Without changing my plea that we just kick back and have a few, I will say that I was directing my statements at your generalities about the services.
I think if we keep the bashing out of it (that contributes nothing) we can have a decent, friendly discussion about some of these topics.
Huggy Bear can take care of himself, plus I have no dog in the Afgan arugment.
As far as multi-mission, sometimes I think diversity can make you an overall better aviator. You can be great at motor sports and still be a top notch snow skier, and maybe at the same time be good at making furnature. Same with doing multi-mission flying. No missions are so complex that you have to only train to one.
I teach about 9 different phases of tac-air and feel I have a good grasp on all of them, all while flying for the airlines. If i'm out of a phase for a while I will take the extra time and study up so i'm doing the best job for the students. You need to make a effort and not be lazy when doing this kind of diverse flying and I think this is where guys fail. They would rather be in the club throwing down some j-weed or grog then studying up for a mission they haven't done in a while, relying on their ego to get them through.