Colonel Usaf Lee K Depalo

Usaf Combat Search and Rescue: Untapped Combat Power: Maxwell Paper No. 35 Colonel Usaf Lee K Depalo

Publisher Marketing: Expending every effort to recover distressed personnel from harm's way is an American tradition and one of the nation's highest priorities during conflict. The Air Force maintains a fleet of HH-60G helicopters and HC-130P aircraft along with a contingent of pararescue specialists dedicated to the recovery of personnel isolated on the battlefield. The traditional training, organizing, and equipping focus of this force is the recovery of downed aircrews. This focus stems from doctrine that draws from lessons learned in past contingencies, particularly the Vietnam War, where the Air Force experienced a large number of downed aircrew incidents. A robust capability dedicated exclusively to the combat search and rescue mission area was essential to ensure every effort was made to safely recover and return our aircrews to fight again. While maintaining the capability to recover our aircrews remains sacrosanct for the Air Force, Colonel dePalo argues in this study that the capability exists to go beyond dedicating these forces exclusively to the combat search and rescue mission. The United States' ability to quickly and decisively win a major combat operation creates a situation where we can expect to operate more often in diverse and complex nonlinear battlespace, particularly in the long-term global war on terrorism (GWOT). The changing nature of the battlespace creates an environment much different from traditional combat operations where the Air Force's at-risk population primarily consisted of combat aircrews. The study draws from Colonel dePalo's extensive experience supporting combat rescue operations in the GWOT to demonstrate that the missions flown by USAF combat rescue crews in the GWOT are far different from the traditional rescue of aircrews behind enemy lines seen in more conventional conflicts. In fact, he points out that the Air Force assets have flown missions almost exclusively in support of other components' requirements since air component downed aircrew incidents are virtually nonexistent. Colonel dePalo challenges theater planners to reevaluate the effectiveness of keeping a capable force tied exclusively to a rarely executed mission when their combat power could be used to support other joint force commander objectives in addition to providing combat rescue support. Contributor Bio:  Air University Press Walter Gary Sharp Sr. serves as a senior associate deputy general counsel for intelligence at the US Department of Defense, where he advises on legal issues related to intelligence, covert action, intelligence and counterintelligence policy, intelligence oversight, information security, information sharing, security classification policy, information operations, and computer network operations. Prior to his appointment, Dr. Sharp served as an associate deputy general counsel for international affairs at the Department of Defense; the director of legal research for international, comparative, and foreign law at the Law Library of Congress; the director of global and functional affairs within the Bureau of Legislative Affairs at the State Department; and a principal information security engineer at The MITRE Corporation. A veteran with 25 years of service, Dr. Sharp retired as a decorated US Marine Corps lieutenant colonel with prior enlisted service. His military assignments include commanding officer of a field artillery battery, senior prosecutor, deputy legal counsel to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and international law adviser for the commanding general of the Unified Task Force in Somalia during Operation Restore Hope. Dr. Sharp's military decorations include the Defense Superior Service Medal, and his many awards for writing excellence and academic achievement include the Judge Advocate General's School Alumni Association Annual Professional Writing Award and an American Bar Association Award for Professional Merit. Dr. Sharp is the author of numerous articles and three books: UN Peace Operations (1995), CyberSpace and the Use of Force (1999), and Jus Paciarii (1999). He serves as an adjunct professor of law at Georgetown University Law Center where he currently teaches a counterterrorism course, The Law of 24. He has also taught graduate-level seminars on United Nations peace operations and international peace and security. He lectures internationally in universities and other diverse public forums on wide-ranging topics of international law and national security law, such as international peace and security, conflict management, and peacekeeping operations.