"Flashnews" wrote in message
. net...
We are all talking around the wheel and not realizing that the world is
now "JOINT" - so there can be labor management but the mechanisms today
allow the Army to own a lot of ships and a lot of flying vehicles.

But you are right in the pinning down of "ownership" - and I think what we
are suggesting is that an aviation assault ship, even a full deck carrier
refurbished to be one, will still have a Naval Officer as Captain but the
mission commander will be an officer reporting to the Amphibious
Expeditionary Force Commander and this guy could be an Air Force three
star but probably would not - it would be a Marine. What would happen is
that the physical ship itself would take a drastic make-over as it
switched from a naval aviation ship to a command assault aviation ship.
The mixture of aircraft. MV-22's, and helicopters would all form a Marine
Corps Air Group not a Naval Air Wing but they may still call it a CAG -
stuff like that

I buy that idea - that's pretty much what I meant. After all, all of the
amphibs already have Marine-only air, and they are designated as Marine
air - composite squadrons and MAWs. My point was, I don't really see why
Marines need to fly F/A-18's off supercarriers, if it's not dedicated to
supporting Marines? Let the Navy worry about CAP and deep strike and all
that good stuff; it's just not something the Marines need to be doing.

AHS