I'm a blogger with a Marine Corps focus. That makes me part cheerleader, part critic but sometimes. Sometimes. I take a step back, look at what we've done and have to say What the Fuck?!?!
The Harvest Hawk is one of those programs that in hindsight falls into the WHAT THE FUCK camp.
When I first heard about it, I cheered. The Marine Corps is being innovative, forward thinking etc...
Now? All I can say is really? Seriously?
Consider this. The Marine Corps has the F/A-18 A/C/D, all designated to fly Close Air Support and Air Interdiction missions for the Marines. We have the AV-8B Harrier II for the same. Additionally we have the AH-1W/Z Super Cobra/Viper and the UH-1N/Y Venom to also put down fire for our forces.
I won't even list the artillery, mortars, vehicle mounted cannons, infantry carried missiles etc that also provide firepower for our forces.
Yet with all that, we decided to take C-130's and ignore the need to take convoys off the roads and instead turned them into shooters too.
Sometimes the best thing a leader can do is to say no. Turning the KC-130 into the Harvest Hawk was and is a bad idea. Why it was allowed to continue is beyond me. The fix is simple. Give the gear to SOCOM and make the C-130s pure transports again. We have firepower. We need to fix our logistics with the tools we already have on hand.
