Comments on: ‘Show of Force’ Flights Grow

By: navy vet

navy vet — Mon, 07 May 2007 16:24:05 +0000

In response to the post by : Delali at May 5, 2007 03:40 AM
I agree, I strongly believe if the politicians would worry about domestic policy and leave the fighting to the pentagon, we would be out of Iraq already. Everyone needs to get together on this thing or as a country we’re doomed. Leave the war to the Generals, tell the politician to ‘shut the f*** up’
Forgive me Lord„ and God bless those pygmies down in New Guinea… Larry the CableGuy

By: Dave

Dave — Mon, 07 May 2007 12:25:20 +0000

Several Points:
Just like a plastic owl on a garden post.…..the crows figure it out in days and then ignore it.
Our own media isn’t helping one damn bit! The terrorists (i.e. non thinking, non uniformed sissy fighters that kill indiscriminately, including themselves)need to be portrayed as such by the media. Men are men, and as long as they “think” that what they are doing is honorable, they’ll keep doing it. Show the world that these terrorists are the pussies they really are and this whole thing will end. Shame them into stopping. It’s totally possible. Expose these jerks like the Wizard of Oz and see if the lion doesn’t get his courage back.
Something has to be done about COMSEC. I don’t know the answer, but we have to quit feeling like the public deserves or has a right to know everything we do, even before we do it.….duh! String me up if you want to, but vids and phones need to be banned or secured from battle zones. If what goes out can’t be controlled, then they don’t go in.….period!

By: Charles

Charles — Sun, 06 May 2007 05:23:35 +0000

More important than mere show of force is properly calibrating it for deterrent effect. Randomly overflying cities simply shows the civilian population that you are a damned occupier that flies overhead with impunity. That and eventually they’ll figure out a guy flying at Mach 1 is not going to accurately spot people planting IEDs and such.
Instead, more OV-10s to blanket the area, spot the enemy and then respond appropriately. UAVs are not getting the job done if half of them just decide to fall out of the sky on the first loss of signal.

By: Jason A

Jason A — Sat, 05 May 2007 14:16:05 +0000

I’ll give you my opinion of “Shows of force” in theater. I’m a team leader in the Marine Corps 1st Air Naval Gunfire Liaison Company (ANGLICO) and we specialize in small teams that spot, observe, report and control all manners of firepower. In Iraq, where I’ve done 3 deployments, the Rules of Engagement are so strict that we are forced to ask for a Show Of Force since we are not able to request precision guided ordnance unless it is of the most dire situation. Each deployment it got worse.

By: Delali

Delali — Sat, 05 May 2007 08:40:54 +0000

The war in vietnam was lost in the streets of America and not in the jungles and cities of vietnam.
Do whatever it takes to win this war. Just remember insurgents could be reading this article and be better prepared next time there’s a “show of force”

By: carroll

carroll — Fri, 04 May 2007 03:44:50 +0000

Where is the Air Force psychological (psy ops) warfare in this war. i.e speakers blasting from aircraft,leaflet drops, a few pigs dropped on villiges or enemy hideouts. Do we even have psy ops units anymore?

By: DON VLEMING

DON VLEMING — Fri, 04 May 2007 03:02:33 +0000

ITS ABOUT TIME WE CHANGE THE RULES OF ENGAGEMENT.
LET OUR TROOPS DO ALL THEY HAVE TO DO TO DEFEAT THESE FANATICS.
LET THE BLEEDING HEART LEFT WING PEOPLE COMPLAIN ALL THEY WANT,THIS IS WAR & THE SOONER THEY FACE REALITY THE BETTER OFF THIS COUNTRY WILL BE.IREMEBER IN BASIC TRAINING WE WERE SHOWN A FILM CALLED KILL,OR BE KILLED
THESE FANATICS ARE NOT SOLDIERS, THEY ARE IDIOTS.

By: Foreign.Boy

Foreign.Boy — Fri, 04 May 2007 00:53:12 +0000

I don’t know if it’s worth it to reply to fin0231 as this war isn’t Vietnam… but to say America didn’t loose Vietnam Is like saying loosing a Rugby match and saying you didn’t lose because you’re playing soccer…
America failed to defeat an asymmetrically enemy of superior numbers and failed to exercise its will onto its enemy and Vietnam became a communist whole.
Back to the main subject:
I can see how running sonic booms over and the screeching of the air craft and air pressure can really scare you… it’s not a question of if its scary or not.. it’s a question… is it smart to put so much faith in air power to win a war Scratch that.. to defeat an insurgency…

By: fin0231

fin0231 — Thu, 03 May 2007 21:10:37 +0000

I really wouldn’t get too wrapped up around the axle in regards to ‘show of force’ flights, how they impact the target audience is the most important factor, a low unexpected supersonic flight can have a tremendous psychological impact, but as in most everything else, too much exposure will simply innure the target audience and lessen the impact.
It’s arguable, but we never really lost militarily in Vietnam, the aforementioned guerilla battle supposedly lost — [from earlier post] it was a loss of political will brought about by public sentiment — currently political forces in this country (Democrats) are trying to ensure the we lose — I can’t remember where I read it but this sums it up quite nicely — to paraphrase — the president is fighting to win the global war on terror and the democratic party is fighting to beat the republicans.

By: Lewis

Lewis — Thu, 03 May 2007 21:07:37 +0000

1: Flying low is only dangerous to a fighter if the opposition has some form of anti-aircraft missile, or an astonishing bit of luck to hit a 600mph target with an unguided (dumbfire) RPG.
2: Yes we are trying to befriend Afgh, Iraq, etc, but if a riot crowd forms, then apparently those crowds are not being our friends and our troops are under fire, so yes, we display “HI!!! WE COULD CRUSH YOU INTO DUST, BUT WE ARE TRYING TO PLAY NICE” and the crowd disperses, then we are better for it.
3: Comparing these operations using F15/16 flyby’s to what happened in Mogadishu is ridiculous. Hitting a hovering UH60 with a unguided rocket is not terribly difficult, hence why we are not doing this kind of flyover with a slow moving aircraft.
4: Eventually, yes, they may figure out that we arent doing strafing runs and may ignore the flyovers, but until then, it is a great tactic that hurts no-one. Once they offer more resistance, that’s what helicopter gunships like the AH1/AH64, and the Nighthawk (AH6 from the 160th) with their more precision weapons will most likely be called in. My brother flies the AH64 and said that a lot of his missions ended up being ‘sandblast’ missions where they drop the chopper to about 10–20 feet above and saturate the area with 160mph sand clouds… Crowds disperse quick in those situations.