medals... (the helo community especially so)...
To open up a can of worms, but I've heard some O-6 non-helo types say that Navy helos guys don't deserve medals for valor. True story.
medals... (the helo community especially so)...
This has been a theme of debate for decades - I don't know the answer and this deserves a more discrete thread in Private Naval Aviators. The theme is well known in the leadership forums at NHA every year. It's a really complex issue.To open up a can of worms, but I've heard some O-6 non-helo types say that Navy helos guys don't deserve medals for valor. True story.
Uhh . . .To open up a can of worms, but I've heard some O-6 non-helo types say that Navy helos guys don't deserve medals for valor. True story.
Yes and the culture of HC-7 died in the 70's which is why Navy helo community witnessed failures at Desert One, Praying Mantis, etc
A combat mentality for a combat mission most helo folks will never, ever perform.
Except these are Sailors maintaining weapons that don't belong to them. Stateside this is easily solved with open purchase authorization, but how do you suppose ships maintain supplies for their small arms on deployment?Modern service pistols - like a Glock, Sig, M&P, are from what I have seen, all repayable and serviceable at a small unit level. Rarely do parts wear out on these firearms. And armorer skills are easily taught hands on with basic tools and with instructional videos.
I don't think that the service chiefs, the SECDEF, the Senate Armed Services committee, any other members of Congress, or the President is looking at personal award counts when deciding how to appropriate money to the services. I would also argue that anyone who forms their opinion regarding the worth of each service by awards for valor also doesn't know or care enough about the military budget process to actually influence it.Peace there - but we have not seen it in the number of medals awarded for Valor - the Navy is way behind the other three services. And frankly thats what in the end drives public popularity and budgetary wins.
Most Sailors are notAs for the lack of warrior culture in the United States navy...
While I agree that the likelihood of a regular Navy helo squadron to go in to Iran with guns blazing is pretty small, I do think that the mentality can be trained to.
Expanding circle.
Training for a mission that you'll probably never perform is a waste of OPTAR dollars and Airframe hours, not to mention the maintenance man hours to support the flying. Also, it's a moral killer when you spend long hours, late nights and weekends at work for absolutely no reason other than training and chasing readiness for a mission you'll probably never do.
Just ask the VP guys- they've got a good bit of misc quals that will likely never be used, but still clog up the readiness matrix and waste everyone's time and energy just to say they can do if ever needed.
I had a winged 2-star tell us that hornet pilots don't deserve air medals because the enemy doesn't have good enough anti-air capabilitiesTo open up a can of worms, but I've heard some O-6 non-helo types say that Navy helos guys don't deserve medals for valor. True story.