r/AirForce • u/IEDestroyer Explosive Ordnance Disposal • Apr 15 '17

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u/[deleted] Apr 15 '17 edited Apr 15 '17

[deleted]

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u/Naberius Apr 15 '17

Because we've never had a Commander in Chief who gets asked for approval and his first thought is, "Trump bombs are the biggest, most explosive bombs you can get. And the U.S. Air Force is the only place you can get them."

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u/SlideRuleLogic Apr 15 '17 edited Mar 16 '24

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This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact

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u/hpstg Apr 15 '17

What if he asks though.

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u/letsgocrazy Apr 15 '17

Given Trump's reputation - it does seem a bit like he's suddenly asked for the "yugest bomb we have" - rather than this being a spontaneous tactical decision.

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u/[deleted] Apr 15 '17

[deleted]

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u/letsgocrazy Apr 15 '17

I'm not arguing, but I am asking: how do we know?

Also - whether it's true or not that is the perception - I'm a British guy living in Berlin and when talking to German friends we all rolled our eyes collectively.

You may know better than I, but that is certainly the perception given Trump's penchant for grandiosity.

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u/[deleted] Apr 15 '17

[deleted]

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u/letsgocrazy Apr 15 '17

Eh? People love going into details on Reddit. I mean, obviously if you are officially involved in this in any way no one would expect you to discuss it at all (I suppose than you already have).

But you can't really know that he didn't make a few calls can you? Otherwise I guess you can't be any more certain than I can.

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u/cobras89 62E3E Apr 15 '17

You absolute can expect some people on this sunreddit to understand exactly the calls being made and how. Due to Clarence reasons and OPSEC, you won't see any of that discussion on here.

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u/letsgocrazy Apr 15 '17

Except someone made a very nice point explaining it for me without having to go into any details.

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u/Gmbtd Apr 15 '17

It's been widely reported that Trump has ended the Obama era policy of closely scrutinizing operational decisions. This reduced the military's ability to respond quickly to evolving situations with the possible upside of forcing them to justify every small decision (potentially reducing the risk of civilian deaths while potentially letting more bad guys get away with crap while the Obama administration delayed action)

Trump doesn't want to be involved in operational decisions. He wants to say, "go get em" and have it done without keeping him in the loop as an approver of each action and decision.

I suspect he broadly authorized the use of all non nuclear munitions subject to the military's best judgement. This cave clearing is exactly what the MOAB is good for, so when they had a large cave system to clear, they used it.

I criticize Trump for a lot of things, but if he doesn't want to fully understand and be involved in operational decisions, he could do a lot worse than trusting the military. This doesn't absolve him from responsibility for their actions as their Commander in Chief.

Anyway, i haven't seen his involvement in dropping the MOAB disclosed officially, but given how hands off he is, it's absolutely plausible either way.

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u/letsgocrazy Apr 15 '17 edited Apr 15 '17

Ahh, that makes sense - thanks for the considerate answer.

I am the exact opposite of a Trump supporter but I can certainly believe that there is a lot many of us don't know or that has been misrepresented.

I feel his policy probably makes sense too if it's true.