AF Planning for Syria

[DA SWO]

Article by people who don't understand the Military Planning Process.

This part did bother me though:
The Air Force brass was worried about pilots being able to show the right “initiative” in such a hostile environment after years of flying in the benign air space over Iraq and Afghanistan. In addition, the flying branch required aircrews to follow complex procedures to prevent civilian casualties in those countries.

“We have a couple generations of airmen who have never dropped a bomb or shot a bullet without getting elaborate permission,” said Lt. Gen. William Rew, the Air Combat Command’s number-two officer—this according to the official history

I think everyone else has this issue to some extent, we made OEF so restrictive (via ROE) that we really killed initiative.

https://medium.com/war-is-boring/th...ria-much-earlier-than-we-thought-bd46cc7a9622

 

[RetPara]

I think everyone else has this issue to some extent, we made OEF so restrictive (via ROE) that we really killed initiative.

Global issue in the US military.

 

[racing_kitty]

Agree with Retpara. I know of one EOD unit that went to Afghanistan, and the command wanted to hit injured team leaders with UCMJ for having failed their attempted RSP's. This kind of risk averse soul rot has metastasized.

 

[pardus]

We will pay for this restrictive ROE/diminised initiative/risk adverse mentality, with blood, when we come up against a more symmetric opponent.

 

[AWP]

Agree with Retpara. I know of one EOD unit that went to Afghanistan, and the command wanted to hit injured team leaders with UCMJ for having failed their attempted RSP's. This kind of risk averse soul rot has metastasized.

I have numerous first-hand accounts of risk avoidance pushed on units, Conventional and SOF, since 2004 in Afghanistan.

 

[busdriver]

The young NCOs and young Officers are brimming with initiative, they just wade through the buracracy and end up smashing heads against walls till they succume to micro management. I truly believe if we unleashed the dogs of war, those same young professionals would perform exceptionally. The problem is that perception is now that the military should be able to conduct war with no mistakes. Doing it right would require a huge shift from leadership. If Assad is dumb enough to turn on his IADS and attack AF fighters, I think that might actually happen and the kid gloves would come off. Or maybe I'm just an optimist.

 

[Ranger Psych]

You sink to your level of training, and if your training for doing CAS etc is second guessing the people that tell you DROP THAT SHIT among other things, then you're going to be doing that when things get real.