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191 Acknowledgments I would like to thank Matthew Yglesias for persuading me, way back in 2007, to write the initial “Abolish the Air Force” article for the American Prospect. I’d also like to thank Harold Meyerson of the American Prospect for giving the idea a platform, and noah Shachtman, Michael Goldfarb, John noonan, Jason Sigger, and Sharon Weinberger for participating in a roundtable on the initial article. Iain Ballantyne of Warships: International Fleet Review also supplied critical early support for the project. A grant from the national Security network made possible research in the united Kingdom. Thanks are due my dissertation committee, composed of Jonathan Mercer, elizabeth Kier, david Bachman, and Mary Callahan. Beth Kier in particular helped develop my interest in the politics of the national security bureaucracy. I would also like to thank Stephen Biddle, Stephen Peter rosen, and richard Betts for developing and hosting the Summer Workshop on the Analysis of Military operations and Strategy, where I developed an understanding of military operations and made a number of enduring friends. For substantive advice along the way, I would like to thank Adam elkus, Yoav Gortzak, Will ruger, Sean Kay, and nick Sarantakes, all of whom offered productive criticism and suggestions about content and strategy. I’d like to thank my research assistants erin Petrey, Mary ryan Hawkins Conrad, Tyler Scott, Will Marshall, and Patrick Smith for helping with editing, citation, idea formation, and general sanity maintenance during the process of writing and researching. Thanks also to the war game team at the Patterson School: Captain Andrew Betson, nick Paden, Patrick davey, Trevor Sutherland, and Katie Putz. This team was enormously helpful in terms of structuring and thinking through the implications of folding the air force into the other 192 Acknowledgments services. Particular thanks go out to Captain Betson, who regularly added helpful comments and identified useful sources for the manuscript. For advice on publishing, disseminating, and in general coming up with a plausible idea, I’d like to thank david Axe, dan nexon, dan drezner, Stephanie Carvin, and Charli Carpenter. Thanks are also due to my colleagues at the Patterson School of diplomacy and International Commerce, Carey Cavanaugh, Karen Mingst, John Stempel, evan Hillebrand , Stacy Closson, and George Herring. none of this would have been possible without the blogging platforms of Lawyers, Guns and Money and Information dissemination. Scott Lemieux, david Watkins, and raymond Pritchett deserve the heartiest of thanks for helping to build those blogs. Most of all, I would like to thank my wife, davida Isaacs, for research, editing, argumentation, and general all-around wonderfulness. ...

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