Posted on 05/28/2013 8:44:03 AM PDT by Sequoyah101
The “World Famous Rocketeers” were flying high two months ago. The Air Force fighter squadron had returned safely with its F-15E Strike Eagles and aircraft crews from a six-month Middle East deployment, and in March the entire wing passed a readiness evaluation with an unusually high rating.
That was then. In April, the Air Force ordered the Rocketeers — more formally, the 336th Fighter Squadron — to stop flying because of the automatic budget cuts known as sequestration.
Now, the squadron’s two dozen F-15s are parked underneath canopies on the flight line, with red covers over their gaping afterburners to keep out birds and critters. Glum pilots find themselves with lots of time for softball and community projects. And the Air Force has one less fighter squadron available to fight.
“I have zero readiness and zero combat capability right now,” said Lt. Col. Jim Howard, the 41-year-old squadron commander. “It’s extremely frustrating, knowing the unit that I had two months ago compared to where we are now.”
(Excerpt) Read more at m.washingtonpost.com ...
These guys careers are just about shot. It is a fast and short career for a fighter pilot. You stumble and you probably fail buy falling so far behind you can't catch up.
We seem to be going to a place worse than 1938 and it does not have to be.
Still plenty of money for illegals, bank bailouts and Section 8 housing...
Ain’t it about time we reverse this quest for national suicide?
“If the squadron does not fly for six months, it will take an additional half-year before it can be deployed.”
Not really. I spent 25 years in the USAF, most of it in fighter squadrons. If someone has a couple of years experience, then getting up to speed would take weeks, not months. That is particularly true if they have simulator time.
No, they will not be 100% the way they were finishing a 6 month deployment...but they will not be bad.
This is a one time event, not an annual policy. We’ll survive it just fine.
Out our back you can see pilots practicing maneuvers over one of their Nevada ranges. Since nobama has “sequestered” money, there are only flights in the first week or so of each month. Oppositely, there is money to continue paying the killer terrorist air force officer hassan, the criminal irs doofus lerner and many other useless things (including the moronic pinheaded kerry promising the palis $4,000,000,000).
....and foreign countries.
Treasonous buffoon John Kerry just announced a $4 billion aid package for the Gaza Strip.
There’s plenty of money for Mohammedan savages who hate us and want to kill us.
Don’t forget all the funding going to other countries. Diversify the portfolio, that is what they’re doing. LOL
Maybe.
That's certainly what the Jews told themselves at the beginning of the Third Reich.
They were wrong.
You're wrong, too.
The 0bamorrhoids have no trouble taking money at gunpoint from YOU and giving it to fourth generation urban takers. The 0bamorrhoids have no trouble hiring full time bureaucrats to implement socialist medical "care".
But they can't find the funds to support military readiness.
That's no accident.
That's deliberate, destructive, demonic malice.
The 0bamorrhoids hate you (yes, you personally), they hate the uniform you wore, they hate the Flag of the United States of America under which you served, and most of all, they HATE the Republic for which it stands.
They seek to destroy that which they hate.
I figure we will survive but it is so unnecessary. It is also awfully hard on the crews. It is all relative isn’t it? A few months to us old guys is of little consequence looking back.
In the Carter years I remember crews being called back from the range at Ft. Sill because their ammo allocation changed and they were out while they were still on the range. We did survive but it was costly to morale and readiness.
And think of the “flight pay” that the USAF won’t have to pay them, additional $$ there. (sarc)
My son spent 9 years active service in the Air Force during Carters administration and the beginning of the Reagan adm. During Carter he said they were lucky if they even could get 1/2 the planes in the air....1/2 sat in the hangers to be used for parts. Reagan adm. and the parts started coming in......Democrats ALWAYS cut defense, Republicans usually have to build it up again....Clinton, Carter, Obama cut big.....Reagan and Bush built defense up again....I don’t know about Kennedy’s adm. He being from the military I don’t think he did the same thing...
And White Hut/Crib parties and vacations, and billions of bullets for agencies who shouldn’t even have access to firearms.
In the article’s pic, what are all those red flags hanging from different areas on the plane?
While the Army was using enlisted drone pilots to sit at the desk and operate the computer controls, the Air Force insisted that each guy at the desk be a full pilot, AND on active flight duty.
Twist an ankle playing softball, and you couldn’t sit at the desk and fly a drone, even though you were still a pilot.
They could also save money by leaving the chocolate off the pillows.
Having spent over 20-yrs in the Air Force, and as a former Rocketeer myself, it is going to take a lot more than a a couple of weeks or months to get proficiency, especially combat (MR) status and skills.
Even for experienced aircrew.
The weapons require constant practice, not the skills to just fly the jet. Flying the jet is the easy part. Weaponeering is the hard part.
The events that are required to maintain MR status are hard and fast, and borne from decades of past experience in determining just what is necessary to achieve minimum skills. Strap a bomb and missile on a jet and good to go after a trip to the range? Not likely and not safe. . .for the aircrew and the guys on the ground, the guys that are in direct contact with the enemy—we owe them our best skills and best judgment, and that means keeping the knife as sharp as you can, and that means practice and practice.
Simulators are great for switchology, not for actual combat skills.
And of course, we can't ignore the skills necessary for the guys on the ramp, too. They need constant practice and actual activity to remain proficient.
And of course, one mis-dropped weapon and all heck will break loose when it comes out that the aircrew did NOT have the minimum events accomplished before flying the mission. The aircrew will fry, leadership in the sqdn will fry, the media will have a field day crucifying the military while blaming everyone BUT the real criminal. . .The One and his minions.
Flight pay is not based upon flying per month. It is based on “gates” and how many years flying.
This is not like the old days where a guy can just jump in an aircraft and fly an hour or two for flight pay. The aircraft are too complex for that.
Well stated.
Those are various plugs and covers to protect various openings and sensors on the jet.
These “remove before flight” covers are removed before flight. ;-)
Thanks. I kinda figured they’d be part of the pre-flight check, but wasn’t sure.
Distinguish which Bush you're referring to.
I don’t know about Kennedy’s adm
Defense spending hovered around 50% of the budget during Kennedy's tenure.
Thanks for the update on the flight pay regs.
Thanks for your thanks.
;-)
Yes, Obama hates me and the military. That isn’t the question.
Does it take 6 months to regain proficiency after a lay-off? No. There were times in my career where I went 3-4 months away from flying due to schooling, and it did NOT take long to get back up to speed.
Flying with the US Navy for a tour, we did this several times. We would come back from deployment and give all but one jet away. Our remaining jet was used to keep minimal pilot skills up for several months. It did NOT mean we then needed many months to become proficient again.
The sequester is a one-time event. And frankly, the military could do a better job of managing its money. I was actively flying from 84-01. There were times we ended up mostly shutting a squadron down for a few months due to cuts in our ops budget. It happens. It did not end the world.
And it sure as hell was not the beginning of a Holocaust! That analogy is just damn stupid!
Or perhaps liberals will prove to be even more locust-like than you give them credit for.
I suspect the latter.
More practice is always better. But did you never in your career go to a school for 3-4 months? Did it take you 3-4 months to get back up to speed?
I was flying in a Navy Prowler squadron when we finally got permission to start flying down to 500 feet again (after a long limit to 1500’ agl). We did a two week deployment and had the squadron all checked out to 500 feet again. And most of that time was just getting the scheduling worked out.
Flying in F-111s in England, I saw many screw-ups dropping live weapons on deployments to Red Flag. Most of those were caused by aircrew who had spent more time emphasizing competing for Top Gun awards than thinking about getting live bombs off accurately and consistently. On one deployment, the maintenance officer asked the Sq/CC if one of the crews in my flight could ops check weapons malfunctions before he scheduled work, because the jets mysteriously worked when my guys were in them.
No, after a 6 month lay-off, you couldn’t come back and fly the most demanding missions. But could you deploy to Afghanistan or Korea, and employ reasonably within weeks? I’d say yes. With the possible exception of the Israelis, there isn’t an Air Force out there than can come close to us.
Bush 2, I don’t know what Bush 1 did except raise taxes, but don’t remember any talk of cuts in defense....
You are right. Just visited my son. Currently a “wizzo” in the 389th (Afghanistan). Earlier a wizzo in the 335th (Iraq). That of course is one of the sister “Eagle Squadrons”. He is not flying. Not to disparage pilots, but in current warfare, the wizzos are the ones who are tasked with making sure they hit the right target, every time (unless you want DOJ lawyers chasing you down, not to mention CNN.) In air-to-air combat, it would of course be a different story.
This is not a child’s game. Losing that “edge” will I predict cost lives in training
He recently lost a friend in a “training” flight somewhere in the Middle East (he can’t tell me where, and I will not ask).
A propos your comment about the ground crews. I visited his squadron some years ago at Seymour Johnson. They had an air show. When I went to see his plane (I know nothing about planes, especially these), there was an air crew about. I told them they were my best-loved people in the AF. They seemed somewhat perplexed, but my son just nodded his head and smiled.
“But did you never in your career go to a school for 3-4 months? Did it take you 3-4 months to get back up to speed?”
Yes and yes.
Had current instructors and evaluators on hand when I returned to get MR again. Had to complete with guys that were flying the line, keeping themselves proficient.
When you lose currency you have to fly specific missions to get current again, and that takes time, resources (jets and personnel). Back then we had guys flying the line accomplishing training events and I was competing with them. Now. . . .with the Rockets, you don’t have instructors and evaluators qualified, let alone other pilots that are current. . .and you have lots of other aircrew competing for time.
So, the Rockets are faced with a dilemma: How do you check out an entire squadron in a timely manner? Answer: You can’t. It will take time, lots of it, to get the sqdn MR. Remember, we are not talking about a single pilot or two getting requal’d, we are talking an entire sqdn MR/C-rated.
If the Rocketeers get called back up they will be faced with a lack of current and qualified instructors and evaluators. They simply can’t jump in the jet and go. It will take time to train the trainers, to get them MR first, then it will take additional time for the line pilots to get MR. . .and that means the sqdn will be without C-status for quite a while.
“I was flying in a Navy Prowler squadron when we finally got permission to start flying down to 500 feet again (after a long limit to 1500’ agl). We did a two week deployment and had the squadron all checked out to 500 feet again. And most of that time was just getting the scheduling worked out.”
Current and qualified in the jet, then getting a single endorsement is not that hard. Especially something as (relatively) benign as low fly. BTW, is that you, Hawk? (We had a few WSO’s go from the Strike Eagle to the Prowler.)
“Flying in F-111s in England, I saw many screw-ups dropping live weapons on deployments to Red Flag. Most of those were caused by aircrew who had spent more time emphasizing competing for Top Gun awards than thinking about getting live bombs off accurately and consistently.”
Makes my point, when even current a qualified aircrew make mistakes when trying to refine skills to be the “best.” Now, imagine how many more screw-ups you will have when you have a sqdn of non-MR or MR anointed rather than actually MR aircrew.
“On one deployment, the maintenance officer asked the Sq/CC if one of the crews in my flight could ops check weapons malfunctions before he scheduled work, because the jets mysteriously worked when my guys were in them.”
Could be a number of reasons for that. First, even with current and qualified aircrew they were screw-ups. Now, imagine how many more will experience real, or self-induced but inadvertent, weapons malfunctions when they are not fully up-to-speed.
“No, after a 6 month lay-off, you couldn’t come back and fly the most demanding missions.”
True.
“But could you deploy to Afghanistan or Korea, and employ reasonably within weeks? I’d say yes.”
Wait a sec. You agree that after a lay-off you can’t fly the most demanding missions but at the same time you are saying with just mere weeks worth of getting back in the jet you can fly combat missions? Certainly you have flown combat before, right? Certainly you understand the processes, procedures, weaponeering, delivery restrictions and envelopes that you have to deal with, not to mention ROE and switchology and tactics.
“With the possible exception of the Israelis, there isn’t an Air Force out there than can come close to us.”
IMHO, Israeli’s are not that good. Hype. Good hype, but hype none-the-less. Now, if you said “RAF” or “RAAF” instead of Israeli, then I’d agree.
Cheers.
Nothing beats a good team (pilot/WSO).
They would need to borrow instructors from other squadrons. I would assume any marginally competent wing training office would have that already planned out.
To do everything by the book...yes, it would take a while to get the whole squadron MR again. You would not immediately deploy this squadron unless it was an emergency. In an emergency, almost anything can be waived.
No, I’m not Hawk & I don’t recognize the call sign. I was an F-4/F-111/EF-111 kind of guy, but I guess Hawk & I weren’t at Whidbey at the same time.
I’ve flown combat. I’ve also watched others flying combat. In the F-111, a community known for inept management, we deployed guys to GW1 based on pilot experience levels. However, the experienced pilots were crewed with brand new WSOs...so we had WSOs with less than 100 hours in the F-111E trying to drop dumb radar bombs from 25 K - one of the toughest deliveries possible for an F-111E. Nor did we send down the jets with AMP - with GPS! Meanwhile the IWSOs mostly stayed in England and cussed a lot.
I also remember trying to convince the Sq/CC to let us practice some high level bombing in the summer of 90. He leaned across his desk and shouted, “No F-111 will EVER drop a bomb from above 1000”!”
Oh well. Apart from memories, my point is that it is that we have often, in the past, had people with minimal proficiency flying combat. My roommate’s Dad from my first F-4 tour said he deployed to Vietnam without ever having done a refueling - and he deployed flying an F-4. He asked if they could at least let him try refueling once before needing to do it over the Pacific. By the book, he shouldn’t have gotten out of RTU without refueling. He said his Sq/CC just growled, “Don’t fuck it up!”
In fact, my Dad went to Vietnam to fly helicopters. He had roughly 8000 hours of fighter time, starting in WW2. But for Vietnam, he was crosstrained into helicopters, so he could be like any new 19 year old...
Oh well. Guess we’ll disagree. Enjoyed swapping a few yarns. Got classes tonight to train as a paralegal...I’m tired of retirement! Good luck to you and yours, and to all still flying and trying to get ready to fight!
Sounds like our Air Force is going through the same thing Russian pilots went through in the 90’s.
Sounds like our Air Force is going through the same thing Russian pilots went through in the 90’s.
Congratulations Obama, Boehner, Cantor, Ryan, Reid, and McConnell.
Your precious "Sequester" has brought us to this.
You hand out Billions hand over fist for Social Security Disability checks to 11 million Americans, EBT Food Stamps to 1 in 5 households, and Section 8 housing vouchers.
But you have betrayed our nation's warriors that you pretend to honor, and to whom you give cheap lip service.
We are destroying our nation's military. We have stabbed them in the back. We are furloughing 650,000 DoD employees, of whom 45% are veterans themselves. We have cut the military time and time again, and are now threatening even their health care.
This nation is in rapid, rapid decline.
God help us all.
Yes, and the ground crew.
Static port and sensor protective covers.
Thanks. I knew there was a sound reason for them, and that nakes sense.
Of course.
“I also remember trying to convince the Sq/CC to let us practice some high level bombing in the summer of 90. He leaned across his desk and shouted, “No F-111 will EVER drop a bomb from above 1000”!””
Sounds like the same conversation I had with my Wing/CC (late-80s) when we practiced dry high-altitude bombing runs. . .when flying my A-10.
Cheers, my good friend.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.