Technology and Military Doctrine: Essays on a Challenging Relationship - Paperback

by Jr. Major General Usaf Retire Holley (Author)

The author's interest in Air Force doctrine was first aroused when he was a sergeant serving as an aerial gunnery instructor in early 1943. When the operational research people revealed that what we were teaching was faulty, he came to realize that the Air Force system for developing doctrine was flawed. The problem continued to interest him and later, after he was commissioned and serving on the faculty of the Industrial College of the Armed Forces, he wrote his book Ideas and Weapons using the experience of the air arm to expound the need for a more systematic procedure for developing doctrine. Because the doctrinal materials gathered on World War II were still highly classified, he reverted to World War I to put across his thesis without violating security. The author's real concern was to contribute to the soon to be established US Air Force in the search for a more effective means of formulating doctrine. The essays that follow reflect how his ideas developed over the 30-odd years of my Air Force career. Inevitably there are some overlaps and repetitions given the origin of these essays as articles and lectures spread over many years. The main themes are evident. He repeatedly made the case for the importance of doctrine and the need to perfect the technological advances in equipment. He was concerned to see that doctrine was continually perfected in peacetime and not just in wartime when the pressure of enemy performance provides a powerful incentive to do this. Another theme repeatedly stated was the need for officers suitably educated to see the importance of doctrine and realize that doctrine is literally "everybody's business" and not just the concern of a handful of individuals assigned to the formal task of compiling doctrinal manuals. These people are important, but they cannot perform effectively if officers throughout the service fail to write after-action reports summarizing their valuable experiences, not just in air operations but in all aspects of the air arm activities, procurement, personnel administration, logistics, and legislative liaison. One can easily make the case that improving the ability of the Air Force to cope with Congress is just as important as suggesting the best possible doctrine for aerial combat. One can't just assume that every newly promoted flag officer will instinctively understand the best way of testifying on Capitol Hill. Much of the doctrinal problem within the Air Force stems from the professional education of officers. Unless they are rigorously educated to undertake the objective analysis of recorded historical experience, all the most carefully edited doctrinal manuals will avail little. One of the author's insistent themes is the need to make doctrinal manuals not only more readable but more memorable. To this end several of the following essays are addressed to those who are assigned as doctrinal writers.

Author Biography

Professor I. B. Holley Jr. is an emeritus member of the Department of History, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, where he has served since 1947. He taught US social and intellectual history with special interest in military history and the history of technology. Among his better known writings are Ideas and Weapons: Exploitation of the Aerial Weapon by the United States in World War I; A Study in the Relationship of Technological Advance, Military Doctrine, and the Development of Weapons (Yale University Press, 1953), reprinted by Archon Books (1971) and the Government Printing Office (1983 and 1997); Buying Aircraft: Air Materiel Procurement for the Army Air Forces, a volume in the Official History of the US Army in World War II (1964); and a biography, General John M. Palmer: Citizen Soldiers and the Army of Democracy, published by Greenwood Press in 1982. His specialty is the field of military doctrine. Although retired, Professor Holley still teaches undergraduate and graduate students. Professor Holley enlisted in the Army Air Forces in World War II, served as an aerial gunner instructor, and returned to private life after five years of active duty. He retired in February 1981 as a major general in the Air Force after nearly 40 years as a reservist. In his final duty assignment he served as assistant to the commander of Air University, Maxwell Air Force Base, Montgomery, Alabama. Professor Holley was for 10 years chairman of the Advisory Committee on History (appointed by the secretary of the Air Force) and has been a member of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's history advisory committee. He has been a trustee of the American Military Institute and is currently a member of the advisory boards of Air Power History, the Air and Space Power Journal, and the Air Force Journal of Logistics. In 1974 he gave the Harmon Memorial Lecture at the Air Force Academy, "An Enduring Challenge: The Problem of Air Force Doctrine." Professor Holley received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Amherst College (1940) and a Master of Arts (1942) and Doctor of Philosophy (1947) from Yale University. He is an Associate Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. In 1975 he received the Outstanding Civilian Service medal from the US Army, and in 1979 he received the Exceptional Civilian Service medal from the US Air Force, which also awarded him the Distinguished Service Medal and the Legion of Merit.