Max the Mad Russian
Hands off Ukraine! Feet too
Hello Gents (and ladies if there are some here),
I'm Russian Navy SWO and Coast Guard Cutterman, and when I'm looking at my Naval College classmates who had served in the ship's company of the Russian aircraft carrier Kuznetsov, I can see that the only aviator who is constantly hanging along with CO and XO (both SWOs) is the deputy CO for air, typically a colonel who, of course, quite could know something about seamanship but he shouldn't. He is the Air Force installation graduate and infested with Air Force etiquette and traditions. While he can be the good aviator, flying by heart, it is way too far from him to the good naval officer. Of course he will never be assigned to command something within the navy beyond the squadron, air regiment or division (a wing in US parlance), and it is impossible to him to be CO or even XO of the carrier. Yes the naval aviators in Russia all have the field ranks, and no naval rank officer can fly here as a pilot or NFO.
Sometimes, reading the Proceedings or NWC Review articles of ADM James Stavridis, USN, who is lifelong SWO and as a Lt (about 1981) was a boiler room officer on aircraft carrier USS Forrestall, I can feel some untrust from the side of aircraft carrier SWOs (say, CHENG or Combat Systems Dept Head) to the disassociated tour aviators, who dominated the carriers' companies, and their commitment to the job. So the question is - imagine the NavOCS ensign, say with psychologist degree from the Yale (joke, it was Stanford), who passed throug the maritime multiengine pilot's training pipeline and served four subsequent years as a co-pilot in VP squadron, been promoted to Lt, flying essentially civilian airliner/cargojet (P-3C is Lockheed Electra and P-8A is Boeing B-735 family). He is happy enough, and - boom - all of a sudden he is receiving a call from the detailer and that Annapolis ring-knocker is telling him: well, boy, now pack your stuff and go to Norfolk - your next assignment is the assistant Navigator on USS Stennis (or so). Let me ask: whether it means that it quite could be the first time when this Navy Lieutenant is making a step on the warship's deck? Remember, he is OCS boy and VP-community aviator. Nothing common with navigating of the huge angledecked hulk. And if ADM Stavridis's memory is solid, namely the Assistant NAV on the carrier is the officer in charge of the training of the fresh SWO divisional ensigns for their quals as an SWOs. A man who had never been onboard of any naval ship previously and some of those ensigns (say those from the ranks) will know much more about the ship and job for sure. How that can be? How long that frustrated and angry VP-Lt can endure, in turn? What is the reason to stay with the Navy for him, after all?
Thanks a lot, Max
I'm Russian Navy SWO and Coast Guard Cutterman, and when I'm looking at my Naval College classmates who had served in the ship's company of the Russian aircraft carrier Kuznetsov, I can see that the only aviator who is constantly hanging along with CO and XO (both SWOs) is the deputy CO for air, typically a colonel who, of course, quite could know something about seamanship but he shouldn't. He is the Air Force installation graduate and infested with Air Force etiquette and traditions. While he can be the good aviator, flying by heart, it is way too far from him to the good naval officer. Of course he will never be assigned to command something within the navy beyond the squadron, air regiment or division (a wing in US parlance), and it is impossible to him to be CO or even XO of the carrier. Yes the naval aviators in Russia all have the field ranks, and no naval rank officer can fly here as a pilot or NFO.
Sometimes, reading the Proceedings or NWC Review articles of ADM James Stavridis, USN, who is lifelong SWO and as a Lt (about 1981) was a boiler room officer on aircraft carrier USS Forrestall, I can feel some untrust from the side of aircraft carrier SWOs (say, CHENG or Combat Systems Dept Head) to the disassociated tour aviators, who dominated the carriers' companies, and their commitment to the job. So the question is - imagine the NavOCS ensign, say with psychologist degree from the Yale (joke, it was Stanford), who passed throug the maritime multiengine pilot's training pipeline and served four subsequent years as a co-pilot in VP squadron, been promoted to Lt, flying essentially civilian airliner/cargojet (P-3C is Lockheed Electra and P-8A is Boeing B-735 family). He is happy enough, and - boom - all of a sudden he is receiving a call from the detailer and that Annapolis ring-knocker is telling him: well, boy, now pack your stuff and go to Norfolk - your next assignment is the assistant Navigator on USS Stennis (or so). Let me ask: whether it means that it quite could be the first time when this Navy Lieutenant is making a step on the warship's deck? Remember, he is OCS boy and VP-community aviator. Nothing common with navigating of the huge angledecked hulk. And if ADM Stavridis's memory is solid, namely the Assistant NAV on the carrier is the officer in charge of the training of the fresh SWO divisional ensigns for their quals as an SWOs. A man who had never been onboard of any naval ship previously and some of those ensigns (say those from the ranks) will know much more about the ship and job for sure. How that can be? How long that frustrated and angry VP-Lt can endure, in turn? What is the reason to stay with the Navy for him, after all?
Thanks a lot, Max