The Air Force relies heavily on a common understanding of the service's mission to promote cohesion among airmen. Its identity is based largely on its organizational and conceptual history and the primacy of technology over warfighting theory. This leads to a culture in which small, often technology-based, subcultures flourish, a condition that requires a common, service-wide understanding of the Air Force mission to hold things together. (Thomas, 2004)

History plays a significant role in shaping an organization. Of the American military services, the Air Force has the most limited historical basis for its identity. The Army, Navy, and Marine Corps each trace their organization's history back to the Revolutionary War.

The Air Force started as branch of the Army, and airmen waged political battles for its independence. The Air Force was created for a specific purpose: the exploitation of a technology that had come of age. A unique Air Force...
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