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Originally Posted by Mikester
Dude- The risk of conducting light air ops may seem minimal from the outside looking in.
However, EVERYTHING the US Armed forces does operationally... from training to full-blown combat is inherently dangerous.
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As I already stated in sentence number 2. Plenty of service men die in training and routine daily tasks. Plenty more die off duty and driving to work in vehicle accidents.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mikester
Planes in the air require support (boots on the ground).
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No they don't. "Boots on the Ground" refers to a specific term - meaning actual men and women IN SYRIA, FIGHTING THE WAR, ON THE GROUND.
It does not refer to the existing personnel located on bases in friendly host countries in Europe and the Middle East. It does not refer to US Navel forces or any other group of people.
If you say we have "boots on the ground" in Syria, that means you have US Marines or Soldiers in downtown Damascus going door to door to secure "peace".
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mikester
Doesn't matter if it's from a base in Germany or Missouri; or from an aircraft carrier in the Mediterranean... Ever been on a Navy flight deck? One of the most dangerous places a person can ever be. Raise the ops tempo even an iota; and the risk increases exponentially... Putting US pilots & crews in the air puts lives at risk- whether it be from a base several thousand miles away or a couple hundred. Put them over potentially hostile territory; and the risk increases several fold. We lost more than two aircraft in Kosovo... and we did lose a few American lives- Not by enemy fire, but by accidents that would not have happened had we not been there conducting operations.
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Asked and Answered.
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Originally Posted by Mikester
I was there for the whole thing launching/recovering/turning aircraft; and went out on a few cargo drops... Want to talk about the guys on the ground who support air operations? I've been one of them for almost 21yrs. When you have men & women on the ground generating sorties 24/7 non-stop for 12-13hrs a day, the risk increases dramatically.
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How many thousands of lives did you lose? Did the maimed and injured number in the tens of thousands?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mikester
Ask anyone who was in Saudi or the Gulf during Desert Storm, or anyone launching/recovering/turning fighters out of Italy during Kosovo... Unlike pilots, the people on the ground don't get 'crew rest'... Don't get me wrong- The lucky fucks who get said crew rest need every bit of it in the event they go down or get captured- there is always a trade-off, but the risk is no less significant.
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Lets quantify this -
List of combat losses of United States military aircraft since the Vietnam War - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mikester
What about the SOF teams that are nearly everywhere identifying & painting targets for surgical strikes, conducting recon, gathering intel etc? I assure you, they are everywhere operations are being conducted, in a very up-close and personal way... A lot goes into even 'minimal risk' air operations than initially meets the eye.
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Whatever happen to the needs of the many vs the needs of the few?
At the end of the day we are talking about casualties and injuries in the SINGLE DIGETS with the possibility to save lives in the TENS OF THOUSANDS.