Volume 33 Issue 2, Summer 2019

Great Leaders Follow First:
Nine Rules for Dynamic Followership

Maj Gen Michael D. Rothstein, USAF
As military professionals, we love to talk about leadership. This focus on leadership, however, may induce a blind spot: every single one of us is first and always a follower. We all have a boss. We all report to someone. Our senior leaders remind us—and rightfully so—that our Airmen deserve great leaders.

A Commander’s First Challenge: Building Trust

Lt Col Jesper R. Stubbendorff, USAF
Robert E. Overstreet, PhD
Leadership is the most important characteristic that a commander brings to an organization. To be an effective leader, a military commander must have a relationship with followers, and the key to that relationship is trust. The problem for commanders is that it is extremely difficult to build trusting relationships because of the limited duration of command, transient nature of military personnel, and deployment of individual military members versus an entire organization.

Aligning Air Force Leadership Roles:
The Limitations of Enlisted Empowerment

SMSgt Ryan T. McClary, USAF
The Military Pay Act of 1958 began the Air Force employment of enlisted empowerment, and this ideology expanded into the current assignment of enlisted leaders into strategic leadership roles. Conversely, the Air Force organizational power structure has remained unchanged with the power necessary to fulfill strategic functions solely reserved for the commissioned officer ranks.

Rescuing Icarus: The Problems and Possibilities of “Air-Mindedness”

Lt Col Jason M. Trew, USAF, PhD
Current US Air Force doctrine associates air-mindedness with functional expertise. This connotation is too narrow because it focuses only on the pragmatic aspects of airpower. This article argues for a broader definition that restores the psychological dimension, which was integral to the term’s historical meaning.

The Potentiality of Space Enterprise Force Reconstitution: Nationalizing Civilian Satellites during Kinetic Conflicts

Sara Schmitt
Maj Robert A. Bettinger, USAF, PhD
The patent recognition of space as an operational domain requires new strategies to contend with not only an evolving counterspace threat landscape, but also the necessities of satellite reconstitution during conflict. This article will explore the possibility of instituting a policy of civilian satellite nationalization as a means of US Space Enterprise force reconstitution to ensure continued access to space capabilities requisite for the execution of US military, foreign policy, and domestic security objectives.

Fortifying Remote Warriors: Addressing Wellness Issues among Intelligence Airmen

Capt Tyler Tennies, USAF
Many people refer to Airmen’s minds as their most valuable weapon, and this is especially true when referencing our intelligence specialists. However, many of our intelligence Airmen are not operating at their peak mental performance. In 2017, the author assumed a flight of intelligence Airmen in remote combat operations. As their flight commander, he noticed a number of wellness issues that included insomnia, fatigue, depression, poor physical fitness, and discipline. 

Insider Attack, Strategic Impact: Kabul, 27 April 2011

Forrest L. Marion, PhD
Normally, insider attacks are dealt with mainly as tactical incidents rather than events with an impact at a higher level of warfare. This article examines one case in which an insider attack—the 27 April 2011 killing of nine US air advisors at Kabul International Airport—appeared to hold not only tactical but operational-strategic, significance.

Gear Up, Mishaps Down: The Evolution of Naval Aviation Safety, 1950–2000

Robert F. Dunn
Reviewer: John L. Mahaffey, PhD
Gear Up, Mishaps Down, The Evolution of Naval Aviation Safety is a first- person historical account of the evolution of flight safety for US Navy aviation during the period 1950 to 2000. My initial interest was due in no small part to a personal connection with the subject. 

Limiting Risk in America’s Wars: Airpower, Asymmetrics, and a New Strategic Paradigm

Phillip S. Meilinger
Reviewer: Maj Matthew C. Wunderlich, USAF
Limiting Risk in America’s Wars: Airpower, Asymmetrics, and a New Strategic Paradigm is Phillip Meilinger’s argument for an airpower- oriented strategy in modern conflicts. In this book, Meilinger effectively presents a history of limited warfare and the requirement for a deliberate strategy to optimize airpower employment and refine America’s approach to military operations. 

Airpower Applied: U.S., NATO, and Israeli Combat Experience

Edited by John Andreas Olsen
Reviewer: Col Jamie Sculerati, USAF, Retired
Col John Andreas Olsen, Royal Norwegian Air Force, has carved a niche for himself in airpower literature, publishing several volumes on the strategic effects of airpower and airpower advocates throughout the history of modern warfare. His latest is in the same vein and revisits some of the same ground covered in his A History of Air Warfare, albeit in more detail. 

Dragon's Wings: Chinese Fighter and Bomber Aircraft Development

Andreas Rupprecht
Reviewer: 1st Lt Christopher A. Sargent, USAF
Dragon Wings: Chinese Fighter and Bomber Aircraft Development is a history of Chinese military aircraft development, acquisition, and modification from the declaration of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in 1949 to the current day. Andreas Rupprecht authored multiple books and articles on Chinese aviation development and is recognized as an expert on the subject. 

1001 Aviation Facts

Edited by Mike Machat
Reviewer: Maj Jack Nelson, USAF
1001 Aviation Facts is an enjoyable, light read that will please any aviation enthusiast. Collectively written by eight aviation buffs, the book reflects the authors’ subject matter expertise in military and civilian flying, writing, aviation art, and aircraft modeling. The book is organized categorically into sections, aptly opening with “The Beginning.” 

Zeppelins Over the Midlands: The Air Raids of 31 January 1916

Mick Powis
Reviewer: Maj Timothy Heck, USMCR
Before Guernica, Coventry, and Dresden, there were the Zeppelins. Before Giulio Douhet wrote The Command of the Air, there were the Zeppelins. Before Stanley Baldwin’s speech ominously promising that the bomber will always get through, there were the Zeppelins.