Gates: Air Force Lagging In War Effort

Pentagon Chief Says Getting Air Force To Send Aircraft To War Zones "Like Pulling Teeth"

(CBS/AP)  Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Monday the Air Force is not doing enough to help in the Iraq and Afghanistan war effort, complaining that some military leaders are "stuck in old ways of doing business."

Gates said in a speech at Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala., that getting the Air Force to send more surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft to Iraq and Afghanistan has been "like pulling teeth."

Addressing officer students at the Air Force's Air University, the Pentagon chief praised the Air Force for its overall contributions but made a point of urging it to do more and to undertake new and creative ways of thinking about helping the war effort instead of focusing mainly on future threats.

"In my view we can do and we should do more to meet the needs of men and women fighting in the current conflicts while their outcome may still be in doubt," he said. "My concern is that our services are still not moving aggressively in wartime to provide resources needed now on the battlefield."

He cited the example of drone aircraft that can watch, hunt and sometimes kill insurgents without risking the life of a pilot. He said the number of such aircraft has grown 25-fold since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

He said he has been trying for months to get the Air Force to send more surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft, like the Predator drone that provides real-time surveillance video, to the battlefield.

"Because people were stuck in old ways of doing business, it's been like pulling teeth," Gates said. "While we've doubled this capability in recent months, it is still not good enough."

To push the issue harder, Gates said he established last week a Pentagon-wide task force "to work this problem in the weeks to come, to find more innovative and bold ways to help those whose lives are on the line."

He likened the urgency of the task force's work to that of a similar organization he created last year to push for faster production and deployment of mine-resistant, ambush-protected armored vehicles that have been credited with saving lives of troops facing attacks by roadside bombs in Iraq.

"All this may require rethinking long-standing service assumptions and priorities about which missions require certified pilots and which do not," Gates said, referring to so-called unmanned aerial vehicles that are controlled by servicemembers at ground stations.

The military's reliance on unmanned surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft has soared to more than 500,000 hours in the air, largely in Iraq, according to Pentagon data. The Air Force has taken pilots out of the air and shifted them to remote flying duty to meet part of the demand.

"The secretary of defense is essentially saying, 'tough - we need these Predators over Iraq more than you need to keep training new pilots'," reports CBS News national security correspondent David Martin.

Gates, who served in the Air Force in the 1960s as a young officer before he joined the Central Intelligence Agency, urged the officers in his audience to dedicate themselves to thinking creatively.

"I'm asking you to be part of the solution and part of the future," he said.

He said the Air Force and the other branches of the military need to protect those in their ranks who are maverick thinkers, who defy convention and push for creative solutions to hard problems. He said he intended to make a similar point about the value of dissent in the military in remarks later Monday at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y.

"Dissent is a sign of health in an organization, and particularly if it's done in the right way," Gates said.

Gates made no direct mention of a series of mistakes and missteps involving the Air Force in recent months, beginning with an episode last August when a B-52 bomber flew from an Air Force base in North Dakota to another in Louisiana with the crew unaware that it was carrying nuclear weapons.

Last month Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne announced that four Air Force nose cone assemblies designed for use with nuclear missiles were mistakenly shipped to Taiwan in 2006. The error was not verified until shortly before Wynne made the announcement, and the matter is under Pentagon investigation.

[ajax1960]

For those who support the Iraq war..Let''s bring the Draft back..and raise taxes..that will give more troops and funds, we need to engage this injustice war, or bring to an end.
Give and send more support, to our troops in Afghanistan, where it belongs in the first place.
Just a thought from a Liberals views.

[ajax1960]

The Peter Principle Theory..The incompetent, Bush Adim
at work..as usually!!

[ajax1960]

The Peter Principle Theory..The incompetent, Bush Adim
at work..as usually!!

[ioweign]

Air Force can''''t provide what it don''''t have, you want defense,liberals got to come up with some money.

Posted by OlReb at 03:49 PM : Apr 22, 2008

Have the Air Force stop building the Country Clubs and Golf Courses...

[dsa1033]

President Bush IS the Commander In Chief, right. All he has to do is to "give the orders to the generals", and they carry out those orders right? If there are any problems then it is up to the generals to get it corrected ASAP, right? If that doesn''t occur, then "the Commander in Chief knocks down a general or two" . . . where''s the problem in all of this?

[yenrib]

the only risk the Air Force enlistee takes is the opportunity to injure themselves falling out of their bunks. Friggin'' *******

[mstark4]

I was in the Marine Corps for four years and the training and discipline far exceeds that of the Air Force. I know I worked for the Air Force for thirty years and was a instructor for them and had my hands tied by there management.THE ONLY DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE AIR FORCE AND THE BOY SCOUTS IS ADULT LEADERSHIP
AND GUESS WHO HAD THE ADULT LEADERSHIP.

[piercetheval]

OMISSION ACCOMPLISHED!

[olreb]

Air Force can''t provide what it don''t have, you want defense,liberals got to come up with some money.

[pensacola88]

What Gates has said about the Air Force is true. General Dixon predicted a pilotless Air Force back in the 70''s, but many Air Force generals are scrambling to resolve an identity crisis since the cold war was over in ''89. The Air Force clearly is prepared for an air domination mission that is manned, but doesn''t show the same interest as the Marines for the unmanned air domination mission. The Marines are out-performing the Air Force in aviation roles in the tactical environment.

[hungry1968]

"To push the issue harder, Gates said he established last week a Pentagon-wide task force "to work this problem in the weeks to come, to find more innovative and bold ways to help those whose lives are on the line."

He likened the urgency of the task force''s work to that of a similar organization he created last year to push for faster production and deployment of mine-resistant, ambush-protected armored vehicles that have been credited with saving lives of troops facing attacks by roadside bombs in Iraq."






I wonder how many Haliburton, KBR, and Northrup Grumann "consultants" are being hired for this "task force", and how many BILLIONS of dollars they''re going to charge for their "expertise"?

[hungry1968]

Whether you agree with his politics or not, I can recommend John Bolton''''s "Surrender Is Not An Option" for instructive insights into the inner workings of the U.S. Government and the United Nations. You''''ll learn why the directives of senior "management" are almost never carried out.

Posted by juwboy at 05:29 AM : Apr 22, 2008





I would read a book from "Baghdad Bob" before I read anything from John Bolton.

He''s just another Bush flunkie - why would ANYONE listen to ANYTHING this clown has to say?

[hhroams]

THE U.S. AIR FARCE!!!

GATES NEEDS TO STOP WHINING. HE IS SECRETARY OF DEFENSE , HE CAN ORDER THE AIR FORCE TO SEND THE PLANES THERE AND THAT''S IT.

BUT HE''S GOT TO WHINE LIKE DUBYA. WHEN WILL THEY LEARN WHEN YOU ARE IN CHARGE THERE IS NO ONE TO PASS THE BUCK TO.

[riptide213]

Air Force troops need leaders with true grit and steely determination to deal with real issues not focused solely on Officer Performance Reports / civilian Performance Reports.

Too many %u201CYes%u201D men and woman in charge simply posturing for crony points with the brass with clever cost cutting do more with less (troop ***) ideas that look great on spelling error free point papers or jazzy PowerPoint sales pitches.

Stop the trend of all most every CSAF making changes to the uniform; 21st Century WOT in-progress and we are worrying about new service coat and button designs linked to the historic 40%u2019s fashion era.

Stop branding the AF with your personal nuances; just because you can.

Stop nifty superficial nostalgia tricks that will cost Airman and taxpayers money!

Get out of the corporate mindset. Stop %u201Ccivilianizing%u201D. Think camouflage, not caviar.

USAF does not need more F 22 or F 35 fighters. Break the US Air Force Academy graduate molded, we are special clique fighter jock mindset!

Stop having temper tantrums and get serious about genuine combat needs like UAVs which support in the dirt combat, but kept getting sidelined my AF leadership bias toward fancy fighters with double bells and whistles. $50M tax dollars for a shady USAF Thunderbird advertising contract! Please someone get a rope %u2026every %u201Cyes%u201D man and woman within boot licking distance of that wartime operational decision needs to go now!

[juwboy]

Winstrv said:

"If the people who work for you are not doing what you want them to do, FIRE THEM".

Whether you agree with his politics or not, I can recommend John Bolton''s "Surrender Is Not An Option" for instructive insights into the inner workings of the U.S. Government and the United Nations. You''ll learn why the directives of senior "management" are almost never carried out.

[michael8522-2009]

A very very very long time ago when I was an Air Force SSgt with a line # for TSgt I was selected for the NCO Academy. Back then, only 20% of TSgt & MSgt ever got to go. In one lecture the SEA, CMSgt of Militry Airlift Command spoke to us and related that Leadership and Management were "synonyms". I stood up and told him I thought he was very very wrong. To this day I belive that 75% of Air Force Officers and Senior NCOs think those two words are synonyms and thats whats wrong with the Air Force today.

[brianbwb-2009]

Seeing as how the entire campaign began as a result of deliberate lies, and is therefore illegal, it is only proper and correct that the USAF should be reluctant to share in the bloodshed.

[marcosis78]

EXACTLY!!

[inventagod]

This gang of clowns is rotten from the top to the bottom.
This is just a bunch of good-ol-boys sucking the treasury dry.
Not one hero, not one leader among them.
Republicons suck.

[ranger1948]

If gates is unhappy with how the Air force is doing something, he should get off his ***, out of his air conditioned office and go do something about it. Bad mouthing the Air Force in public is the same as a boss chewing out an employee in front of coworkers, strictly unproductive.