CSAF signs Air Force Basic Doctrine

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. David A. Jablonski
  • Air Force Print News
The service’s core document outlining the enduring basics of air and space power has been revised and hard copies will be in the hands of every officer and top-three noncommissioned officer by spring 2004.

Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. John P. Jumper approved the latest revision to Air Force Doctrine Document 1, Air Force Basic Doctrine, during a doctrine review at Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala.

Jumper, Secretary of the Air Force Dr. James G. Roche, and commanders of major commands met at Maxwell for Doctrine Summit IV. The summit is a periodic meeting of the most senior Air Force leaders to review operational-level doctrine in light of recent contingencies and events.

The document is the source for enduring basics such as the principles of war, tenets of air and space power, and functions of air and space power. The revised version also updates the discussion on core competencies and distinctive capabilities, and it adds new text on the linkage between vision, operating concepts and doctrine.

Overall it has been substantially restructured for better readability and updated to include references to operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom, officials said.

The Air Force Doctrine Center’s commander, Maj. Gen. David MacGhee, explained the importance of the changes within the revised document.

“We all realize that 9-11 changed the world forever,” MacGhee said. “The old construct I grew up with, where forces were garrisoned at home and when we were called upon we moved forward, is very much an old construct. I think we’ve made great progress through lessons learned from Afghanistan, something we did not plan for, or train for. The services applied those lessons to Operation Iraqi Freedom, and I think you can see the results -- a resounding success in combat operations.”

Retired Lt. Col. Bob Poynor, a military doctrine analyst at the center, explained the revisions.

“This time, the introduction discusses why doctrine is important,” Poynor said. “We explain to airmen why they need to understand and apply it.”

Poynor has been involved from the beginning, having served as project officer for the document since its previous publication in 1997. He helped establish the doctrine center and launched the first series of briefings for numbered air force commanders, their staffs and other senior leaders. The information from those briefings formed a large portion of the current doctrine document.

“AFDD 1 provides an intelligent baseline on which to form command relationships and set priorities; it contains all the basic information,” Poynor said.

“Most importantly,” he said, “it tells airmen the difference between policy, strategy and doctrine, and what doctrine is and is not.”

Poynor used the example of the transformation from the Cold War to an expeditionary air and space force to demonstrate the need for periodic revisions of doctrine.

“In the Cold War, everything was canned,” he explained. “When forces were called upon to reinforce NATO or (South) Korea, for example, everything was orchestrated according to a prearranged operations plan. We didn’t have to think about how to set up.”

The modern expeditionary air and space force must fight in new ways and in new places from one deployment location to the next, he said.

“Now with an expeditionary force we must start over for each deployment,” Poynor said. “There is no precanned structure, because we don’t know the size and shape of each mission. We have to think about them as the situation develops and define the missions for common understanding in the joint environment. That’s what doctrine does. It helps eliminate some of the heavy thinking before you go into an operation.”

With Jumper’s signature, the document was approved for release. It is available for download from the AFDC Web site at https://www.doctrine.af.mil. Hard copy publication will follow. Professional military education schools will begin teaching from it soon.