68th birthday of the US Air Force
Today marks the 68th anniversary of the military’s most junior service. It was September 18th, 1947 that the US Army Air Corps became the United States Air Force – the service of my only son, who by the way was just promoted to E-6 and took the oath once again to complete his twenty years towards retirement.
[My mistake, this happened yesterday] This afternoon, at about 1400, there is also a ceremony in the Pentagon which will be broadcast live at this link to honor the three heroes of the Thalys train attack last month. Spencer Stone, the airman involved will be awarded an Airman Medal, a Purple Heart and he’s getting promoted two grades to Staff Sergeant (E-5).
Category: Air Force
Hey, hey, most junior service? Did the Coast Guard completely disband or something? 😛
Uh, the Coast Guard is actually OLDER than the Navy. From gocoastguard.com/about: “The Coast Guard is one of the oldest organizations of the federal government. Established in 1790, the Coast Guard served as the nation’s only armed force on the sea until Congress launched the Navy Department eight years later.”
Oh Christ, I’ll be damned. Well then.
Yes . . . and no.
In terms of continuous operations, the Navy is indeed younger than the Coast Guard. The Coast Guard was in fact established in 1790, while the Navy was reestablished on March 27, 1794 with the passage of the Naval Act of 1794. (The coastguard.com article quoted is inaccurate; while the first ships of the reestablished US Navy weren’t launched until 1798, the Navy itself had been reestablished by Congress as a permanent US military force in 1794.)
However, that was the “second coming” of the Navy. As do the Army and USMC, the Navy traces its lineage to the Revolutionary War – specifically, to the Continental Navy, which was established on 13 October 1775. This predates the establishment of both the USMC and the Coast Guard, and is today claimed by the Navy as its birthday. The Navy is recognized as the second-oldest US military service; the USMC, the third.
FWIW: the US Army is the only US military service that has served continuously since its establishment during the Revolutionary War. Both the Navy and USMC were disbanded after the Revolutionary War, then reestablished in the 1790s. The Coast Guard (and, obviously, the USAF) did not exist during the American Revolution.
As an interesting aside: the Navy is the 2nd oldest US military service, but is 3rd in precedence today. This is because for a time the Navy claimed their reestablishment date as their birthday vice their original date of establishment by the Continental Congress. The USMC, in contrast, always claimed their original establishment date of 10 Nov 1775 as their date of origin. By the time the Navy reverted to 13 Oct 1775 as their date of origin, tradition had accorded the USMC 2nd precedence among the US military services. The Navy apparently decided it wasn’t worth the hassle to try and change that.
The Coast Guard was established 1n 1915. It claims to be much older because one of its parts is indeed much older. But as I sayd on the CG’s last birthday, that’s like saying the Dept of Homeland Security dates to the 1800s because one or more of its elements does. The USAF birthday is true. If it wanted to play the USCG game it could indeed claim to be 100 or so.
The Revenue Cutter Service was formedin 1790, the Lifesaving Service in 1848. They were merged to form the Coast Guard.
The Army is the oldest service by far because of the National Guard which started as Colonial Militias in the 1600s, fought in several engagements, and were adopted as part of the Continental Army by Congress on June 14th 1775.
The Continental Army was reduced to a very small force in 1784, and the U.S. Army per se was formed later. However, unlike the junior services, there has always been a ground force of some sort in continuous existence since 1775 and arguably before that.
Thank for the shout out and the save Hondo.
Happy Birthday Air Force, my DAD was in 26 yrs. He wanted to chock me when I said Navy. He said well it’s not the Army or Marines and I said NO but it’s the Seabees he said Shit.
De nada, amigo.
FWIW: my dad retired from the USAF also. He re-entered the military in 1947 – either just before or just after the USAF became an independent service. (Family accounts say before, but his records seem to indicate just after – so I’m betting the family accounts were a touch “garbled in transmission”.)
Happy Birthday, USAF. Now, please re-join the US military and end your recent dalliance in the corporate world. (smile)
Happy B-day, Zoomies!
😛
I resemble that remark! USAFA ’77! Go Falcons! Fly! Fight! Win!
Retired Zoomie here. Wow, 68! Where did the time go? Happy Birthday Air Force,now quit trying to get rid of the A-10.
” … now quit trying to get rid of the A-10.”
Amen, Brother! As a former Grunt, love me some Warthog death and destruction from the sky!!
The medals for A1C Stone contradict themselves, he deserves them 100% but combat and non-combat awards together? Then on top of that, he gets bumped two grades to SSgt? Isn’t that kind of a kick in the teeth to the trigger pullers in the USAF who exhibit that kind of heroism all around the world but rarely make even the local news?
My only issue with A1C Stone’s super-promotion is that we don’t know if he has the leadership chops necessary to make it as a stellar NCO. He’s good under pressure, sure, but in contracted, long-term leadership, how’s he stand? (Coupled with yeah, the triggermen down range must be fuckin’ livid.)
My understanding was that he was already slated to sew on SrA (E-4) within the next month or so, so all they really did was promote 1 grade to E-5.
Even if that is the case, my point still stands. There is NOTHING in the job description of an A1C that will prepare him to jump into a SSgt slot. And if he gets bumped one or two ranks for that (which again, props to him for his actions) then in contrast we should have some E-1000 PJs and CCTs out there.
You are correct Stone was alreay selected for BTZ (bellow the zone) to SrA/E-4 and was slated to pin on 1 Oct. So in actuality he is really only being STEP’d one grade to SSgt/E-5.
The Air Farce (hey, us brothers in arms are allowed to tease each other) might have been older, except they couldn’t get those DaVinci wings and helicopter design to work.
Oh, BTW, Happy Birthday, Zoomies. Now button those pocket flaps.
I like Air Force gloves.
Fox News Channel this morning in their piece wishing the Air Force a happy 68th birthday, showed a still of a couple of F/A-18s. Was it really that difficult?
Hey, at least they didn’t show a picture of a couple of MiG’s
Happy Birthday Air Farce, now button that pocket and STAY OFF THE GRASS! 😀
Wait. If the Coast Guard claims to be a gazillion years old, then how can the USAF only be 68? And, if it is, the Coast Guard is 100.
Happy B day Zoomies.
And congrats to your boy, Jonn upon making E-6.
With him re-upping to get to 20 years, are you feeling old? 😉
Happy Birthday, United States Air Force. I hope you have many more to come! ;o)
Wait… the Air Force is a military service?? I thought they were just a training group for airline pilots 😀
Happy Birthday, Zoomies!!