over the corpses of an enemy decimated by C-130 Specter gunships?

As an airman with multiple air medals for combat flight and as an Air Force veteran of both Iraq and Afghanistan, I take great offense to Paul Kane’s standpoint. In calling for the elimination of the Air Force, he is ignoring the realities of modern warfare. Our nation’s ability to strike anywhere, anytime is delivered by Air Force assets. Not only is the Air Force at war, but without an Air Force, our nation would be unable to defend itself.

Capt. Bryan Barroqueiro

Fort Campbell, Ky.

The next CMSAF

This letter has been festering in my craw [“A new kind of CMSAF,” Letters, April 13].

Just because we have a lot of left-handed airmen is not an argument for having a left-handed chief master sergeant of the Air Force. Nationality or other individual peculiarities should have nothing to do with the selection. As Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said, judgments should be done on character, not the color of one’s skin. Chief Master Sgt. Thomas Barnes was selected not because he was black, but because he was an outstanding airman.

Master Sgt. James. M. Jackson (ret.)

Pyeong Taeg, South Korea

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I would like to comment on the letter “A new kind of CMSAF.”

The letter writer asks, “Where are the minority chief master sergeants, and why are they not considered worthy of leading the enlisted corps?”

My question is why does the position in question need to have anything to do with race or sex? A position should be held by the most experienced, best person for the job regardless of race, sex or religion. I’m sure that since we serve in a military whose commander in chief is a minority, the enlisted leader’s race is not a factor.

Staff Sgt. Jeremiah DuPriest

Valdosta, Ga.