“The decentralization philosophy also has been followed in the assignment of proponency for aviation units. The Medical Service Corps mans medical evacuation aircraft Signal Corps aviators are assigned to signal battalions and groups Transportation Corps officers, in addition to administering maintenance, also man heavy lift aircraft rated Ordinance Corps officers administer aerial weapons projects, and so it goes throughout the Army. “The Army has followed this philosophy constantly so that we now have aviators in most arms and branches of the Army. Immediately after the war those of us from cavalry, infantry, and other branches began flight training so that other ground organizations could have regularly assigned aircraft. These were Piper Cubs which were assigned permanently to artillery battalions. “When advocates of decentralization emerged from World War II, only the artillery had its own aircraft. They can also mass divisions.” At the same time, Artillery and Armor are branches within the Army masthead. We give corps and army commanders the capability to influence the battle and implement priorities of effort by providing non-divisional tank and artillery battalions for their use. Rather than concentrate all artillery and tanks at the Army level, we normally decentralize so that battalions of tanks and artillery work for division commanders and massing can occur at battalion, brigade, or division level. “The question is at what level should tanks or artillery or other ground weapons be massed and how and at what levels can they be appropriately controlled to gain the maximum combat advantage. Similarly, artillery, when massed, can provide a devastating effect on the enemy. For example, the tank is a ground striking weapon which, when massed, has the capacity for breakthroughs, exploitation and victory on the battlefield. he continued with, “Those who supported decentralization of aviation did so as an extension of the normal philosophy of organizing Army units. He acknowledged the growing sophistication of aircraft and aviation techniques and skills that would eventually require the divorce of the Air Force from the Army in 1947. Maddox, Director of Army Aviation OACSFOR, DA, began his criticism with the issue of Centralization versus Decentralization of aerial assets in the wake of World War I. For instance, Brigadier General William J. Yet, even among the Aviation community, opinions varied with regards to branchhood. “Aviation is an ‘entry specialty’ within a combat arms affiliated ‘carrier’ branch, stressing that aviators. Such was disapproved by General Bernard Rogers, then Chief of Staff. Within a three-and-a-half-year study conducted by the Officer of Personnel Management System in the seventies, Major General George Putnam, Director of Military Personnel Policy, recommended that Army Aviation should be organized as a branch. Looking Back / Army Aviation, March 2023 By Mark Albertson
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