Infantry?

This is coolbert:

It comes as a surprise to many - - that the air forces of a variety of nations have units possessing an organic GROUND combat capability?

Airmen, normally performing sentry, guard, surveillance duty, and, if necessary, carrying out missions normally relegated to and associated with INFANTRY!

Airmen trained in a variety of small-arms, heavy arms in some cases, guarding and securing airbases in time of peace and war.

Airmen, performing their mission utilizing a variety of surveillance devices, sentry and guard dogs, fighting vehicles as warranted!

A mission NOT ONLY from the perimeter fence of an airbase INWARD, but also OUTWARD as the circumstances warrant! Guarding an airbase against saboteurs, enemy surveillance and reconnaissance, AND ATTACK DURING WARTIME BY HIGHLY TRAINED ENEMY UNITS OF THE "HUNTER CLASS"!
[troops of the "hunter class" is a term used by Winston Churchill when describing commando units!!]

Air forces possessing an organic ground combat capability include:

* American. Air Force Security Forces.

"Air Force Security Forces . . . are the military police of the United States Air Force."

"They are also the first and only ground based line of defense for the USAF . . . They are trained in ground combat skills . . . [and] also provide the law enforcement function on all Air Force bases"

Right! Guards, sentries, and military police as well! A variety of functions!

* British. RAF Regiment.

"The Royal Air Force Regiment (RAF Regt) is a specialist airfield defence Corps.The Regiment [is] responsible for defending airfields against ground attack."

* French. Fusiliers Commandos de l'Air.

(French for "Fusilier Commandos of the Air")



"These personnel of France's Armée de l'Air . . . are airmen armed and trained as infantry, who provide ground defense of air bases and secure forward base areas; they also participate in combat search and rescue missions"

"...3600 force protection specialists and firemen...34 protection units, 33 fire-fighting...and three intervention paratrooper commandos."

Troops some of which have a parachute capability. To be used when deployed in AN OFFENSIVE MANNER, SECURING CAPTURED AIRBASES OR PARTICIPATING "in combat search and rescue missions"!!

* German. German Air Force Regiment.

"The German Air Force Regiment (German: Objektschutzregiment der Luftwaffe "Friesland") is a ground based branch of the German Air Force"

"The purpose of the regiment is ground based defence of air force bases and installations, as well as capturing and securing enemy air installations."

Again, as with the French, the German Air Force Regiment has a capability for OFFENSIVE ACTION, in furtherance of "capturing and securing enemy air installations"!

Three battalions, one solely infantry, a second infantry and air defense, and a third described as "passive", providing speciality in "Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Warfare and defense measures (NBC), Explosive Ordnance Reconnaissance and Disposal (EOR/EOD), air base damage disposal, as well as fire fighting and defensive measures." An ALL-ENCOMPASSING PROTECTIVE FORCE!

* Australian. Airfield Defence Guards.

"The Airfield Defence Guard (ADG) mustering of the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) performs specialist ground defence tasks to protect air power assets from hostile ground action."
Particularly with the American, British, French, and to a degree [when part of NATO mission] the German; the main task of these air force ground combat units is to guard and secure nuclear weapons assets against sabotage and attack. NOT only during a time of open warfare, but potentially also in those months and weeks prior to the commencement of overt combat!! This would include the actual warheads in depots, the delivery systems [i.e., B-52 bomber], the aircrews, the command and control structure, and the communications network used to send "go" commands!

[Suvorov speaks of the "gray", and "pink", terror as graduated phases of "combat" carried out by Soviet/Russian special purpose units PRIOR to the initiation of hostilities. Such "combat" in large measure would be directed at all and any nuclear weapons assets!]

Securing, protecting, guarding nuclear deterrent and retaliatory assets is a mission not to be trifled with! These air force ground combat units have a dull and boring job in peacetime, but in wartime or during a period of crisis, a role of the utmost importance, with a potential lethality second to none?

I think so!

coolbert.