- Before reading Behind the Light Switch, what did you know about air mobility?
- The model of air mobility utility is an attempt to add structure to how we think about air mobility operations. Do you agree with the model? If not, what would you change?
- Do you think any one of the five factors is more important than another? Why or why not? Is there another factor that you would include? Why?
- What case study resonated most with you? Why?
- Why do you think the author devoted part of each chapter to explaining the entire military campaign and not just the air mobility campaign?
- The author chose examples of typical of air mobility operations—in a counterinsurgency (Dien Bien Phu), humanitarian (Haiti), in an operational campaign (Burma), or strategic in its own right (Berlin Airlift). Are there other types of air mobility operations you think should have been included? Additionally, do you think there are specific case studies that should have been covered? Why or why not?
- Did anything surprise you while reading the book?
- Gen William Tunner, known by many as “Mr. Airlift,” once described a successful air mobility operation “about as glamorous as drops of water on stone. There’s no frenzy, no flap, just the inexorable process of getting the job done.”* Is this a good analogy? What analogy would you use to describe successful air mobility operations?
- The concluding chapter offers some brief focus areas for the future of air mobility operations. Can you think of any others?
*William H. Tunner, Over the Hump (Office of Air Force History, 1964), 162.
