Paul W. Tibbets IV has taken charge of the 509th bomber wing at Whiteman AFB Missouri. He is the grandson of the man who piloted the plane that dropped the bomb on Hiroshima. Military service runs deep in some families.
As I read the article though I had a WTF moment. Right there, in the FIRST paragraph, they refer to the B-2s as an aging bomber fleet. Seriously? The B-2 is the newest strategic bomber in the world as far as I can find. The Russian TU160 is two years older, and no other country is in the business any more. By contrast, our B-52 fleet are all 52 or older with the last being rolled out in 1962. The last 14 were delivered in 1963. While its awesome to read about the grandson commanding his grandfather's squadron, with the BUFF, we have grandsons flying their father's plane! That's old!
What is awesome though is that they are still effective.
As for Paul Tibbets IV and the 509th, it is truly good to see the dedication that family has had to this country, and the way our military honored him. May he not have to repeat his grandfather's feat and drop a nuclear weapon in anger.
I'm no softy, the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagisaki saved both American and Japanese lives. The bushido spirit had it been allowed to continue would have placed women and children on the beaches armed with bamboo spears if they felt it would keep the emperor on the throne for one more hour.
Then again, it may be his destiny to turn a thousand square miles of Syrian sand into glass.
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How to fight a war: Kill the enemy and break his stuff until he surrenders unconditionally or is completely annihilated. Fighting a war in any other manner is a grave mistake, as the events of recent history have proven.
We hit Hiroshima to prove we could do it. We hit Nagasaki to prove we were willing and able to do it as many times as we had to. That was the only thing that could have stopped the Japanese without actually wiping them from the face of the Earth.
You'll notice that they've been remarkably well-behaved ever since.
With islame though lets not take any chances. Wiping them from the face of the earth is a minimum.
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