Building the Eagle's Nest: Challenges in Basing the Air Expeditionary Force

This paper examines the best means of improving the AEF's responsiveness by addressing the Whether the basing of expeditionary forces should be a sequential or parallel process? ... For the Air Expeditionary Force to respond rapidly, the fundamental assumption about the process of projecting air power should be that it occurs concurrently, not sequentially. The implications of changing this assumption are that the service should develop cross-functional units, that all personnel have more training in beddown skills, and a portion of Air Force fighters have a vertical take-off and landing capability.