Week 3: 25 August-3 September 2013 Flashcards
Squadron 3 nickname
Dogs of War
Squadron 38 nickname
All-Stars
BOLDFACE: John Stuart Mill’s Quote pg. 171
“War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better man than himself.”
CV-22A Osprey pg 129
Manufacturer: Bell Helicopter and Boeing Function: Special Operations Long Range Speed: 277 mph (cruising speed) Crew: Four Production: 50 (planned) Inventory: 17 Commentary: The USAF received its first aircraft in January 2007. IOT&E was completed by summer 2008. The first operational deployment, to Africa, took place in November 2008, and the first combat deployment, to Iraqi, in summer 2009.
Delta IV pg 140
Manufacturer: Boeing
Function: Orbital Launch Vehicle
Dimensions: Booster core length 125 ft., diameter 16 ft. 8 in
Payload: Up to 49,740 lbs into low-Earth orbit; 28,620 lbs into geotransfer orbit.
Comments: The Delta launch vehicle was America’s longest lived, most reliable, and lowest-cost space launch vehicle. Development began in 1955 and it continues in service today with over 1,000 launches in 50 years.
Military Strategic and Tactical Relay (MILSTAR) pg 141
Service Date: 1994
Function: Integrated, Worldwide Connectivity
Weight: 10,000lbs
Power: Solar panels generating 5,000 watts
Production: 6
Orbit: 22,250 miles
WWI, The First Expeditionary Air Force pg 70-73
Less than eight months after the Pancho Villa expedition, the United States entered World War I. At this time, the Aviation Section of the US Army Signal Corps consisted of 131 officers, 1087 enlisted men, and approxiately 250 airplanes.
During the First World War 1914-1918, aircraft evolved from an entertaining novelty to a deadly weapon of war. Along the Western Front, artillery proved to be the primary cause of death. As a result, observation, artillery spotting, and reconnaissance emerged as the airplane’s most important contribution to the war effort. By 1915 pursuit aircraft (better known today as fighters) attempted to deny the enemy use of the air. After early attempts to down enemies with pistols, rifles, and bombs, French pilot Roland Garros attached steel plates to the propeller of his Moraine-Saulnier Type L monoplane that enabled him to fire a machine gun through the propeller arc. He earned wide acclaim as the war’s first “ace”, the name newspapermen coined when he had shot down five German aircraft. The Germans then created the first true fighter plane, the Fokker Eindecker, by using an interrupter gear to enable a machine gun to fire through the propeller unimpeded. By 1915, the “Fokker scourge” threatened Allied reconnaissance balloons and aircraft. Eventually, the Allies developed their own interrupter gear that began a see-saw pattern of rapid technological advancement of aerial weaponry.
Americans entered the ranks of aerial heros even before the United States entered the war. The French air service established the Escadrille Americaine, later renamed the Lafayette Escadrille, for American volunteers on 21 March 1916. French-born Raoul Lufbery emerged as its most famous pilot shooting down seventeen German planes before transferring to the American air service. He later commanded the famous “Hat in the Ring” 94th Aero Squadron before his death on 19 May 1918.
The first official U.S. aviation squadron to reach France was the 1st Aero Squadron, arriving in September 1917. A member of the squadron, Lt. Stephen W. Thompson, achieved the first aerial victory by the U.S. military while flying as a gunner-observer with a French squadron on February 5, 1918.
Of the 767 U.S. pilots and 481 observers in action in 1918, Captain Edward V. “Eddie” Rickenbacker and Lt Frank Luke, Jr. achieved the most fame. Eddie Rickenbacker was already a renowned race car driver before the war, having set a world speed record in 1914. Older than most pilots, the 28-year old became America’s “Ace of Aces” with 26 confirmed kills (22 aircraft and 4 balloons).
Known as the “Arizona Balloon Buster,” Lt Luke downed fourteen German balloons and four aircraft in seventeen days. His spectacular career ended on 29 September 1918 when he dropped a note to a nearby American company: “Watch our for burning balloons.” In a solo attack witnessed by the soldiers, he shot down three enemy balloons and two aircraft before enemy ground fire forced him down. Seriously wounded, he died with pistol in hand.
Other significant leaders of the Air Service during the Great War included now Colonel Benjamin Foulois and Colonel William “Billy” Mitchell. Colonel Mitchell rose to the rank of Brigadier General and commander of the US Army Air Service by the end of the war.
By the Armistice of 11 Novemeber 1918, air power contributed an important, but not decisive, role in the Allied victory. With the Lafayette Escadrille paving the way, the United States Air Service claimed 781 enemy aircraft and 73 balloons destroyed at a cost of 289 American aircraft, 48 balloons, and 569 battle casualties.
Additionally, the size of the air service grew exponentially. By November 11, 1918, the Air Service both overseas and domestically had 195,024 personnel (20,568 officers; 174,456 enlisted me) and 7,900 aircraft, constituting five percent of the United States Army.
Captain Lance P. Sijan pg 52-53
One of the most striking examples of courage and love of freedom can be seen in Captain Lance P. Sijan, Class of 1965. On 9 Novemeber 1967, Captain (then 1st Lieutenant) Sijan was flying in the back seat of an F-4 on a bombing pass over North Vietnam, when his aircraft was hit and exploded. Captain Sijan suffered a skull fracture, a mangled right hand, and a compound fracture of his left leg. The next day after regaining consciousness, he heard friendly aircraft flying overhead. Using his radio, he made contact with the pilot, and a rescue operation began. Despite his serious wounds, Captain Sijan remained conscious and calm while directing rescue aircraft to his position during an unsuccessful rescue mission. After 45 days of crawling on his back over shark limestone karsts, the North Vietnamese found Sijan and took him prisoner. Sijan managed one escape by overcoming his guard, but was recaptured within hours. During his 3 mnths of captivity, he endured severe torture by his interrogators and constant beatings from guards for his relentless efforts to escape. On 22 January 1968, Lance Sijan succumbed to his injuries as a prisoner of war in Hanoi. He never gave up his quest for freedom, the freedom for which he fought and ultimately died. On 4 March 1976, President Gerald R. Ford award the Medal of Honor to Captain Sijan posthumously for his “Extraordinary heroism and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty at the cost of his life…“Three other former prisoners of war, all living, also received Medals of Honors from President Ford on that same day. Two of the men were Rear Admiral James B. Stockdale and Colonel George E. “Bud” Day. Colonel Day wrote to Airman Magazine:
“Lance was the epitome of dedication, right to death! When people ask about what kind of kids we should start with, the answer is straight, honest kids like him. They will not all stay that way, but by God, that’s the minimum to start with.”
ROE V2.0 5. Meal Decorum
a. At mandatory breakfast formations, all Fourth Class Cadets shall remain at attention until “Wing take seats” at which point all training shall cease and Fourth Class Cadets shall be at ease.
b. At mandatory lunch formations, all Fourth Class Cadets are at attention until “Wing take seats,” at which point all training shall cease and Fourth Class Cadets shall be at ease.
c. When attending a buffet-style meal, Fourth Class Cadets are at attention until they pick up their tray, then they are at ease until they leave their table. Before picking up a tray and after leaving their table, they shall be at attention. Fourth Class Cadets shall not wear their backpacks at any time in Mitchell Hall. EXCEPTION: Reference 2f above.
d. Fourth-Class Cadets may ask an upperclassman to sit at rest during a buffet-style meal. Any upperclassman sitting at the table may grant them the privilege to sit at rest; however, if the upperclassman departs the table and the Fourth-Class Cadets are by themselves, they must return to being at ease. Upperclassmen may not put a table at rest if they are sitting at a different table.
Cadet Chain of Command
President of the United States Secretary of Defense Secretary of the Air Force Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force Superintendent, United States Air Force Academy Commandant of Cadets Group, Air Officer Commanding Squadron, Air Officer Commanding
President of the United States and Commander-in-Chief
Barack H. Obama
Secretary of Defense
Charles T. “Chuck” Hagel
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
General Martin E. Dempsey
US Military Academy, Class of 1974
Acting Secretary of the Air Force
Eric Fanning
Chief of Staff of the Air Force
General Mark A. Welsh III
US Air Force Academy, Class of 1976
