Army finds it has only a small role to play in Operation Allied Force even though in previous small-scale contingencies in Grenada and Panama, it air-deployed with USAF transport aircraft dominant ground maneuver forces without almost any USAF fighter-bomber air strikes minimizing civilian casualties and collateral damage and getting clear political victories. With the USAF bragging that they can drive the Serb Army out of Kosovo by striking easy-to-hit civilian infrastructure targets (power plants, dams, bridges) from above 15,000 feet and most air defense weapons, without need of a politically risky ground invasion, the U.S. He has to improvise and draw unarmored, rubber-tired 4x4 HMMWV trucks from war stocks and re-equip his " Big Red One" Soldiers in order to accomplish the mission but at increased risk to his men who will be restricted to roads and unprotected. The Armor (Tank) Battalion commander in the 1 st Infantry Division, wryly remarked as he stood watching his fleet of 70-ton M1 Abrams heavy tanks sitting parked unable to patrol in his area of operations because they are too heavy for the primitive road nets. " It's the best main battle tank in the world-if you can get it there" Heavy tanks, helicopter fighter-bombers: an Army in search for battlefield doctrine? Army Armor and Aviation branches without battlefield functions
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