I promise this is the last one I'll do on the USAF CSAR mission (at least for a minute) but one thing has been bugging the hell outta me.
My buddy Marcase made the case that PJ's (and again they're probably as tough as woodpecker lips...though I've never met one) are more medically skilled than the Corpsmen that rode out with the TRAP team picked up the F-15E Pilots a couple of days ago.
That bothered me.
It bothered me alot.
The reason why is because the Corpsmen that I've run across have all been extremely capable members of the family. I've seen Doc's go to Marine's homes when the kids were sick to give advice on what was going on. Seen them even deliver babies in terrible circumstances and of course watched them help injured Marines when strong armed men stood and all the could yell is "Corpsman Up!"
So what's a guy to do? Whip out the old Google-foo and see what the real story is...what I found was surprising...only because I didn't remember it.
The US Army Special Forces has a dedicated Medical Sgt. He not only takes care of his team but administers aid to local forces when they're leading insurgents against a hostile nation.
I looked on BlackFive and saw that Froggy posted that Navy Seal Corpsmen are no longer called Corpsmen but Navy Seal Medics...
I went to ForceRecon.com and saw that Navy Corpsmen are "Recon" qualified...they jump, fight, fast rope and dive with their teams...as well as perform medical treatment....
Long story short...its not about their qualifications or medical skills.
I take the training schools and selection boards at their word---these men are all highly skilled warriors.
But I do doubt the efficacy of the mission set as the USAF has established it.
A simple solution is for the US Air Force to step away from the CSAR mission. It requires gunfighters that its force does not have.
Give the mission to SOCOM to be shared with the Navy/Marines and elements of the Army (thinking mainly the 82nd and 101st...I don't know if the other Army Divisions have the air assets or training to carry it out) or...
Get serious about the entire thing and get its Security Forces trained and armed up to take part.
All good points, but Pararescue aren't *just* medics, they are also mountaineers, airborne troops and combat engineers, able to get pilots out of wreckages using specialist kit, drag them over mountains and tow them through rivers.
ReplyDeleteOf course, they are not supermen, just specialists.
Can their medical job be done by army/navy/marine medics? Sure.
Can their job be done *better* with a squad of marines or Rangers in support? Hell yeah.
But sometimes you can't drop whole squads behind enemy lines, even when using Ospreys.
PJs were also a result of experience in Vietnam, where whole squadrons and army/marine companies were assigned to rescue downed aircrew, sometimes with horrendous losses.
It was decided that smaller teams may be more effective; less conspicuous and more mobile than a fleet of Jolly Greens and Spads zooming overhead.
There will always be a competition about which "elite" is the best. But it all boils down that each is a specialist with a specific job for a specific mission.
Edit: A PJ's job is to rescue and treat wounded crews behind enemy lines, period. Army SOF and Navy SEAL medics are part of a strike team - different (support) roles, different missions.
ReplyDeleteTo add to Marcase's comment, these days things are more 'purple suit' as well, with AF Special Operators embedded in alot of different special teams not just as 'AF only' efforts. I would also not draw too large a conclusion from a relatively ad hoc military adventure for application to a wider sustained war. You've hit on two central points well though. First a schism over CSAR within the Air Force as it is now organized and second, since the MAGTF is organized as an integrated force, it has organic assets available from day 1. IMHO, AF CSAR all started going downhill in Desert Shield/Storm when CENTCOM abused the Jolly Greens and the rest of AFSOC. But that's just my opinion, colored by stories from friends that were there.
ReplyDeleteSMSgt Mac.
ReplyDeletefunny how when we talk about joint operations this is the only area where it fully applies...at least when it comes to USAF forces. CSAR wasn't abused by CENTCOM...i can point you to a paper written by a Combat Rescue Officer that says that only during Desert Storm was CSAR close to being utilized properly.
sadly the only thing that CSAR brings to the table is aircraft, aircrews and PJ's.
quite honestly the 160th brings comparable aircraft (especially if CSAR is going to be all rotors)...but it lacks shooters. AFSOC brings C-130's to the table but outside of the KC-130, you're mostly looking at command and control which can be performed by AWACs...
so what do you really have left for AFSOC to do?
provide medical personnel?
i'll put a Special Forces Medic in the group and not miss a thing.
provide aircrew?
160th can do the rotary stuff....you going tilt wing? MV-22's already operate with SOCOM...you deep penetrating? are you really going nap of the earth all the way to a target?
this is getting way longer than i wanted but quite honestly, unless the USAF starts putting shooters with their PJ's then we're not getting much for the investment.
When we where deployed to Panama as a TAD rifle company assigned to the Embassy. Our FMF Corpsman did surgery on our "mascot" stray dig when some AF van driver hit it and left it for dead. Let's not forget that Corpsmen train to treat combat injuries where sprained ankles, sucking chest wounds to blown off limbs. So I don't think that Corpsmen would be inadequate. As for the Modern 22st century war I don't see a downed pilot outside of being snagged by Bad guys staying deep in the bush for a long amount of time. Vietnam and our currents Wars are as diferent as they get.
ReplyDeleteBTW Doc was drunk when he did surgery on that dog. I have pictures in my Facebook we had pulled him out the small bar we had in Rodman Naval Base.
All of the branches have pilots, obviously with the USAF having the most, even over the USN. Maybe these very highly trained specialist PJ's should be more spread out across all kinds of assets and branches, so they can go in with Marines, Rangers, Green Berets, SEALS, etc. Also, I really think the USAF better get it together more with the CV-22, that's the aircraft for them that can do everything that they need to do, that's available right now, or the Sikorsky X2 down the road.
ReplyDeleteThe last few posts have stated that PJ's are not combatants and as Solomon put it they "lack shooters". From all the research I have done, I have found that Pararecuemen are highly trained combatants who have been taught the same tactical operations as seals and the rest of the socom family for that matter. Special Operations is a multi faceted endeavor and requieres different groups to specialize in different operations. For one to say that it is unnecessary to have an operational team who's primary objective is rescue is just naive and ignorant.
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