Originally Posted by
Danny42C
The twist to the story was, of course, that the crew were two ladies (I understand that the WSO [?] is now CO of a FJ Sqn). This was not mentioned in my original post as it was irrelevant - the problem was the ROE.
What do you suppose Major Campbell would have done under those circumstances ? Are the USAF ROEs the same ?
Danny, my information is about a decade old, but RoE in Afghanistan was very tight for a long time -- it also varied with circumstances. There were days when I'd say that the fight was micromanaged at a high level, but at other times the key decision was the ground commander's judgment: do I want airborne fires, or some other effect from the air support?
Making a lot of this more difficult is how close some targets are to things/people our side does not want hit. (Note the savage noise after that air strike that hit a hospital (that was reported by the local Afgh ground commander as being a fighting position) recently). The fallout of press/media/information/propaganda goes into the formulation of RoE and from my recollection nobody in a civilian suit cares that it makes it more difficult and complex for those fighting. "You're the professionals, make it work." It didn't matter what party of political 'side' the final RoE approvals came from. "Don't make me look bad on CNN" is the prime directive from the political leadership.
