Yep aviators definitely get IA's. Getting on a plane this weekend to head somewhere shitty for a year.
Yep aviators definitely get IA's. Getting on a plane this weekend to head somewhere shitty for a year.
They pull you in the middle/end of your fleet tour, or did you get GSA'd?
I still think IAs are bullshit.
I've heard of some pilots (maybe NFO's too) going as FAC's with combat operations troops. What are the chances/odds/requirements to get an IA like that. Seems like if you had to go over there, you might as well be involved with something you know about.
IA's have nothing, repeat NOTHING to do with anything you're trained or experienced in. It's all about a warm body in the right paygrade +/-1.
Case in point - my IA was as ASO in Djibouti. Makes sense, right? Guy with wings=air safety. Except of course when I arrived and read the original billet request (which was on SIPR, for some reason). They wanted an O-4 pilot with ASO school and C-12 PIC time. So, 0 for 4 is close enough.
And my boss (Army LTC reservist, and very good dude) said he had no idea why they asked for an aviator - he just wanted an E-6 to help him do paperwork.
I still think IAs are bullshit. Is the Army going to fill the Navy's manning shortfalls come the end of Iraq/Afghanistan? Nope.
I could agree with it early on, but now - it's just easier to tap the Navy than manage their own personnel...
IA's have nothing, repeat NOTHING to do with anything you're trained or experienced in. It's all about a warm body in the right paygrade +/-1.........G-d knows how many unneeded billets are still sucking in people in theater.
IA's have nothing, repeat NOTHING to do with anything you're trained or experienced in. It's all about a warm body in the right paygrade +/-1.
Case in point - my IA was as ASO in Djibouti. Makes sense, right? Guy with wings=air safety. Except of course when I arrived and read the original billet request (which was on SIPR, for some reason). They wanted an O-4 pilot with ASO school and C-12 PIC time. So, 0 for 4 is close enough.
And my boss (Army LTC reservist, and very good dude) said he had no idea why they asked for an aviator - he just wanted an E-6 to help him do paperwork.
But wait, it gets better: The AF was taking over the staff air safety stuff, and there just wasn't enough to do, so with the boss' blessing, I tried to shut off my job. Told them, I'll rotate home on time but don't bother sending my relief. Turns out - there's no mechanism at all to do that. No one knew how to shut down a billet, and no one really cared. And from what I hear, there's a guy from VT-10 filling that job now, 2+ years later. G-d knows how many unneeded billets are still sucking in people in theater.
Sounds a lot like my IA experience. Billet specified an O-2 to be the OPSEC Officer of a two-star staff with a Secret clearance. I was an O-3 with a Secret, but it was impossible for the OPSEC job to be done by someone with just a Secret - anyway, there was already an Army O-4 doing the job. The guy filling the IA before me (who I knew) had already tried to get the billet turned off. I talked to PERS, who initially told me they were looking for exactly this kind of feedback (back when CNO Mullen was really digging into the JMD), but eventually said "sorry, nothing we can do, you're going anyway".
I got out there and just about every other USN officer on the staff was in the same boat, wondering WTF they were doing there. It took me about 3 months to carve out an ACTUAL job to do, but it ended up being pretty satisfying in the end.
Am I the only one that imagines GSA's will become a permanent part of the landscape...
still a lot of BS and wasted talent but that is not the only story anymore, plenty of ... some legitimate use
I've never agreed with it. We wouldn't ask them to do our job with 3 weeks training. If there are Navy specific missions we can do over there...port security, riverine warfare, EOD, ECM, etc....then great. But even still, I don't think they should be done as an IA. They should be done as the normal duty rotation of officers and sailors.I still think IAs are bullshit. Is the Army going to fill the Navy's manning shortfalls come the end of Iraq/Afghanistan? Nope.
I could agree with it early on, but now - it's just easier to tap the Navy than manage their own personnel...