For those kinds of operations the folks leading the units and the operations need to have at least as much if not more experience than the people they are leading. That is not to say that Army aviators aren't very skilled and are damn good at what they do, it is just an entirely different kind of flying with a different purpose and their use of Warrant Officers works within that particular system.
-"I flew single-engine fighters in the Air Force, but this plane has
four engines. It's an entirely different kind of flying, altogether."
-
"IT'S AN ENTIRELY DIFFERENT KIND OF FLYING."
Sorry...I couldn't let that opportunity pass.
In any event, I don't agree with the premise that leaders need to have as much or more experience than the people they are leading. If that was the case, we'd have SNCOs as infantry platoon commanders...not 22-year old butterbars. I had a squadron CO that was
not a WTI (pretty rare in the Corps), but he was in command of several WTIs with more combat experience than him. He had a very successful command, and is now an O-6.
Leaders need the knowledge and judgment to put the right people in the right place at the right time to accomplish the mission. This knowledge isn't an intimate understanding of
everything - it's knowledge of his people and his mission, and their impact on the big picture. From this, he'll decide how to best employ his unit within its capabilities and limitations. The CO isn't expected to know everything. If he was, there'd be no reason for him to have a staff that analyzes the details and presents him with options to accomplish the mission.
And I don't buy that the proposed system with career pilots and NFOs would be more stable or easier to manage because you would end up with a 'two-tier' system of aviators, with all the attendant difficulties of having to manage two similar but distinctly different career paths for guys doing the same thing.
I think it would be
significantly easier to manage. If LT X wants to go on and become Fleet Admiral, he can still go down that path. His career path, jobs, schools, etc. would be similar to what they are now (or what "they" deem to be the best command route at the time). He wouldn't have to face the horror of non-career-enhancing billets. LT Y, who has no aspirations of becoming a Field Marshall, can stay an O-3/4 and keep flying. He can be the guy who bounces between fleet, TRACOM, station, etc. flying jobs. Again, the Death Star would have to re-think how it operates in order for us to go to something other than a one-size-fits-all, cookie-cutter career path for officers.
I could also see friction resulting from a group of guys/gals only one rank below a CO but with more considerable experience than them in the same squadron. It happens now in a few cases but it would become the norm if this system came into being.
Aren't we already headed down that path? With all of the non-aviation jobs and schools required to become CO (admittedly, probably on our side moreso than yours), aren't we already setting ourselves up for squadrons where the COs have less hours/aviation experience than their senior O-3/4s who went on non-command career paths? (Phrogdriver knows more than a little about this.) Either way, I don't see that sort of friction developing, as the choice will be there to go on two different career paths within the same community.
Additionally, this is where that "professionalism" thing comes into play. We have all served in jobs where we knew more about what we did than the Shrub Club or Head Shed. What did we do in those situations? We provided the best advice we could, gave the CO options, and carried out his orders. Simple as that. Also, I think we can agree that the good leaders solicit advice/information from the experts (that "staff" thing again) on the best way to employ forces. In this case, the experts would be O-3/4 aviators who have stayed in the cockpit and are current in the weapons and tactics that might have fallen off the CO's radar as he went to NPS, prior to serving as an action officer on Joint Easter Island Command's J-42, before assuming command.
I am not saying the idea has some merit but I think we are too big for it to work on the scale it happens in allied air forces.
Either I can agree way it is just a dream likely to be unfulfilled.
Agree.