The "Generic" Country

Al Kamen's column today recounts a mildly humorous moment that I had on July 26, 2005 at an Air Force briefing.  Three of the Power Point slides used in a presentation on the Air Force's Future Total Force plan (pdf) featured an unnamed country littered with targets in a hypothetical US air attack.  These slides were meant to show that National Guard and Reserve units need the best aircraft since they will be facing the same threats active duty forces do and are deployed almost as often too (nowadays, Reserve and Guard units often get second-hand aircraft, rather than the latest).   

As an aside, I asked Air Force Brig. General Allison Hickey and two Air Force public affairs officers if the country featued in the slides was indeed Iran.  There initial response was a defensive no, it's a "generic country" an artist drew up for the presentation.  But as I pointed out the countries surrounding Iran, strengthening my observation, the Air Force officers moved the presentation on, but did say they should probably change the slides considering tensions with the country.  Oddly, they let me keep the slides though.

-Nick Schwellenbach