snip enormously long diatribe arguing against the effectiveness of a gun
for CAS

Again, not a ringing endorsement of the strafing runs...

Paul J. Adam MainBoxatjrwlynch[dot]demon{dot}co(.)uk

Paul -

20mm is particularly ineffective for the type of CAS in the stories you use
to argue your point. Additionally, these were Mud Hen guys who don't train
to strafe, and in fact hadn't practiced strafe since they left the RTU.
They also didn't press in close enough to decrease the bullet dispersion,
which would also allow for an increase in energy when the bullets impacted.
I doubt you've seen the HUD footage from that mission, but I can tell you in
the valley they were operating in I wouldn't have taken an E model any
closer than they did. This is not a slam against the Mud Hen guys, they did
great work, but they simply don't train to use the gun like Warthog pilots
do.

I will venture to say with great certainty if A-10s had been doing the
shooting, there wouldn't have been a need for a Maverick or bomb pass
follow-up.

ATTACK!