<text id=00od0400><title>Organization and Deployment: Vietnam and Beyond</title>
<history>US Air Force: Briefing</history>
<article><hdr>Organization and Deployment—Vietnam and Beyond</hdr><body>
<p>It was war in Vietnam (1960-73) which occupied the US Air Force during a period of domestic as well as political turmoil. Curiously, tactical fighter-bombers were carrying out what had previously been called strategic bombing missions, to Hanoi and environs, while B-52s were striking Viet Cong guerrillas in South Vietnam. The Republic F-105 Thunderchief and McDonnell F-4 Phantom joined the roster of USAF classic aircraft and the helicopter became, finally, an integral part of the force. The USAF's Sikorsky HH-53B/C Super Jolly Greens, among other types, pulled off very successful combat rescues.
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<p>Like all wars, Vietnam brought changes. Never defeated in battle, the American military emerged from Vietnam in disrepute and plagued with internal strife. The shift from the national conscription (which had been in effect from 1940 to 1975) to an all-volunteer force, at the time it happened, reflected public scorn for the profession of arms; within the service, it was a time of racial conflict and drug problems. While this low ebb was being reversed, it happened very quietly that generals with tactical experience—fighter pilots—began to run the Air Force. The difficult years of the middle to late 1970s were also a time of successes, when the USAF forged ahead with some of the highly proven items employed today: the F-117 'Stealth Fighter', the F-15 and F-16 series, the AMRAAM missile. Social change, plus a 'hard line' towards drugs and intolerance, brought a higher caliber of recruit into the USAF's 'shade 84' blue. By the 1990s the USAF was the best-educated and most highly motivated force it had ever been, not merely equipped with hi-tech items but almost entirely free of drugs, crime, violence, racism and discrimination. The best-trained officers, NCOs (noncommissioned officers) and enlisted personnel ever carried on the USAF's rosters found themselves confronting the 1990s with no worry except whether they, themselves, might have a career left when the current 'downsizing' ended.
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<p>Integral to the force of the 1990s was the Reserve component. In fact, about 50 per cent of the USAF's fighter strength will come from the Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve under a scenario envisaged in 1992.
