Gallery: Strategic Air Command
The Strategic Air Command (SAC) was both a Major Command (MAJCOM) of the United States Air Force and a "specified command" of the United States Department of Defense. SAC was the operational establishment in charge of America's land-based strategic bomber aircraft and land-based intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) strategic nuclear arsenal from 1946 to 1992. SAC’s involvement in the Vietnam war began in 1965 with unarmed mapping missions flown by B-52Fs and ended with the massive attacks of Linebacker II in 1972.
The underground command center at Headquarters, Strategic Air Command, Offutt AFB, Nebraska, photo undated.
Photo: USAF
Brigadier General Glen Sullivan, 17th Air Division (Provisional) Commander, U-Tapao
As far as I can tell, only one general officer in the chain of command conducted himself with honor and distinction, and that was General Sullivan. Many of us were taught the war was being micromanaged from the White House and that might have been true under President Johnson. President Nixon delegated this to SAC, who decided to micromanage the war from Omaha, Nebraska, twelve time zones away from the war. The Commander in Chief, SAC (CINCSAC) was clueless as were all the generals from him to the 8th Air Force. It took General Sullivan to say “no more,” and change tactics. His action saved countless lives while costing him his career.