War on our shores

Flight Journal, Feb 2002 by Davisson, Budd

Not many months ago, on this very page, I pointed out that the U.S. was unique among WW II combatant nations in that its population had always been safe from attack. That obviously has changed. After a century of geographically isolated bliss, we now have enemies among us who are as insidious as the political disease they carry. The front lines are now our local post offices, our workplaces and our very lives.

Historically, America's strength has been in its technology and its ability to produce whatever was needed to overwhelm its enemies. Today, however, the ability to wage a high-tech war is nearly useless. Our primary enemy-the individual terrorist-has burrowed deeply into our society and is camouflaged by the very freedoms our nation is founded on. His presence is known only by his deeds.

But terrorists are not invisible. They must walk among us to harm us, and as our everyday existence brushes up against theirs, someone-somewhere-sees them every single day. To be effective, they must conduct their awful business right under our noses. To catch them, we need only to be aware of the "unusual," and that awareness will become our strongest weapon. They may stand next to us, assessing us as targets and seeking opportunities to strike, but try as they may, they give themselves away in small, almost indiscernible ways. If every one of us does nothing more than be observant, we'll begin to see them as their behavior separates them from the background in which they are hiding.

Still, we need to carry the fight to where terrorists breed, and it is men in flying machines who are first to fight. Here, too, although technology is a place to start, we know that this is a different kind of war against a different kind of enemy. They have nothing to lose, and dying is their greatest reward. Aerial warfare must adapt and change, as there won't be any dogfights or hard targets to hit. It's difficult to fix your sights on fleeting shadows, but we'll learn which shadows are lethal and which aren't.

Flexibility and adaptability will be critical as our commanders work their way through the demands of this new kind of war. If the war expands to other locations of terrorism, we may see different types of operational obstacles placed in our way. In Afghanistan, the obstacles are mountains, winter and huge distances. If other locales become involved, we may be up against advanced hardware such as MiGs and SAMs.

Unfortunately, you can't kill an enemy if you neither know who he is nor where he is hiding. We can mess the nest without killing the hornet, and it will just build another nest in another place. Worldwide intelligence is the key. We can gather it from satellites, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and grubby little men in dark alleyways.

About the attacks, we at Flight Journal can say nothing that hasn't already been said many times and more eloquently. But we can say that we will continue to expand our coverage to encompass aviation subjects that are germane to the fight. Some subjects will be controversial; some self-explanatory; some anecdotal. Through it all, however, will run the thought that we want our country and our forces to be all we know they can be, and we stand solidly behind those in the cockpits and on the ground who are doing their best to protect our way of life.

During the 1940s, a generation stood together to accomplish a formidable task that earned them accolades as "The Greatest Generation." This is our generation's chance to earn our own place in our nation's history. Let's keep our eye on the goal and do our best to live up to the standards set by those who went before.