4 ms·

That seems as anachronistic as the second amendment. The US military has its own logistics, and that's an understatement. 45 C-5, 222 C-17, 333 C-130. It's noth

That seems as anachronistic as the second amendment. The US military has its own logistics, and that's an understatement. 45 C-5, 222 C-17, 333 C-130. It's nothing but a pretext to protect domestic companies instead of doing what's best for the citizens.

nradov 9y ago
Protectionism is certainly a factor but you don't seem to understand how much airlift is required to sustain an expeditionary military in the field. Current transport capacity has been stretched for years with the ongoing conflicts. At any given time many of those aircraft are out of service for maintenance.
- sorenjan 9y ago
  To quote the Slate article linked above: > In practice, despite fighting two wars simultaneously for a decade, CRAF seems to have been activated just once at the very beginning of the Iraq War when the Pentagon activated 47 passenger aircraft and 31 wide-body cargo planes. > On the other hand, as a 2006 Congressional Research Service report on the program observed, “the program is voluntary” and domestic airlines participate in it because it’s financially beneficial to them. But my main gripe with it is that the US government apparently thinks it more important to maintain a military airlift reserve to be able to quickly fly soldiers and equipment to other parts of the world in a hypothetical future war than to let their own citizens have a well functioning free market that would give them more affordable transportation everyday. It's nothing but corporations first, citizens last, under the guise of national security. Just like the new steel tariffs are said to be because of national security.
  - nradov 9y ago
    Some things are more important than well-functioning free markets. The recent wars have actually been relatively small with only a small fraction of the total military deployed at any given time. CRAF is an insurance policy for a potential major future conflict that requires transporting the bulk of the military around the world on short notice. All wars are hypothetical ... until someone starts shooting.
    - squiggleblaz 9y ago
      And wars are typically more hypothetical when no-one thinks they can beat you because you're so well prepared.

nradov 9y ago

Protectionism is certainly a factor but you don't seem to understand how much airlift is required to sustain an expeditionary military in the field. Current transport capacity has been stretched for years with the ongoing conflicts. At any given time many of those aircraft are out of service for maintenance.

sorenjan 9y ago
To quote the Slate article linked above: > In practice, despite fighting two wars simultaneously for a decade, CRAF seems to have been activated just once at the very beginning of the Iraq War when the Pentagon activated 47 passenger aircraft and 31 wide-body cargo planes. > On the other hand, as a 2006 Congressional Research Service report on the program observed, “the program is voluntary” and domestic airlines participate in it because it’s financially beneficial to them. But my main gripe with it is that the US government apparently thinks it more important to maintain a military airlift reserve to be able to quickly fly soldiers and equipment to other parts of the world in a hypothetical future war than to let their own citizens have a well functioning free market that would give them more affordable transportation everyday. It's nothing but corporations first, citizens last, under the guise of national security. Just like the new steel tariffs are said to be because of national security.
- nradov 9y ago
  Some things are more important than well-functioning free markets. The recent wars have actually been relatively small with only a small fraction of the total military deployed at any given time. CRAF is an insurance policy for a potential major future conflict that requires transporting the bulk of the military around the world on short notice. All wars are hypothetical ... until someone starts shooting.
  - squiggleblaz 9y ago
    And wars are typically more hypothetical when no-one thinks they can beat you because you're so well prepared.