Politics, Doctrine, and the Airman
Abstract
As airmen, we must understand that we do not operate unaffected by forceful personalities or agendas, free to dictate the methods and the machines that will win the day. Simply put, politics affects service doctrine development. Other services jockeying for missions and monies, events outside of our control, and forceful personalities all contribute to the final picture for a service's doctrine. Within the Air Force, we credit key leaders and thinkers at the Air Corps Tactical School (ACTS) with developing and codifying the strategic bombardment theory used during World War II. An interesting question is how did political forces of the day play into the development of this theory? This is not an attempt to rewrite the methodology used in the formulation of the industrial web theory, rather it is an attempt to focus on the politics of three significant events that influenced development of Air Corps doctrine toward strategic bombing: the fight for and obtainment of coastal defense as an Army mission; the delivery of domestic mail in 1934; and the development at ACTS of the belief in the power of the bomber. Once we look at these key events and their underlying politics, we will understand how personalities and politics shaped decisions leading to the strategic bombing theory. From this point of understanding, this paper will present a comparison between the interwar years prior to WW II and our present timeframe. Based on similarities between the two time periods, we will look at recommendations for Air and Space doctrine development for the future. In order to see each of these events clearly, many sources for this paper came from the archives of the Air Force Historical Research Agency. Invaluable in their content, the plethora of boxes containing original letters, directives, and oral interviews were priceless in piecing together some of the personal interplay.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Apr 01, 1998
- Accession Number
- ADA398359
Entities
People
- John W. Doucette
Organizations
- Air Command and Staff College