A new phase in war

On Saturday, the United States entered a new phase in the war against the Islamic State. Quietly, over the weekend, the U.S. transferred B-52 Stratofortress heavy bombers from Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana to Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar. The last time the B-52s were used in war in the Middle East was in Afghanistan in 2006. From 2006 to 2016, the B-1 Lancer bomber was the heavy bomber available to commanders in these wars. Those aircraft were pulled from service for maintenance and repair.

Throughout the wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria, the Department of Defense news releases have been heavy with stories of drones, smart bombs and other technological advances. Although the B-52 has undergone countless upgrades over the years, the basic aircraft was first flown in the 1950s. Many of the upgrades have been the result of advances in communications, data transmission, and other technology. In addition, the Internal Weapons Bay Upgrade program has increased the weapons carriage capacity of the B-52 by 66 percent. Moving the bombers to Qatar has the obvious effect of drastically reducing flight times to Middle East targets.

Since it entered the Air Force, the B-52 Stratofortress has been a symbol of U.S. air power. It was recently flown visibly over South Korea in response to threats made by the North Korean regime.

In 1972, our infantry battalion had been sent north to Phu Bai, Vietnam to act as a blocking force behind South Vietnamese units fighting the North Vietnamese invasion. We had been harassed by North Vietnamese mortar and rocket fire from a ridge line to our west. Our battalion commander had called in artillery, Naval shelling, and rocket and bomb attacks by F-4 Phantoms, but the North Vietnamese attacks continued. Finally, he requested a B-52 bombing run. We received a coded message ordering us to move 3 kilometers by a preset time. We could not hear but we did get a brief glimpse of the 3 aircraft on the bombing run. Then the ridgeline disappeared from sight as it suddenly erupted in dirt, flame and smoke.

I would imagine those out-of-date bombers with "dumb" bombs can still put on a terrifying demonstration for troops on the ground.

Jack Dragoni attended Boston College and served in the U.S. Army in Berlin and Vietnam. He lives in Chaffee, Missouri.