I was doing site surveys with a half dozen others for the first post Korea Freedom Banner in Thailand where it would have supported Cobra Gold. It turned into a naked theft of navy/marine allocated lift to support the exercise and there was something like a come to Jesus moment in Songhkla near the end of the month. During the course of it though we were warmly welcomed by the retired USAF guy supporting Thai forces at Utapao. He saw my name on my khamis and asked if I was any relation to the Army guy that was an instructor the Navy War College back in ‘75. When I said yes, we talked a bit longer.
Col Hackworth had some nice things to say about my old man in one of his books as did S.L.A.M. Marshall in one of his. Naturally, my dad never talked about it until about 5 years ago when we started sharing sea stories.

Re: Comments today re: 10 JUL “Stuck in the Past” topic, let me say: 1) Sorry, Curtis, I was out of the service by then, and was TAC anyway, so probably would have never made it there anyway. I’m well into my geezer-hood now–just made 65 this May. 2.) I well remember the comforting muffled steady “boom-boom-boom” sound of H & I fire from the Navy off-shore all-night when at DaNang that I went to sleep to. (now whether ya’ll killed anything but monkeys… ) I got to know the I-Corps NGLO pretty good via drinking bouts–big Boston Irishman Commander, old-school Navy all the way. He put in he last fire msn in US Naval history when all three of the Navy’s only surviving rocket LST’s were fired at once together for the last time off of Hue before they were sent home to be decommissioned.

BTW, if it wasn’t for all the aiming sticks you cheaten’ squids had stuck in the gnd up and down the coast for your naval gunfire youse guys couldn’t hit for sour apples and/or beans!

When it comes to keeping aviators humble, simply making the effort earns a gold star for the day.

As for the VWs that were sent over our heads, they landed so far away that we had no idea what or where they hit and always presumed that it was bad guys.

By late ‘68, the 101st Abn Div had moved up west of Hue to Camp Eagle near the combat base where we were. Being airborne, their fire power was generally limited to 81mm and 4.2″ mortars and towed 105mm howitzers. The big guns out in the A Shau on the firebases we built for the non-divisional artillery batteries to support the 101st were 8″ and 175mm, and it was an odd feeling to be at a firebase at night, see the flash of a round leaving several miles away, wait a short time, and then hear/see it detonate on your perimeter. The arty guys on our base were doing the same thing for them depending on activity outside our respective wires.

U-Tapao. Now there’s a name from the past that most Americans have never heard. Spent some time there in the late ’60s and early ’70s watching B-52s and KC-135s do their thing. Having felt B-52s carpet bombing (from a distance) earlier, I was always glad they were on our side and making life miserable for the VC and NVA.

Enough with the trip down memory lane.

By the way, with such a sterling Army background reaching back at least two generations, how did you go so wrong? Surely it wasn’t just to attempt to keep folks like Lex in line.

And if you want to try to shoot down an E-2, all you will achieve is to make some Hornet drivers Very, Very Happy.

Which, the fewer ships you have the more each one becomes irreplacable.

Which isn’t a good thing.

– Max

The ugly part is that the logical solution is to cancel the F-35. That program was always a cost-driven design…and now that the price has escalated, it is no longer the most cost-effective option. Then give the AF a mix of F-22s and late-model F-16s. The Navy gets some more F/A-18Fs, plus acceleration of F/A-XX.

As for Mr. Sprey, he neglects manpower and development costs. The capital expense of developing a new system is now a very high percentage of total program cost. And more planes means more pilots, more maintainers, etc.

A better question might be to ask about a network-centric approach to sensors. More than 50% of the price of an F-22 or F-35 is avionics. With modern links and weapons, there is a strong argument for putting the sensors on a dedicated sensor platform(s)…saving considerable funds.