Sleeves rolled up... thin on content... acquisition buzzwords... is that what y'all took away from this? As hard as it is to believe, the AF is taking this shit very seriously. And they are spending a shit-ton of money to see if there's a better way. "Innovate or die" is a common mantra in the business world. And there's a reason that successful people I know subscribe to it. I'd think NA's and NFO's would be pretty stoked that someone was willing to spend money to find a better way to do business, and that they were finding a way to create better JO's for them to mentor.
You know, having spent 28 years in the USAF... every fucking day of it in a flying squadron... 7200 hours over the course of about 5000 sorties... I have a pretty good idea of what the AF does well and where they suck when it comes to flying ops. And 7 of those years were in the training command. Believe me, we need an overhaul. Now.
On the negative side: One statement on the video that strikes me as way off is what they say at the 1:17 point : "But the only way to recover from the pilot shortage is to produce more pilots". I realize the situation is bad and they need to produce. But you have got to retain the experience past their 10 year commitment. One could argue this is the case of the patient bleeding out of an artery and the doctor saying "get him more blood!". Oh... how about finding a way to stop the bleeding?!
On the bright side of things, the AF is willing to dramatically invest in new ideas and technologies that can drive a whole new paradigm in pilot training. I mean massive leaps. Is the Navy leading the way on this? No, they are not. In fact, has Navy pilot training changed much since 1987? It is great to see the AF isn't taking a parochial view and have invited the Navy to participate in this enterprise. Yes, we have a massive budget. But we will share it too. Despite what many of you may think, all of the Services will reap the benefits if the USAF finds a dramatically better way to do training.
Question: many of us know pilots that have flown fighters for over 10 years and have jacked up necks. Big time jacked up. This problem has been around a long, long time. Why hasn't this been a major training/operational issue? In the USAF, now it is... finally. What's the Navy/Marines doing for y'all?
Side note: it's pretty common for USN/USMC/USCG aviators to inter service transfer to the USAF. How often does the reverse happen? I know of only one guy. Because we are willing to take quality aviators in to the USAF, I believe it brings a whole new level of expertise that we didn't have before. My experience is in the U-2 Program, where I was directly responsible for creating the opportunity for USN/USMC/USCG pilots to come fly the U-2 circa 1997. I'm obviously a fan. Yes, there were some setbacks, but overall it's been wildly successful for DoD, in my opinion. And we've benefited from the "nautical perspective" when it comes to our tactical and strategic outlook.
So, why won't the Department of the Navy be more open to taking AF aviators? Is it our ascots? Or ironed flight suits? Or maybe because we can't get the hottest chick in Singapore? Maybe incorporating some new things... like more AF transfers... you'd get to see things from a different perspective that would make your war fighting skills even better (I know some of you shudder at the thought).
Will this USAF virtual aviator program succeed? No doubt, there will be failures. But I guarantee you that the AF will find some major cost-saving technologies that will be transformative.
You have to ask: why the fuck is today's pilot training still recognizable to a pilot like me who got his wings in 1986? The technological advances since then are off the chart. If Google/Apple/Oracle or whomever was running pilot training, it would probably look dramatically different every 10 years. So, I refuse to scoff at this effort to figure out a faster way to make better military pilots.
Yes... feel free to be cynical about the program. And I'll agree that the AF (oh, and the Dept of the Navy) is a bureaucratic nightmare of upper-echelon leaders that move around every 18-24 months, and have a problem actually fixing anything significant.
One thing to note is that the USAF readily admits there is a major problem with pilot retention. So much so that they put a flag officer... Brig Gen Koscheski... in a billet to figure this problem out (no clue who has replaced him since he left). What's the Navy leadership's position on Naval Aviator retention? Talking to my Navy/Marine buds, the Dept of the Navy leadership isn't willing to publicly admit the problem is as significant as it actually is. I have no idea if they are right... maybe all of you Squids and Jarheads are happy as can be, and if you are, then more power to you. My personal experience is that two of the three guys I met last week interviewing at my airline were Navy pilots... whatever that means.
As for the "taking the fun out of the job", I wouldn't have stayed for 28 had that been the case. And all of my Gold Wing U-2 Brothers wouldn't have made the jump either.
I'm sure tomorrow I'll edit this post after the Don Julio has worn off, and I realize that what I was trying to get across isn't what I wrote. Night.
You know, having spent 28 years in the USAF... every fucking day of it in a flying squadron... 7200 hours over the course of about 5000 sorties... I have a pretty good idea of what the AF does well and where they suck when it comes to flying ops. And 7 of those years were in the training command. Believe me, we need an overhaul. Now.
On the negative side: One statement on the video that strikes me as way off is what they say at the 1:17 point : "But the only way to recover from the pilot shortage is to produce more pilots". I realize the situation is bad and they need to produce. But you have got to retain the experience past their 10 year commitment. One could argue this is the case of the patient bleeding out of an artery and the doctor saying "get him more blood!". Oh... how about finding a way to stop the bleeding?!
On the bright side of things, the AF is willing to dramatically invest in new ideas and technologies that can drive a whole new paradigm in pilot training. I mean massive leaps. Is the Navy leading the way on this? No, they are not. In fact, has Navy pilot training changed much since 1987? It is great to see the AF isn't taking a parochial view and have invited the Navy to participate in this enterprise. Yes, we have a massive budget. But we will share it too. Despite what many of you may think, all of the Services will reap the benefits if the USAF finds a dramatically better way to do training.
Question: many of us know pilots that have flown fighters for over 10 years and have jacked up necks. Big time jacked up. This problem has been around a long, long time. Why hasn't this been a major training/operational issue? In the USAF, now it is... finally. What's the Navy/Marines doing for y'all?
Side note: it's pretty common for USN/USMC/USCG aviators to inter service transfer to the USAF. How often does the reverse happen? I know of only one guy. Because we are willing to take quality aviators in to the USAF, I believe it brings a whole new level of expertise that we didn't have before. My experience is in the U-2 Program, where I was directly responsible for creating the opportunity for USN/USMC/USCG pilots to come fly the U-2 circa 1997. I'm obviously a fan. Yes, there were some setbacks, but overall it's been wildly successful for DoD, in my opinion. And we've benefited from the "nautical perspective" when it comes to our tactical and strategic outlook.
So, why won't the Department of the Navy be more open to taking AF aviators? Is it our ascots? Or ironed flight suits? Or maybe because we can't get the hottest chick in Singapore? Maybe incorporating some new things... like more AF transfers... you'd get to see things from a different perspective that would make your war fighting skills even better (I know some of you shudder at the thought).
Will this USAF virtual aviator program succeed? No doubt, there will be failures. But I guarantee you that the AF will find some major cost-saving technologies that will be transformative.
You have to ask: why the fuck is today's pilot training still recognizable to a pilot like me who got his wings in 1986? The technological advances since then are off the chart. If Google/Apple/Oracle or whomever was running pilot training, it would probably look dramatically different every 10 years. So, I refuse to scoff at this effort to figure out a faster way to make better military pilots.
Yes... feel free to be cynical about the program. And I'll agree that the AF (oh, and the Dept of the Navy) is a bureaucratic nightmare of upper-echelon leaders that move around every 18-24 months, and have a problem actually fixing anything significant.
One thing to note is that the USAF readily admits there is a major problem with pilot retention. So much so that they put a flag officer... Brig Gen Koscheski... in a billet to figure this problem out (no clue who has replaced him since he left). What's the Navy leadership's position on Naval Aviator retention? Talking to my Navy/Marine buds, the Dept of the Navy leadership isn't willing to publicly admit the problem is as significant as it actually is. I have no idea if they are right... maybe all of you Squids and Jarheads are happy as can be, and if you are, then more power to you. My personal experience is that two of the three guys I met last week interviewing at my airline were Navy pilots... whatever that means.
As for the "taking the fun out of the job", I wouldn't have stayed for 28 had that been the case. And all of my Gold Wing U-2 Brothers wouldn't have made the jump either.
I'm sure tomorrow I'll edit this post after the Don Julio has worn off, and I realize that what I was trying to get across isn't what I wrote. Night.