Back to the Future

US Forces have been in Afghanistan for nearly nine years. During this time, Foreign Internal Defense (FID) operations supported by the US did not receive adequate attention. The research paper is designed to take a brief look at FID in Vietnam and Iraq and use this information to better understand FID and how to rebuild the Afghan Air Corps. FID in Vietnam brought to life the challenges of building a large air force in semi-permissive and sometimes even non-permissive environments. Involvement of the US in Vietnam was extensive from the implementation of 'Farm Gate' to the eventual withdrawal of the US. Similarly, Iraq is seen as a large FID operation after the disbandment of the military. FID operations in each of these countries are large scale and involve many types of aircraft. Finally, Afghanistan is discussed by first addressing the people in order to build a conceptual understanding of their behavior as well as their physical environment. Then the organization, training, and equipping of the ANAAC is discussed to further our understanding of the FID and the ANAAC.