Why don't all members of the Air Force have to be fully qualified to be a rifleman in case of hostile events?

I believe all military members should have at least a moderate proficiency in ight weapons. Look up Chief Master Sergeant Richard Etchberger who was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor as a radar technician. He and a group of other AF technicians died defending a remote location that our military said "was impossible" to over-run but we under estimated the North Vietnamese soldier. History has proven over and over how underestimation of the enemy leads to disaster. What about the Tet of 1968 when the Viet Cong were attacking and over running our airbases? Guess who was on the perimeter fighting back? Air Force personnel. You should not count on always having the grunts protecting the base. Worst mistake we can make is believing that an airman will never need to shoot a rifle. I believe everyone in the service should have a moderate level of competency with the M4, a pistol and a belt fed machine gun. They don't have to be an expert but should be able to be competent enough to engage the enemy successfully when necessary.

the cook does not spend all day feeding chickens and harvesting parsley. a taxi driver does not spend all day doing motor maintenance. the coast guard does not have aircraft carriers and the marines don't have intercontinental ballistic missiles.

the usa president does not personally command a tank.

i qualified on the rifle range. all my shots neatly grouped inside a narrow circle, all more or less touching each other just left of center. someone had to help load it. i fired it.

i was a weather tech. early retirement with disabilities. didn't finish all four years. inredible surgery saved my face but i had wires holding my skull together for a year.

i did not care that my surgeons wore no stars. anywhere. civilians.

they put my face back together well enough.

that's why we are loyal to the mission, we the people, not me me me. IMHO

I was in the Air Force from 1978 to 1982 and I had to qualify on the M-16 when I got orders to Germany. I served on an Air Base for four years. We had an Army unit stationed with us. They were great soldiers and it was an honor to serve with them even though we were different branches of the Armed Forces. I had my job and they had theirs, We in the Air Force have great respect for the Army unit stationed with us.

I felt the same way about the Navy at first, but I learned that the Navy does indeed have ground forces and a need for ongoing small arms training. I spent time in a MIUW unit which is a mix of expeditionary warfare and ground combat. Our job was to prevent a Pearl Harbor style attack on friendly ports no matter where they were. We were also capable of defending our campsite and sonar nets. We could be completely independent of any base if necessary, and deploying the net simply required enough manpower to carry the sonobuoys and the small boat. A small campsite/command post could be set up within range of the sonobuoys.
Also surface Sailors would qualify with 50 caliber mounts to defend against hostile small craft and incoming anti ship missiles, the idea being to shred those before they reached attack range.

When I was stationed at Ramstein AFB in the early 1980s as a young SGT, my boss was a TSGT who told me many times that if the Soviet Hordes attacked over the Fulda Gap, we would be evacuated with the dependents. While it's true that we had no combat training as computer programmers, I think he was deluding himself but nonetheless he never qualified on any weapon outside of basic training. I, on the other hand, qualified expert on M-16 and .38, and had no illusions about evacuating.

I agree with you whole heartly, I don't know what they are thinking about. The only thing I do know is the Pararescue Is what It Is ,Because to apply you have to be prior special forces in another branch of militarfor at least five (5) years. Also with a medical background .

I agree with your question 100%. I joined the USAF in 1979 because it was the 'least military' of all branches... For MANY Airmen, weapon training was limited to firing an M-16, modified to shoot .22 LR ONE TIME during Basic Training... and many never saw a weapon for the remainder of their four-year enlistment!

I came to realize that in today's (late 70s/early 80s) highly mobile modern battlefield THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS 'REAR ECHELON'... what is considered 'rear echelon' today can easily become BEHIND THE LINES tomorrow. IF YOU DO NOT KNOW HOW TO USE A WEAPON AT THAT TIME, YOU ARE DEAD!

Additionally, seeing how much danger an inept President (at that time, it was Carter) put us all in was my wakeup call. The Iranian Hostage Crisis, the Sandinistas taking over Nicaragua and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan all made me realize that the shit can hit the fan at any time, and I wanted to make sure I was able to defend myself.

I was assigned as a Classified Cargo Courier, requiring annual qualification on the M-16. I decided that the annual training was insufficient, so I purchased an AR-15, and practiced regularly... I realized how bad things were when I was giving a friend a ride, and he saw a 30 round AR-15 magazine in my car and said "This looks like part of a gun." I wish he was joking, but he WASN'T.

It all boils down the the fact that we were (are) members of the US Military. Our ID cards said "ARMED Forces of the United States"... we ALL need to be able to protect each other's backs if and when the Shit Hits The Fan!

in 1996 when I was a Unit Deployment Manager, we were moving out 45 airman and all had to qualify on the M-16. The qualifications went well for almost everyone. We had one young SSgt who failed to qualify three times. He should have been removed from the AF for not being able to qualify. However, he was the best aircraft maintainer in the squadron and the commander deployed him. Point is, the Air Force is inherently technicians, not rifleman.

That is about the stupidist reason iv ever heard. All men and women of all armed forces (note the word armed) should be a least checked out on firearms.

So in what situation would a airman be able to use a rifle, you are not combat trained for a reason! If they wanted to be in combat, they would have joined another branch of service, I suggest you stop mudding the water and just do your job, because it seems to me you aren't!!