Irresistable: Service Masks, Goldwater-Nichols, and Overcoming Service Barriers to JFACC
Abstract
For the U.S. Air Force, control of all airpower was not just a service imperative, but it is raison d'etre. For the U.S. Navy, sister service control of carrier aviation was not only a direct threat to the Navy's ability to execute its mission from the tactical to the strategic levels of war, it was a threat to its stature as a service. These two viewpoints conjure the analogy of an irresistible force meeting an immovable object. In order to establish a Joint Forces Air Component Commander (JFACC), U.S. Navy and U.S. Air Force cultural, doctrinal, technological, and threat barriers to integration had to be overcome. The Goldwater-Nichols Department of Defense Reorganization Act of 1986 set the conditions for the confluence of events that overcame these barriers and allowed for the creation of a true JFACC. This thesis examines three lines of effort: the enduring masks of the services, the origins and limitations of airpower, and the effects of Goldwater-Nichols in incentivizing the expression of service masks to jointness while overcoming the service barriers to establishing a JFACC. From this legislation, American joint utilization of airpower emerged as an integrated, fighting force capable of holding at risk nearly any target, anyplace and anytime for the duration required to meet the commander's objective.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jun 10, 2016
- Accession Number
- AD1028328
Entities
People
- Scott B. Mehaffey
Organizations
- United States Army Command and General Staff College