Americas Defense Meltdown - IT Acquisition Advisory Council

106 • A Traveler’s Perspective on Third and Fourth Generation WarLORD DORN: For that we have STOL transport aircraft, similar to the CASA Aviocar.They operate very nicely from roads and grass fields.ME: Do you have any fighter aircraft?LORD DORN: No, we don’t. The Islandian Marine Corps tries to avoid duplicatingcapabilities available from other services. We let the Air Force boys be the white scarfin the windstream types. A Marine pilot makes ace by destroying five enemy tanks,not by shooting down five aircraft.ME: So your attack aircraft are all for close air support?LORD DORN: No. They can do close air support (CAS), of course, but that is not theirmain mission. Their main mission is preventing the enemy from moving on the roadsby strafing his columns. That greatly delays the enemy in shifting operational reserves,which in turn contributes significantly to our winning at the operational level.Our attack aviation also ranges ahead and above our Schwerpunkt in high densities.There, it performs multiple functions. It lets the ground commander see over thenext hill, tells him when he has missed a road junction, discovers and attacks enemyambushes, knocks out enemy artillery, disrupts enemy headquarters and so on. Butif you are interested in our aviation, perhaps it would be useful for you to interviewour Deputy Commandant (Supporting) for Aviation, Colonel Arn. Would you like meto ask him to meet with you after our conversation is finished?ME: Certainly, that would be very kind of you both. But I am hesitant to interrupt hisbusy schedule on such short notice.LORD DORN: Busy? What on earth makes you think he is busy?ME: Well, everyone in our Marine Corps’ headquarters is always terribly busy. Aren’t you?LORD DORN: Certainly not. If we were busy, we couldn’t get anything done. Creativityrequires leisure. A headquarters should be a place where creativity flourishes,creativity as to how to meet present challenges in new ways and to anticipate futurechallenges. A headquarters where people were busy would quickly become a closedsystem, a place concerned mainly with its own business. It would have no time forthe world outside its own doors.ME: That is a fair description of most American headquarters, I think. Anyway, Iwould very much appreciate a chance to interview Colonel Arn.