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Good read Shek. Forty-four years ago, I was firmly in General Dunlap's camp. If you asked me, a lowly J.G. at the time, the Viet Nam war would be wrapped up just as soon as my Phantom squadron got on station and could hammer a little sense to the North Vietnamese. Political bungling aside, I learned a stark lesson on the second day I went feet dry. The stuff I had bombed was no longer relevant to the battle that was still raging. Our own troops were still in contact and they still needed lots of air support. In those forty-four years not much has changed. Troops, on both sides, deal with air strikes and move on. We in the aviation end of war fighting can point to a lot of bridges destroyed, and the combat engineers can point to a lot of temporary river crossings built. Without question air power can affect the outcome of a particular engagement. But, that will only be permanent if troops on the ground can take advantage of it.
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