Iraq has signed a contract to buy 18 Lockheed Martin F-16 warplanes to bolster its air force, an adviser to Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said on Monday.
If American Air Force personnel are on the ground in Iraq to train the Iraqis on the aircraft, we can say we need additional Air Force operational personnel to aid them in training (by letting Iraqis observe how we do it). And we need logistics personnel to support them. Of course, we'll need combat troops to protect the trainers and Air Force units. Plus we'd need intelligence and special forces people to extend the bubble of protection out from base perimeters. Drones, of course. And convoy escorts for the logistics tail. And headquarters personnel. And personnel to have the ability to rapidly reinforce the relatively few American combat troops on the ground in Iraq in case of emergency.
Could we get to 10,000 (I won't dare hope for 25,000) with 18 new planes?
