Air Force ads aiming to get recruits, funders to look up

The "Above All" campaign focuses on the Air Force's role as "the most engaged, versatile and high-tech of all military services," as its budget request put it.

By JOSH WHITE, Washington Post

Last update: March 1, 2008 - 5:03 PM

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The public faces of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have been almost exclusively those of troops in Army and Marine Corps uniforms.

Often lost in the discussion is the U.S. Air Force, which flies above them, gathering intelligence, attacking targets, providing transportation and securing the skies, its officials say.

The publicity gap may be about to change. The Air Force has launched a multimillion-dollar advertising campaign to reinvigorate America's love for fighter jets and high technology and to highlight the service's wartime activity.

The campaign is designed to reverse losses at the Pentagon and on Capitol Hill for billions of dollars to buy new aircraft and advanced technology, as well as provide a boost for recruiting. The Air Force plans to spend $26 million this year and $55 million next year to better compete with the other armed services for America's admiration.

Its "Above All" campaign began on last Sunday morning's talk shows on ABC, CBS and NBC and will include print and online advertising.

"The program seeks to change a mind-set by educating the American public on how today's Air Force is the most engaged, versatile and high-tech of all military services," the Air Force wrote in fiscal 2009 budget request documents.

"Without the funding, the ability to educate the American public about Air Force roles and mission will be limited and ultimately [create] a gap between the public and the Air Force that will influence public opinion and the Air Force's ability to maintain its stature amongst the other services."

Keith Lebling, the Air Force's chief of marketing and branding, said that focus groups and surveys have found a disconnect between what people think about the Air Force and what it does to defend the country. Though there are 25,000 airmen deployed overseas in support of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and more than 250 daily Air Force flight operations, much of it goes unnoticed, even as aerial bombing has increased substantially in both countries over the past few years, he said.

Col. Michael Caldwell, an Air Force spokesman, said the Air Force wants to ensure that potential recruits and their "influencers" -- such as parents, coaches and teachers -- understand that the Air Force is an option. He said the Air Force hopes to direct people to its website to highlight its role in "dominating air space and cyberspace."

Such a message comes as the Air Force scuffles with the Defense Department over its request for more F-22 fighter jets -- an aircraft that, as Defense Secretary Robert Gates recently emphasized to Congress, has never flown a mission in support of the war in Iraq -- and new C-17 cargo planes.

Air Force officials also recently have written about the Air Force's exclusion from the nation's counterinsurgency policy, with Maj. Gen. Charles Dunlap, deputy judge advocate general, writing that the nation is thinking too much about "boots on the ground" in combat and not enough about the potential of air power.

While the price tag of the advertising effort is high, the Air Force says it is emulating Army advertising efforts that are far more expensive. The "Army Strong" campaign, which aims to attract troops in one of the most difficult recruiting environments in history, was slated to cost $1.35 billion over five years when it was awarded in 2006. According to the Army, the campaign has a $240 million price tag in fiscal 2008, nearly 10 times what the Air Force will spend this year on "Above All."

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