Air University Review, November-December 1984
Lieutenant Colonel Timothy E. Kline
HOW wonderful to see Major Denny Nelson wielding the cudgel for open debate within the officer corps.* His call for a forum was superb. Mitchell would be pleased.
After spending some time with the U.S. Marine Corps, I'm beginning to appreciate the problem of fully airing views on any controversial subject. Those 209 years of splendid tradition are weighty arguments indeed. They hedge the arena of debate with very formidable obstacles. Nonetheless, I am convinced that there is more pure freedom of debate in the Marine Corps Gazette than Air University Review (lately).
What has happened to the Air Force is not hard to describe. Quite simply, a kind of mental ossification has settled in. There is such an atmosphere of institutional self-satisfaction afoot that nothing short of a shooting war will jolt us sufficiently to return clear thinking to its former place of honor. Meanwhile the hollow ring of efficiency continues to prevail over the far sweeter melody of military effectiveness. The present disorder will make more difficult the shakeout of the numb, byzantine institutionalists once the next hot war begins. Hopefully, the Major Nelsons (and the Review) will survive to reorient us for combat when we return to the "wild blue yonder!"
Quantico, Virginia
*Major Denny R. Nelson, "Seeking a Forum for the Mitchells," Air University Review, July-August 1984, pp. 85-86.
Contributor
Colonel Kline
is Senior Air Force Representative at the Marine Corps Development and Education Command.Disclaimer
The conclusions and opinions expressed in this document are those of the author cultivated in the freedom of expression, academic environment of Air University. They do not reflect the official position of the U.S. Government, Department of Defense, the United States Air Force or the Air University.
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