{"id":43342,"date":"2023-08-02T14:35:18","date_gmt":"2023-08-02T22:35:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/?p=43342"},"modified":"2023-08-02T14:35:18","modified_gmt":"2023-08-02T22:35:18","slug":"putting-warheads-on-foreheads","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/2023\/08\/02\/putting-warheads-on-foreheads\/","title":{"rendered":"Putting Warheads on Foreheads"},"content":{"rendered":"

Reprinted from Bracing Views<\/a> with the author\u2019s permission.<\/i><\/p>\n

I was reading an article<\/a> from 2007 by an Air Force master sergeant, \u201cWe are called Airmen,\u201d only to stumble on these lines:<\/p>\n

You have to be able to understand what part you play in America’s defense. You have to be disciplined and willing to maintain your readiness to go wherever our enemy confronts us and to live up to the ideals of the core values of integrity, service and excellence.<\/p>\n

As an Airman, you have to bring airpower to the battlespace effectively and ensure it is properly applied.<\/p>\n

Your charge as an Airman of the 4th Fighter Wing is to deliver “combat airpower, on target, on time for America, or more simply, “put warheads on foreheads.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/p>\n

Now, this article is featured on the Air Force\u2019s official website, so I assume it captures important truths the AF wants its airmen to know. But are these \u201ctruths\u201d really true? Is that all there is, my friend? Then let\u2019s keep bombing.<\/p>\n

Who is \u201cour enemy\u201d? What are the reasons why this enemy \u201cconfronts us\u201d? Is America\u2019s \u201cdefense\u201d really safeguarded if the mission is everywhere and anywhere and \u201cwherever\u201d U.S. forces are \u201cconfronted\u201d?<\/p>\n

And how do you apply airpower \u201cproperly\u201d in the \u201cbattlespace\u201d? The author has the answer to that one: by putting \u201cwarheads on foreheads.\u201d Or, as we said in my day, by putting bombs on target.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n\"\"<\/picture>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
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Put those warheads on foreheads!<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Of course, this is rah-rah stuff, military cheerleading, if you will. The article was posted during the Iraq War, when the Air Force was at pains to stress its relevance in what was largely a ground war. Which explains this passage:<\/p>\n

We are doing so well [in the war on terror], we make it look too easy. Our weapons systems are so precise; we can deliver ordnance anywhere, any time. If [sic] fact, if ground troops chase the enemy into a house, our aircraft can drop a bomb that eradicates one mud hut, while leaving all the others in the neighborhood standing.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Now that\u2019s what I call precision<\/a>! The Air Force made it look too easy! We dropped warheads on the foreheads of evil-doers without any innocents<\/a> being killed and wounded. It\u2019s almost as if our bombs and warheads sang \u201cAmazing Grace\u201d as they slammed into the enemy (and only the enemy, whoever that might be and wherever they might live).<\/p>\n

\n
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\n\"\"<\/picture>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
\n
Mosul, Iraq. Sure looks like \u201cprecision\u201d attacks to me<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Naturally, this article also makes reference to the \u201cAirman\u2019s warrior ethos.\u201d That old idea (and ideal) of the citizen-airman who serves to support and defend the U.S. Constitution isn\u2019t even mentioned. We\u2019re all \u201cwarriors\u201d and \u201cwarfighters\u201d now.<\/p>\n

Ours not to reason why; ours but to drop warheads on foreheads; theirs but to scream and die.<\/p>\n

What is it, exactly, that the U.S. military is making it look \u201ctoo easy\u201d to do? Having lost the Iraq and Afghan wars despite enormous amounts of munitions used, it seems \u201closing\u201d is the answer here. That, and killing, of course. And not just the bad guys.<\/p>\n

William J. Astore is a retired lieutenant colonel (USAF). He taught history for fifteen years at military and civilian schools. He writes at Bracing Views<\/a>. <\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Reprinted from Bracing Views with the author\u2019s permission. I was reading an article from 2007 by an Air Force master sergeant, \u201cWe are called Airmen,\u201d only to stumble on these lines: You have to be able to understand what part you play in America’s defense. You have to be disciplined and willing to maintain your […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":290,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-43342","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"meta_box":{"disable_donate_message":"","custom_donate_message":"","subtitle":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43342","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/290"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43342"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43342\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43346,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43342\/revisions\/43346"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43342"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43342"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43342"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=43342"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}