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Originally Posted by Dad
How are these two viewed by those who served with them? Also, it was just yesterday that Gates criticized the Air Force for not being engaged enough in Iraq and Afghanistan. I always thought the purpose of the Air Force is to support the Army.
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The age of nuclear weapons and prospect of intercontinental war means that isn't always the case. The USAF takes a lot of flak (bad pun, I know) for its relationship (supporting vs independent vs whatever) with ground forces. In my opinion, some of that is warranted and some of it isn't.
There are alot of big scenarios (Taiwan Straits most obviously, but there are others too) where the USAF has a potentially huge role and the Army a very minimal one. The country and the leadership expect them to be prepared for those. The USAF doesn't have the option of saying "no, our job is to support the Army."
That said, there are times when the USAF does quite blatantly try to fit a square "air power" peg into a round hole just to try and prove they can. Thats just ego, sometimes to the point of being borderline unethical.