你喜欢美国空军的战争故事吗?

John Sorensen
What's it like to serve in the USAF?
Everyone’s experience is different. Some hate it, some love it. I chose to serve 20 years on active duty.
I thought it was just like a civilian job, except everyone wore the same shirts with their name on the pocket.
I put on my uniform every day and went to work, came home at the end of the day, changed clothes and didn’t think about the Air Force.
Was married, divorced, married again, lived off base, bought a house, raised three kids, moved a couple of times, but that just made it more interesting.
No regrets!

在美国空军服役是什么感觉？
每个人的经历都不一样。有些人讨厌它，有些人喜欢它。我现已经服役20年。
我以为这就像文职工作一样，只不过每个人都穿着同样的衬衫，口袋上印着自己的名字。
我每天穿上制服去上班，下班回家，换衣服，不去想空军的事情。
结婚，离婚，再结婚，住在基地外，买了房子，养了三个孩子，搬了几次家，但这让生活更有趣了。
没有遗憾！

Cynthia Coleman
What are some great war stories?
Josiah Landrom, thank you for the A2A. This is a piece of “flash fiction” I wrote last spring about my father’s experiences during WWII.
Elliott’s Songs: Battlefield Lullaby
The week after my father celebrated his eighteenth birthday, he was drafted, and during high August, shipped to “hell in a boot” Alabama from his snug Hartford home, after which he was pitched onto a boat, because he was Army, only to roll off the shores of northern France, hightailing it to  vineyards of Moselle, Germany.

有哪些伟大的战争故事?
Josiah Landrom，谢谢你邀请我回答。这是我去年春天写的一篇“小小说”，讲述了我父亲在二战期间的经历。
艾略特的歌曲：战场上的摇篮曲
在我父亲庆祝18岁生日的第二周，他被征召入伍，在八月中旬，他从哈特福德舒适的家中被送往个“地狱之靴”阿拉巴马州，之后他被扔到了一艘船上，因为他是陆军，最后从法国北部的海岸滚落下去，迅速前往德国莫泽尔的葡萄园。

His unit marched across a broken landscape, foreign to his fledgling eyes. Towns cratered. Villages annulled. Roads smeared. The dead threaded through the landscape like the Bayeux Tapestry. 
The ground still felt warm from late summer sun. Grass, high and soft. Thoughts of Mama’s last kiss. Papa's handshake pulled close. 

他的部队行进在一片颓丧的土地上，对初出茅庐的他来说是陌生的，城镇破败不堪，村庄被遗弃，道路被弄得污迹斑斑，尸横遍野。
由于夏末的阳光照射，地面仍然很暖和。草，又高又软。想起妈妈的最后一吻，爸爸的握手拉近了距离。

Awakened by the sound of calls. Sharp voices. English with American accent: Here’s one!
My father rubbed his eyes and blxed them open.  Strange faces. Guns pointed at him. Bayonet sharp against his heart.
Where’s your unit, boy?
Sitting up, looking around, his unit appeared to sleep still. Some uniforms in tatters. 
His unit paused in the dark in a field of bodies and no one knew. My father’s unit moved on after its ten-minute break. 

被呼唤的声音唤醒，尖锐的声音，英语带有美国口音：这儿有一个人!
我父亲揉了揉眼睛，睁大了眼睛。看到奇怪的面孔，枪口对准了他，刺刀刺向他的心脏。
你的部队呢，小子?
他坐起来，环顾四周，他的部队似乎还在沉睡，一些人穿着破旧的制服，有些人穿着不同的制服。
在黑暗中，他的部队在一片尸体中静默着，没有人知道，我父亲的部队休息了十分钟后继续前进。

John Clark
What stories of war have you been told by those who served?
This tale was related by my Father about an “incident” that happened whilst he was fighting in France after D-Day.
One day his section came upon an abandoned French farm and the only livestock on the farm was a pig locked in a sty.
They killed the pig and as one of the section was a butcher in civilian life, he butchered the carcass.
They ate like Kings for over a week …

那些服役的人给你讲过些什么战争故事？
这个故事是我父亲讲述的，关于诺曼底登陆日后他在法国作战时发生的一件“事件”。
一天，他的部门来到一个废弃的法国农场，农场里唯一的牲畜是一头被关在猪圈里的猪。
他们杀死了这头猪，因为其中一人在平民时是屠夫，所以他屠宰了这只猪。
（这只猪）让他们像国王一样吃了一个多星期。

Shirley-Joel Nelson
What stories of war have you been told by those who served?
Over the past 80+ years, I’ve talked with hundreds of “those who served,” including a uncle who was gassed in France well over a century ago.
From the ridiculous to the sublime, there are far too many stories to recount here.

那些服役的人给你讲过什么战争故事？
在过去的80多年里，我与数百名“服役者”进行了交谈，其中包括一位一个多世纪前在法国中过毒气的毒的叔叔。
从荒谬到崇高，这里有太多的故事可以讲述。

Linda Clipp
What stories of war have you been told by those who served?
That you can hide behind your helmet if someone is shooting at you. (A joke, of course)
That your squad may contain someone insane and physically larger than you, who will carry you out of the hooch by your shirt, jump into a foxhole with you, and proceed to fire upon the banana grove which is shooting at him, while urging you to likewise fire upon said banana grove. That, in this instance, you  hold your weapon above your head and fire upon said banana grove. That once this banana grove is leveled, there will be no enemy, dead or alive, found therein.
That war is mainly hours and days of abject boredom followed by seconds or minutes of abject terror.

那些服役的人给你讲过什么战争故事？
如果有人朝你开枪，你可以躲在头盔后面。(当然是个笑话)
你的小队可能会有一个比你块头大的疯子，他会抓住你的衬衫把你抱出酒吧，和你一起跳进散兵坑，然后向向他开枪的香蕉林开火，同时敦促你也向香蕉林开火。在这种情况下，你把武器举过头顶，向香蕉林开火。一旦这片香蕉林被夷为平地，那里无论是死是活，就不会有敌人了。
那场战争大部分状态是是数小时甚至数天的极度无聊状况，然后是数秒甚至数分钟极度恐怖的状况。

Law V
What was the role of the USAF in World War II?
The US Air Force did not exist in WW2. It was not created as a seperate branch of the military until 1947. It's predecessor was the US Army Air Corps. The Air Corps had a broad mission including strategic bombing, tactical air support of ground units, airlift of personel and materiel (including paratrooper drops), reconnaissance, and gaining aerial superiority by destroying the enemy’s air forces. The Air Corps’ strategic bombing of enemy industy and infrastructure greatly reduced the enemy’s capacity to wage war, and likely took years off the war. Tactical air support was vital to many great allied victories like the Battle of the Buldge, and softened fortified enemy positions before ground attacks.

美国空军在第二次世界大战中扮演了什么角色？
在二战中美国并不存在空军。直到1947年，它才作为一个独立的军事部门而成立。它的前身是美国陆军航空兵。空军有广泛的任务，包括战略轰炸，对地面部队进行战术性的空中支援，空运人员和物资(包括空投伞兵)，侦察，并通过摧毁敌人的空军获得空中优势。空军对敌人工业和基础设施的战略轰炸大大降低了敌人发动战争的能力，并可能使战争推迟数年。战术性的空中支援对许多伟大的盟军胜利而言是至关重要的，如突出部之役，并在地面攻击前舒缓来自敌人的防御阵地的压力。

David Sandoz
What created the USAF?
First there was the US Army Air Corps and soon after WWII a new branch of the US military was formed.
The bulk of the inventory of the Army Air Corps was transferred to the newly formed USAF.
Some fixed wing propeller driven reconnaissance and much of the inventory of rotory wing (helicopters) aircraft remained in the US Army inventory.
There is still a large brotherhood of warriors from the Vietnam war and we sometimes reminisce about the equipment we used and how they played a significant role in keeping us safe in the midst of combat.
I suggest that you spend sometime doing your own research if this has become a question that your mind will not let go.

是什么造就了美国空军？
首先是美国陆军航空兵，二战后不久，美国军队成立了一个新的分支。
大部分陆军航空兵的库存被转移到新组建的美国空军。
一些固定翼螺旋桨驱动侦察机和大部分旋翼(直升机)飞机的大部分库存仍在美国陆军的库存中。
仍然有很多参加过越南战争的战士存活着，我们有时会回忆起我们使用的装备，以及它们如何在战斗中为我们的安全发挥重要作用。
如果这已经成为你脑海中挥之不去的问题，我建议你花点时间自己做研究。

Keith Rockefeller
The Congress of the United States did on September 18, 1947.
The US Air Force has its origins in the US Army. By World War II, it grew to the point that it became necessary to create a separate Air Force like the British Royal Air Force and German Luftwaffe. The bombing campaigns in Europe and the Pacific all demonstrated that the designations of the Army Air Corps, then Army Air Force were inadequate. In 1947, Congress settled the problem by separating the Army Air Force from the US Army to become just the US Airforce, equal to the Army and Navy within the US Department of Defense 

美国国会于1947年9月18日通过了（成立空军）法案。
美国空军起源于美国陆军。到了第二次世界大战，它发展到有必要独立建立一支空军，如英国皇家空军和德国空军那样。在欧洲和太平洋的轰炸行动都证明了陆军航空兵种的必要性，当时的陆军航空兵是不能胜任的这些任务的；1947年，国会解决了这个问题，将陆军航空队从美国陆军中分离出来，成立美国空军，其地位与美国国防部内的陆军和海军等同。

Scott Kinder
Why does the US have 3 air forces?
It doesn’t. There is only one US Air Force.
The other services have air assets that support their operations when the Air Force wouldn't be the most efficient. Navy has air wings on their carriers, but no heavy bombers or space operations. Army has helicopters to support ground attack. Marines have a small air component to support Marine units. None of those are Air Forces designed for long term offensive and defensive counter air, air supremacy, and space operations.

为什么美国有3支空军？
事实并非如此，美国空军只有一支。
其他拥有空中资产的军种，在空军效率不高的情况下支持他们的行动。海军航母上有空军部队，但并没有重型轰炸机，无法实施太空作战。陆军有直升机——支援地面攻击。海军陆战队有一个小规模的空中部分来支持海军陆战队部队。这些空军都不是为长期进攻和防御防空、制空权和太空作战而设计的。

Thierry Etienne Joseph Rotty
The United States Air Force used to be the Army Air Force. Why did it become a separate branch of the military?
Lobbying.
The leading people within the USAAF wanted to be an independent branch and lobbied throughout World War Two to make this happen.
The official reason given was that the USAAF no longer served predominantly in the ground support role and that thus, their connection to the US Army should be severed.
In reality, it was about the budget.
As long as the Fly Boys were part of the Army, the Infantry Grunts could divert funding from the USAAF to the US Army proper.
There was a lot of truth in this. In July 1945, the USAAF had 45,000 combat aircraft, in July 1946 they were down to 550.

美国空军曾经是陆军航空队，为什么它会成为一个独立的军事部门?
游说。
美国空军内部的领导人员希望成为一个独立的分支机构，并在第二次世界大战期间进行游说，以实现这一目标。
给出的官方理由是，美国空军不再主要担任地面支援角色，因此，他们与美国陆军的联系应该被切断。
事实上，这与预算有关。
只要飞行员仍然是陆军的一部分，步兵士兵就能从给美国陆军航空军的经费中分拨适当资金给美国陆军。
有很多这方面的事实。1945年7月，美国陆军航空队原本拥有45000架作战飞机，1946年7月减少到550架。

Pizza Waffle
How powerful is the United States Air Force?
Ah, the United States Air Force. Let me paint you a picture that's equal parts beautiful and terrifying, like a sunset viewed from the cockpit of an F-22 Raptor.
The U.S. Air Force is like the Zeus of modern military might - launching thunderbolts from the sky, only these thunderbolts are precision-guided munitions that can obliterate a target before you can say "Roger that."
In terms of sheer firepower, the USAF is unmatched, boasting an arsenal that includes state-of-the-art fighter jets, stealth bombers, massive cargo planes, and tankers. It's like the world's most lethal airshow, only the stunts are replaced with strategic airstrikes and close air support missions.

美国空军有多强大？
啊，美国空军。让我来给你们描绘一幅既美丽又可怕的画面，就像从F-22猛禽战斗机的驾驶舱里看到的日落场景。
美国空军就像现代军事力量的宙斯——从空中发射雷电，只不过这些雷电是精确制导的导弹，可以在你说“收到”之前消灭目标
就纯粹的火力而言，美国空军是无与伦比的，拥有包括最先进的战斗机、隐形轰炸机、大型运输机和加油机在内的武器库。这就像世界上最致命的航展，只是特技表演被战略空袭和近距离空中支援任务所取代。

And speaking of firepower, did you know that the USAF operates two-thirds of the country's nuclear triad? Yes, it has land-based intercontinental ballistic missiles and strategic bombers ready to go at a moment's notice. They're like the bouncer who doesn't talk much but doesn't need to – their presence alone is enough to deter any potential troublemakers.
Beyond the hardware, the USAF's power is also a result of its highly trained personnel. From pilots to mechanics, intelligence officers to special ops, the men and women of the Air Force are second to none. They're the high-flying aces in Uncle Sam's deck, always ready to double down when the stakes are high.
And let's not forget about the USAF's reach. With bases all over the world and the ability to deploy anywhere in a matter of hours, it's got more coverage than your cell phone provider can ever hope to offer.
So, to answer your question: How powerful is the U.S. Air Force? Well, imagine a grizzly bear riding a shark, which is holding a bazooka, and they're all flying an F-35. But in all seriousness, the USAF is widely regarded as the most deadly branch of the U.S. military in modern history. It is a testament to American ingenuity, perseverance, and the relentless pursuit of peace through strength.

说到火力，你知道美国空军控制着这个国家三分之二的核力量吗?是的，它有陆基洲际弹道导弹和战略轰炸机随时待命。他们就像保镖，不怎么说话，但也不需要说话——他们的存在就足以阻止任何潜在的麻烦制造者。
除了硬件，美国空军的力量也是其人员训练有素的结果。从飞行员到机械师，从情报人员到特种部队，空军的男男女女都是首屈一指的。他们是山姆大叔手中的王牌，随时准备在赌注高的时候加倍下注。
我们不要忘记美国空军的影响范围。它的基地遍布世界各地，而且可以在几小时内部署到任何地方，它的覆盖范围比你的手机供应商所能覆盖的范围的要大得多。
那么，为了回答你的问题：美国空军有多强大？想象一下，一只灰熊骑着一条鲨鱼，鲨鱼手里拿着火箭筒，它们都驾驶着F-35。但严肃地说，美国空军被广泛认为是现代史上美国军队中最致命的分支。它证明了美国人的聪明才智、坚韧不拔的精神以及通过实力不懈追求和平的精神。

Solidus Kal
How did the air force come to be?
The United States Air Force was created originally as the Army Signal Corps 1907, later on it became US Army Air Corps. During WWII the operated as US Army Air Forces (USAAF), operating independently from the Army but still part of the Army. After WWII, with the passing of the National Security Act of 1947, the USAAF became independent and renamed US Air Force. The NSA of ’47 was also responsible for joining the branches under the name of Department Of Defense (used to be called Department of War), create the Office of SecDef, and the CIA.

空军是怎么形成的？
1907年，美国空军最初成立为陆军通信兵，后来成为美国陆军航空兵。在第二次世界大战期间，它作为美国陆军航空部队（USAAF），独立于陆军运作，但仍然是陆军的一部分。二战后，随着1947年《国家安全法》的通过，美国陆军航空部队独立，并更名为美国空军。1947年的国家安全局还负责以国防部(过去被称为战争部)的名义合并分支机构，创建国防部长办公室和中央情报局。

Devon Stavrowsky
Which year did the US Air Force become the dominant airforce in the world?
I’d speculate 1943 or 1944. There were German planes that were technologically superior at that point, but nobody could produce planes in the kinds of number the US could. After the war, European production was mostly concerned with rebuilding. The US had a clear field to take and hold dominance in any number of areas…. including of the air. The Russians…. always superior aircraft designers…. were our technological match after the war and through the fifties, but their economy simply couldn’t afford to build planes in the numbers we could. And after a while, even US R &D started jumping ahead by leaps and bounds because of the money we could put into it.

美国空军在哪一年成为世界上占主导地位的空军的？
我猜是1943年或1944年。当时德国的飞机在技术上是领先的，但没有人能生产出美国那么多的飞机。战后，欧洲的生产主要聚焦于重建。美国在任何领域都有明显的机会来取得并保持主导地位，包括在空中。俄罗斯人……总是优秀的飞机设计师....我们在战后和整个50年代的技术上都是对手，但他们的经济根本负担不起和我们制造的一样多的飞机数量。过了一段时间，就连美国的研发也开始突飞猛进，因为我们可以投入大量资金。

Since WWII, the US military has had a clear understanding that whoever owns the airspace over a battlefield, owns that battlefield. And I don’t just mean wins the battle… I mean owns the battlefield. US casualty rates have been dramatically lower than those of her enemies in the various wars in which we have engaged since then. Even in Vietnam… considered by most to be a US loss (though in truth at the time we left we totally controlled the countryside)… US losses were about 58,000. Estimates of NVA and Viet Cong losses range as high as 3 million by some historical reckonings. In the First Gulf War, we lost 125 to Saddam’s 200,000 plus. And in truth, those lopsided casualty rates can be easily attributed to owning the air.
As technological ability advances, the potential for even more lopsided casualty rates increases. 
Once the US was of that realization, maintaining air space control became and remains the single greatest commitment to conflict preparedness we have.

自二战以来，美国军方清楚地认识到，谁控制战场上空的空域，谁就控制战场。我不仅仅是说赢得战斗…我的意思是控制战场。自那以后，在我们参与的各种战争中，美国的伤亡率大大低于她的敌人。即使在越南……大多数人认为这是美国的损失（尽管事实上，在我们离开时，我们完全控制了农村）美国约损失5.8万人。根据一些历史统计，估计北越军和越共的死亡人数高达300万。在第一次海湾战争中，我们死亡人数在125人， 萨达姆统治下的伊拉克死亡人数达20多万人。事实上，这些不平衡的伤亡率可以多半要归因于拥有空军。
随着技术能力的进步，伤亡率更加不平衡的可能性也在增加。
一旦美国意识到这一点，保持对空域的控制就成为并且仍然是我们对冲突准备的最大承诺。