America's Quiet Air Force

Americans support our military. Every night we see reports of troops killed in battle, attacked by IEDs, or harmed by an unseen enemy.

We pray for the ground troops who are doing the tough work on the front lines. But many Americans do not realize that the Air Force is not only integral to the current war, but also does so much more all over the globe -- and needs our support more than ever.

Throughout the Air Force's history, its people, technology, and culture have served our nation well. The USAF has only gotten better over time.

In World War II, it took nearly 3,000 air sorties to eliminate a single target. Today, a single aircraft can destroy multiple targets in a single sortie.

The Air Force hallmark of air dominance, achieved by combining modern capabilities -- information superiority, mobility, and precision strikes -- has been unsurpassed for more than 60 years. Due to this success, a lot of what the Air Force does goes unnoticed. Most people don't know that the Air Force has been at war nonstop since 1991.

Beyond their traditional strengths, Airmen have become engaged in a number of other activities during the past seven years. They are leading convoys, security patrols, and rescue missions, treating combat casualties -- and more.

Airmen make up a significant portion of the approximately 150,000 U.S. service members who are engaged in combat and nation building in Iraq and Afghanistan. Six of the 13 U.S. Provincial Reconstruction Teams (PRT) currently in Afghanistan are headed by Air Force officers. More than 5,000 Airmen are currently serving in Army positions to assist our sister service.

Nearly 40,000 of America's Airmen are deployed to 263 locations across the globe, including 63 locations in the Middle East. And nearly 130,000 Airmen support combatant commander missions from their home stations every day.

These Airmen operate the nation's space and missile forces, process and exploit remotely collected intelligence, execute mobility and air defense missions over the U.S., and contribute in many other ways.

The Air Force operates the Global Positioning System that provides precise navigation and timing for your own GPS devices. It provides global satellite communications, space-based surveillance, and missile warning.

Currently, the Air Force is flying 40 round-the-clock patrols each day in Afghanistan with its Predator and Reaper remotely piloted aircraft, an eightfold increase since 2004.

Air Force space assets provide the U.S. with an unparalleled degree of accuracy, connectivity, and situation awareness. The Air Force's ability to track space objects -- currently 20,000 of them -- has operational implications not only for military and civilian uses of space, but also for the enormously lucrative space system industry.

And USAF's exploitation of cyberspace and advanced information technologies enables everyone in the military to properly command and control forces, binding virtually all of our advanced capabilities together into precise, increasingly networked, and better synchronized operations.

The Air Force is always the first to respond in support of humanitarian disasters. Every 90 seconds an airlift plane takes off and lands somewhere around the world -- sometimes in a very austere location such as Antarctica, and sometimes in a very dangerous place such as a forward operating base in Afghanistan.

Air Force airlifts moved 29 million pounds of goods in 2009 -- and 208 patients worldwide by Aerovac. A great example is Haiti, where Air Force Joint Terminal Air Controllers were able to deploy immediately after the earthquake and provide air traffic control.

That effort enabled the only airport in Haiti to increase its handling capacity from 10-12 flights per day to more than 160 per day, enabling key assistance to get to a nation with failing infrastructure -- and saving untold numbers of lives.

The Air Force also delivered tons -- quite literally -- of food, water, and medical supplies to communities isolated by the earthquake.

Air Force units also responded quickly to the earthquake in Chile, even expanding a mobile hospital to better meet the medical needs of the surrounding population.

One question that does not have to be asked is: Where are our transport aircraft? That's because they are present all over the globe.

USAF proudly defines itself as one Air Force -- with Airmen (both military and civilians) executing strike, space, mobility, ICBM, support, or special operations missions. They are deterring war, while at the same time waging war, performing joint operations, supporting humanitarian relief -- all while maintaining America's air and space dominance.

That's a great story of achievement and dedication, and it needs to be known. Thank you, Airmen.

Albert Pianalto served 28 years in the Air Force and retired in 1990 as a colonel. He now lives in Chester and works as a logistics management consultant and technical writer. Contact him at apianalto@comcast.net.