Over and over and over

An Arkansas friend of my wife’s was deployed to Iraq with the state’s National Guard infantry brigade in 2004 and was heavily involved in planning the brigade’s second deployment. At one point in planning, she mentioned to other staff officers, “We are making the same mistakes we made before. We wrote and published after-action reports and recommendations to keep these things from happening again.”

The Army is not alone in déjà vu all over again: “The Navy has spent decades getting rid of specialized airplanes — the S-3 Viking sub-hunter, the F-14 Tomcat interceptor — in favor of multi-purpose fighter-bombers, the F-18 and future F-35. But it’s time to bring back the specialists, the report argues. For example, the next Navy fighter, the still-notional F/A-XX, needs to be a thoroughbred air superiority machine rather than a fighter-bomber.”

http://breakingdefense.com/2015/10/carriers-crucial-in-war-with-china-but-air-wing-is-all-wrong-hudson/?utm_campaign=Breaking+Defense+Daily+Digest&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=22682385&_hsenc=p2ANqtz--HlfD2QyEqILCgmZ6P6WfTqOlOTJ1XhgxUse2mz-IFw4A1Y0gXoQlREcHF6OCKenqLV6K5XNxaD1g3yDZT0jWbk81Yxw&_hsmi=22682385

Apparently, every generation of naval officers produces admirals who develop the new idea of an aircraft that can do all roles – intercept, bomb, reconnaissance, close air support and anti-submarine warfare.