The other services have aviation arms that support their assigned warfighting roles. We remember his words in the 1990s only as a classic mistake in judgment. A nation's military might today is measured first by its airpower.
Ground forces are hugely dependent on airpower.
Naval combat forces are defined largely by the airpower they can put over the beach. Airpower is the first capability considered when confronting a crisis, the first thing a commander worries about in the enemy's order of battle. For all of that, the questions persist. Are air forces a discrete element of military power, comparable to armies and navies. The US Air Force has been a separate service since September 1947.