Those who attended the membership meeting on 18 September know that the Association is back in “black ink” for our second straight year after several lean years. While our outlook is good and becomes better every day, we still need your help in a couple of key areas.
First, membership increases have continued, but not as fast as we’d like. If you’re on active duty and everyone in your ready room is not a member of the Association, ask them why not. We are still offering a $20 annual membership for first-time active-duty members, and I’d bet that most of you spend at least that much on a single dinner out.
Often forgotten is the Associate Membership category, open to anyone who has an interest in carrier aviation. One doesn’t even need to have made an arrested landing to qualify for this category of membership. With the exception of voting privileges, Associate Members enjoy the same benefits as Regular Members. An Associate Membership is a great gift idea for family members who want to learn about the history of carrier aviation and what modern Naval Aviation is all about.
Second, charitable contributions to the Tailhook Educational Foundation are one of the simplest ways you can support a truly worthy cause. If you’re on active duty, we’ve made this virtually “aviator-proof” by listing the Foundation as one of the organizations to which you can assign your Combined Federal Campaign pledge each year. Simply check the pamphlet that CFC distributes each year to designate your contribution.
Third, take advantage of the Tailhook Association’s Web site on the Internet as you begin your fall holiday shopping. The merchandise selection is second to none, and you’re sure to find some great gifts for family and friends there.
Good Ideas
I am often asked why certain things happen as they do either at the convention or in the magazine. Your THA Board of Directors works extremely hard, and for no compensation, I might add, to run the organization with your best interests in mind. As a California nonprofit corporation, there are specific rules in our bylaws we must follow. If you’d like a copy, please e-mail a request to our San Diego office. To find out who we are and what we stand for, we invite you to read our mission statement that details our vision, purpose and objectives, which is published each issue near the front of the magazine. Published as well in each issue is a listing of the members of the Board of Directors and other Association officers.
We invite you to contact any of these officials by sending the Association a letter or an e-mail concerning any ideas you might have, whether on how to make the reunion better or what Tailhook should be doing for you. The many changes to the reunion’s format from year to year are the direct result of the suggestions of our members. Let us know if you want to suggest a change or want to know why we do something a certain way.
Real-World Operations
One of the highlights of the 2003 reunion was the celebration of carrier aviation’s key role in Operation Iraqi Freedom. As those of us who were deployed experienced firsthand, OIF was all about being ready to go when called upon. The Navy and Marine Corps team did just that.
There have been some excellent articles summing up what was accomplished by carrier aviation in OIF — if you haven’t read VADM Mike Malone’s piece in the Summer 2003 issue of The Hook, it is time well spent. RADM David C. Nichols, who was deployed as the Deputy Combined Force Air Component Commander, has a brief summary in this edition. The Tailhook Association intends to make the OIF after-action briefs given at Hook 2003 available to our members through our Web site.
As with previous conflicts, there’s a rush to get lessons-learned organized and in print before anyone else. Iraqi Freedom has been no exception. The game of lessons learned is a tough one in that the lessons are often misinterpreted. To quote LGEN Buzz Moseley immediately following the collapse of the regime in Baghdad: “Lessons-learned briefs are dangerous because the people who listen to your brief stop listening as soon as they hear the one or two items that foster their particular agenda.”
With the above in mind, here are some big picture “one-liners” from my perspective:
- We made it to Baghdad in 21 days. If we had accomplished everything perfectly, would we have made it there any faster? In the final analysis, in any kind of ground campaign one is really at the mercy of young people driving armed vehicles.
- Navy and Marine Corps Aviation was trained, equipped to succeed and was on station one month prior to the campaign’s start.
- The joint force surge capacity was never fully stressed, though it was shaped by tanker availability, battle space and operational complexity. That being said, having excess capacity was not necessarily a bad thing.
- Our lethality, particularly in adverse weather conditions, is much greater than it was 12 years ago. We can become even more deadly by further investing and training in supporting that lethality, primarily through better intelligence.
- As in previous conflicts, there were too many “blue-on-blue” (friendly fire) events, although one can make the argument that the complex dynamics of this particular fight created an increased potential for these events to happen.
- There’s still a place for “level of effort” (traditional) weapons.
- Fifty-four million information operations leaflets did not win the war, but they contributed to an overwhelming combination of lethal and nonlethal combined fires.
- One of my favorite quotes came from GEN Tommy Franks: “The sooner we get the fight into the hands of the lieutenants, the sooner we win.”
The bottom line is that OIF in many respects validated an investment strategy in training and equipping which the Navy team pursued four to five years ago. Certainly there are things we can improve upon, but there are many responsible for what happened that should feel good about where we are.
Next Year
Next year’s Tailhook convention is set for 9–12 September. Your Board of Directors has decided that the dates for future conventions will be the weekend following the Labor day weekend. Make your plans early and feed us your suggestions on how to make it better.
Finally, I’d like to say thanks to a very dedicated group of people at the Tailhook Association headquarters building who selflessly work behind the scenes every year to bring things together. These are the unsung heroes of Tailhook, and if you get the opportunity to stop by the headquarters at 9696 Businesspark Avenue in San Diego, please give them your thanks for what they do.
See you at Hook 2004!