Setup: What the Air Force Did in Vietnam and Why - Thoughts of Atomic Weapons, Bombing and Diplomacy, Linebacker, Laos and Cambodia, Mayaguez

Nonfiction, History, Military, Vietnam War, Asian, Aviation
Cover of the book Setup: What the Air Force Did in Vietnam and Why - Thoughts of Atomic Weapons, Bombing and Diplomacy, Linebacker, Laos and Cambodia, Mayaguez by Progressive Management, Progressive Management
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Progressive Management ISBN: 9781476166193
Publisher: Progressive Management Publication: June 20, 2012
Imprint: Smashwords Edition Language: English
Author: Progressive Management
ISBN: 9781476166193
Publisher: Progressive Management
Publication: June 20, 2012
Imprint: Smashwords Edition
Language: English

American military professionals, especially the US Air Force, have had a difficult time understanding their role in this nation's defeat in Vietnam. Dr Tilford provides a critical self-analysis and questions the underlying assumptions of the Air Force's strategy in Southeast Asia. He argues that we must understand what went wrong in Vietnam and why and not manipulate the record and paint failure as victory. He explains what led to the "setup," which not only resulted in a failure for airpower but also contributed to the fall of South Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia to Communist forces in 1975.

Tilford—a retired Air Force officer and a widely respected historian in his own right—is not squeamish about demolishing the myths that abound concerning the air war in Southeast Asia. He is forthright in challenging both the USAF's strategic tunnel vision and the cherished misconceptions of many civilian historians whose criticisms of the air war in Vietnam are long on politics and short on facts. The integrity of Dr. Tilford's research, his knowledge of air power theory and technology, and his expertise as a historian all contribute to a high quality effort that proves, among other things, that neither the Air Force nor its civilian critics have yet secured a monopoly on truth.

In his analysis of the air war against North Vietnam, Tilford presents one overwhelming lesson: that USAF strategic bombing doctrine is ethnocentric and Eurocentric, and is conceived utterly without regard to important cultural and political variations among potential adversaries. This lesson, more than any other, is one that today's Air Force must learn if it is to establish any relevance in a post-cold war world in which the global, superpower war for which it has planned almost exclusively since 1945 becomes an ever more remote possibility. Whatever the Air Force's operational role in the twenty-first century turns out to be, it seems likely that an air technocracy geared toward fighting a general war against a modern, industrialized major power will become even less relevant than it proved to be in Korea and Vietnam. At the very least, the Air Force of the future will do well to heed Dr. Tilford's other major conclusion that because war is more than sortie generation and getting ordnance on targets, statistics are a poor substitute for strategy.

Contents * FOREWORD * PREFACE * 1 IN THE TIME OF ATOMIC PLENTY * Air Power Fulfilled * The Road to a Separate Service * The Atomic Bomb and the New Air Force * Preludes to Vietnam * The "New Look" and the Air Force * Notes * 2 SITUATIONS OF A LESSER MAGNITUDE * The Kennedy Administration, the Cold War, and the Air Force * The Laotian Factor * In at the Beginning * At War with the Army * Notes * 3 ROLLING THUNDER AND THE DIFFUSION OF HEAT * The Dark before the Storm * The Air Force that Flew Rolling Thunder * Rolling Thunder Begins * Bombing the North * The Bombing Escalates * Rushing to Meet Our Thunder * Switch in Strategy or in Targets? * Toward a Bombing Halt * Tet and the Bombing Halt * Notes * 4 "HOWEVER FRUSTRATED WE ARE" * Shifting Gears in 1968 * Search for Tomorrow * Operation Commando Hunt * Productivity as Strategy * The Air War in Northern Laos * Cambodia * Back to Laos * Lam Son 719 Fallout * Frustrations Continue * Proud Deep Alpha * Notes * 5 "IT WAS A LOSER" * Marking Time along the Ho Chi Minh Trail * Spring in the Air * The Shoe Falls * Deciding to Go North Again * Linebacker One * Bombing and Diplomacy * Linebacker One as a Tactical Success * Saigon Balks

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

American military professionals, especially the US Air Force, have had a difficult time understanding their role in this nation's defeat in Vietnam. Dr Tilford provides a critical self-analysis and questions the underlying assumptions of the Air Force's strategy in Southeast Asia. He argues that we must understand what went wrong in Vietnam and why and not manipulate the record and paint failure as victory. He explains what led to the "setup," which not only resulted in a failure for airpower but also contributed to the fall of South Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia to Communist forces in 1975.

Tilford—a retired Air Force officer and a widely respected historian in his own right—is not squeamish about demolishing the myths that abound concerning the air war in Southeast Asia. He is forthright in challenging both the USAF's strategic tunnel vision and the cherished misconceptions of many civilian historians whose criticisms of the air war in Vietnam are long on politics and short on facts. The integrity of Dr. Tilford's research, his knowledge of air power theory and technology, and his expertise as a historian all contribute to a high quality effort that proves, among other things, that neither the Air Force nor its civilian critics have yet secured a monopoly on truth.

In his analysis of the air war against North Vietnam, Tilford presents one overwhelming lesson: that USAF strategic bombing doctrine is ethnocentric and Eurocentric, and is conceived utterly without regard to important cultural and political variations among potential adversaries. This lesson, more than any other, is one that today's Air Force must learn if it is to establish any relevance in a post-cold war world in which the global, superpower war for which it has planned almost exclusively since 1945 becomes an ever more remote possibility. Whatever the Air Force's operational role in the twenty-first century turns out to be, it seems likely that an air technocracy geared toward fighting a general war against a modern, industrialized major power will become even less relevant than it proved to be in Korea and Vietnam. At the very least, the Air Force of the future will do well to heed Dr. Tilford's other major conclusion that because war is more than sortie generation and getting ordnance on targets, statistics are a poor substitute for strategy.

Contents * FOREWORD * PREFACE * 1 IN THE TIME OF ATOMIC PLENTY * Air Power Fulfilled * The Road to a Separate Service * The Atomic Bomb and the New Air Force * Preludes to Vietnam * The "New Look" and the Air Force * Notes * 2 SITUATIONS OF A LESSER MAGNITUDE * The Kennedy Administration, the Cold War, and the Air Force * The Laotian Factor * In at the Beginning * At War with the Army * Notes * 3 ROLLING THUNDER AND THE DIFFUSION OF HEAT * The Dark before the Storm * The Air Force that Flew Rolling Thunder * Rolling Thunder Begins * Bombing the North * The Bombing Escalates * Rushing to Meet Our Thunder * Switch in Strategy or in Targets? * Toward a Bombing Halt * Tet and the Bombing Halt * Notes * 4 "HOWEVER FRUSTRATED WE ARE" * Shifting Gears in 1968 * Search for Tomorrow * Operation Commando Hunt * Productivity as Strategy * The Air War in Northern Laos * Cambodia * Back to Laos * Lam Son 719 Fallout * Frustrations Continue * Proud Deep Alpha * Notes * 5 "IT WAS A LOSER" * Marking Time along the Ho Chi Minh Trail * Spring in the Air * The Shoe Falls * Deciding to Go North Again * Linebacker One * Bombing and Diplomacy * Linebacker One as a Tactical Success * Saigon Balks

More books from Progressive Management

Cover of the book Iconic Cars and Scale Models: Tyrrell P34 Racecar History and Scale Model Pictorial, Formula 1, Ronnie Peterson, Jody Scheckter, Patrick Depailler, plus Auto Racing Analysis Victory Lane Milestones by Progressive Management
Cover of the book The Human Factor: Biomedicine in the Manned Space Program to 1980 - Unique Insights into Biological and Life Science Research from Mercury, Gemini and Apollo through Skylab (NASA SP-4213) by Progressive Management
Cover of the book The Story of Self-Repairing Flight Control Systems: NASA and Air Force Partnership to Test SRFCS Damage Adaptive Technology, Intelligent Flight Control System by Progressive Management
Cover of the book The Intelligence Revolution: A Historical Perspective - Evaluation of Military Intelligence Transformations Resulting from World War II, European and Pacific Theaters, Japanese and Soviet Intel by Progressive Management
Cover of the book Factors Shaping Japan's Foreign Policy Toward the Senkaku Islands: Chinese Encroachments and Domestic Japanese Politics, Leaders Koizumi, Abe, Ishihara and Noda, Constitution and International Law by Progressive Management
Cover of the book Other than War: The American Military Experience and Operations in the Post-Cold War Decade, 19th and 20th Century, Central America, Panama, Caribbean, Humanitarian, Stability Operations by Progressive Management
Cover of the book Regionalism and Secession: Historical Analysis of Bavarian and Catalan Regionalism, Struggles for Autonomy, Strong Independence Movements in Spain, Accommodation of Sub-state Regionalism by Progressive Management
Cover of the book 21st Century U.S. Military Documents: Air Force C-38 Courier Aircraft - Operations Procedures, Aircrew Evaluation Criteria, Aircrew Training Flying Operations by Progressive Management
Cover of the book Hubble Space Telescope Systems Engineering Case Study: Technical Information and Program History of NASA's Famous HST Telescope by Progressive Management
Cover of the book 21st Century VA Independent Study Course: Caring for War Wounded, Combat Injuries and Effects on Mental Health, Hazards of Deployment to Southwest Asia, Iraq (Veterans Health Issues Series) by Progressive Management
Cover of the book Evidence Based Assessment of Public Health Planning: A Case Study of the 2014 Crisis in Ukraine - Case Study of Mortality, Tuberculosis (TB), and Cholera Metrics During Armed Conflict by Progressive Management
Cover of the book U.S. Air Force Mishap Prevention Program - Air Force Instruction (AFI) 91-202 - Main USAF Document and Air National Guard Supplement, Aviation, Nuclear, Space Safety by Progressive Management
Cover of the book 21st Century Adult Cancer Sourcebook: Chronic Myeloproliferative Disorders - Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia, Polycythemia Vera, Myelofibrosis, Thrombocythemia, Neutrophilic Leukemia by Progressive Management
Cover of the book National Principles of War: Guiding National Power to Victory - Traditional American Way of War, Transforming to Meet the Threat of 4th Generation War, Operation Iraqi Freedom, Diplomacy by Progressive Management
Cover of the book Spies and Spying in the Civil War: The Amazing Stories of Elizabeth Van Lew, Harriet Tubman, Thaddeus Lowe, Saving Mr. Lincoln, Intelligence Collection in the North and South, New Tools, Overseas by Progressive Management
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy