huh?
generals can command air force?
i thought if you call for air strikes, you need approval from the air force chain of commands.
i also thought if you are going to use US military weapons in Civilian areas you need approval from higher ups?
as far as tanks and ammo, that should be easy, but if it is not within chain of command, then won’t they ask their own general to approve first?
nth, WillSantini is a Marine. There are Marine jets available for this General. And Marine tanks. 29 Palms has a boatload of fun stuff.
Anyone waiting for an approval to operate in a Civilian area (and this was on a range anyway) while a monster tore through a civilian area would be shot after all was said and done (not really, but he’d wish he was).
Since there is a lot of room to speculate in the given premise I assumed “the general” had more to do with procurement and wasn’t the post CG. I agree that if it was indeed the CG that the tank would be there no questions asked and that the paperwork would be worried about later.
A call for an air strike would be very easy. I have a radio right here in my office that can contact the airfield commander. All it would take is a “do it” from the general to have jets in the air.
Okay now I am wondering how many stars your boss has. I also work for generals but unless they have something to do with that airfield, I can’t see it happening with no questionms asked.
For instance, if the wing commander at Luke AFB in Arizona called and asked for strike assistance from say Nellis, don’t you think the wing commander there might ask what was going on before launching jets? And then it wouldn’t be general #1 giving the order, general 2 would order his jets in the air. Not to mention the ground crew just might need to know what kind of munitions to load and if they would need tanker suport etc… It’s not like calling a cab although it might seem that way. I still think, from what I have seen the general needs to have command of those assets.
Yes general officers rarely get questioned by anyone lower in rank than they are but there is always someone HIGHER in rank to answer to. IT’s the nature of the chain of command.
Also Hermann makes a good point. It would seem pretty questionable if for instance the gerneral who is the Directorate of Comptrollers decided to call for Air Strikes. That might get a call to HIS boss…
Maybe you have weak generals…?
Maj UncleBill Semper Fi
Maybe…so any Marine genral can call up any portion of any Marine unit? Maybe your high and tight is too tight.
ok on a serious note
Well we only have one general here in 29 palms, and I doubt he would wait to get permission from the 3rd MAW before sending out jets.
Yes, I’m very aware of the nature of the chain of command, but I would much rather answer to someone for not using the chain and killing t-rex than to answer for sitting on my fat ass while rex eats children in base housing.
What would the director of comptrollers be doing out on a test range? And not sure what branch you are in (I’m assuming Air Force) but in the Marine Corps, a general is a general.
The Marine Corps is very small, and the Generals pretty much know each other at least by name. There are only about 70. If General Banatz call General Scmuckatelli and says he needs help NOW!!! The call subjects will include things needed and a location.
okay, i got it.
i have no issue with the chain of command and how the general has awesome power.
but now, the issue is you get a call from a general that wants to kill a T-rex. i would think he is insane and call my higher up for authority. i rather be discipline for failing to obey rules than to launch an attack against T-rex that every part of my logical brain says can’t be true.
but again, i am not in the military, so no idea how willing a military personal will disobey orders cuz it sounds bizarre.
Yea you are right. I had no idea how small the Marine corps is. I work on an Air Force base with thre major Commands and as an estimate at least 25 General officers. The point isn’t that a Comptroller wouldn’t be on a test range. Dog and pony shows for General officers are executed in some pretty weird fashions. But I am assuming that at this stellar example of the Marine Corp in action 29 Palms that you have all types of artillery and weaponry that is available to the marine corps. Other wise you are in the same boat and Geneal Schmucatelli from the 3rd Battalion is calling his old high school football team mate General Fumundah from Cherry Point to help him out…
So I suppose it depends on what type of weaponry you have available (hence my first post that if you are going to COMMAND it, it better belong to you)
As far as sitting on his ass while T-Rex eats the DoDDS School, I again refer to my first post of his unit being his responsibility and if he lets it get eaten he’s gonna have some splainin to do. Then again if he calls out a MOAB for the Macy’s ballon…he’s gonna have some splainin to do.
So Will Santini, I suppose we are both right…sort of. It depends on where you are as far as how much power you have. Marine or not, send him to the pentagon and he’s just a guppy with only one star.
So yeah he has the power but will have to answer to higher ups (even if he is the only general officer on his post, there is always someone higher up that he will eventually have to answer to. ) I never said he couldn’t do it, just that he better have a good reason. Generals get pretty damned attached to those stars and have no intention of losing them so they will have good judgement in doing something like that.
This is the only general you’ve ever known personally isn’t it? Hope he’s a good one. I’ve been around 17 years and they don’t impress me all that much anymore. There are good ones, bozare ones. complete assholes, and guys that m,ake you feel like you’d fall on a grenade for them…stick around for a while and see if you don’t agree.
Okay, so we’ve established that it’d be pretty easy for a Marine general to get an airstrike called in, but what about an Army general? It sounds like the Army general could get a tank in the area in about an hour or so, which is a good enough delay for my purposes (Kirk could whip a rabbit out of his ass in less time, so if my fictional general can do it in under an hour, that’s plenty of time.). I think that it’d be harder for an Army general to get the Air Force to drop naplam on an Army testing range, than simply calling up the base commander of the nearest Air Force base and saying, “Hey! There’s a dino running around here, I need you to drop a couple of thousand pounds of on the following coordinates.” (Of course, I could be wrong, the Air Force guys might be really happy to bomb the Army. 
)
Oh, and the Paranoia Alert Level, er, I mean Terrorist Threat Level, is at green (or whatever the lowest level is), so it’s not like the US is expecting anything and is keyed up for an attack by velociraptor suicide bombers.
But, it looked so cool.
You are correct, 29 Palms is the largest Marine Corps base, and is home to the CAX program, so yes, this base does have about 95% of weaponry available to the Marine Corps.
You have no idea which officer ranks are where do you?
If you say so.
Actually I have personally worked with about 20 generals, to include a few Army generals. And it’s too bad that your Air Force generals aren’t impressive. Perhaps you should come over to the dark side and see some real warriors.
Semper Fi
You are at the Largest Marine Corps base and have one star? Nice…Amazing you have everything at one base. The Airforce has too much shit to put it all in one place.
No, I don’t know where Marine ranks are and personally don’t care. Why does it matter?
I too have worked with many generals including Army generals. They seem smarter than Marines. How did we get into a pissing contest simply because you don’t like what I say about rank structure and responsibility for ones actions? OR aren’t Marines responsible for their actions? Why aren’t you in the fray instead of stateside spending all your time on a message board.? You must be proud.
Whoa, personal affronts? We should ALL get back to the Humbly Opinioned General Question at hand, and for go the slaps. In My Humble Junior Mod Opinion.
mipiace, the “Stumps” (MAGTFTC) houses several Fleet Marine Force Commands, but the General is not in the FMF at this time. It is a monster training facility where all the Marine units go to blow shit up in combined arms exercises. It is not WillSantini’s current assignment to be over there.
I understand that. Neither is it his current assignment to assume the Air Force has weak generals. I never said a general couldn’t do what he damned well pleased. Just that he needed to be prudent in blowing shit up. Apparently that makes him think they don’t have enough power.
down, boys.
Suppose instead of a TRex, you have some civil airliners flying into tall buildings. Rather quickly, there were armed aircraft patrolling NY, DC, and other major American cities. How was it done?
I saw a program with the chief of the New York City police describing the action on 9/11/01. He said that he felt powerless at first. He knew he needed air support, but he didn’t have an air force. One reporter asked why he didn’t call the US Air Force. He asked the reporters in the room “Do you have a number for that?” I suppose now, there are procedures in place, but there didn’t seem to be then.
So, how did these fighters suddenly end up patrolling the skies on what was a perfectly ordinary Tuesday morning?
I would certainly say that it took an hour to get armed aircraft to NYC airspace. From memory, I think the Air Force jets sent to intercept the third aircraft that crashed in PA were unarmed. I may be wrong on this point.
They used to be unarmed but after 9/11 they aren’t anymore. However responset ime has always been a problem and that of course depends on where you are (the Air Force doesn’t have everything at all bases) For instance right after 9/11 a kid stole a Cessna from his private pilot school and crashed it into a building in downtown Tampa. There is an Air Force base right there in Tampa but by the time they got planes in the Air, he had already crashed into a bldg.
It was unclear if the jets actually came from Tampa though. There are no F-16s there so I think the closest base would have been further north in the panhandle.