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Growler Expeditionary Squadrons

Brett327 said:
Unless things have changed, they are not normally assigned to CVW VAQ squadrons. The USAF guys in a boat squadron are a temporary anomaly caused by transitioning the Prowler Exped squadrons (133, 134, 142) back to being assigned to a CVW.
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Got it. I'm speaking of one of those squadrons so that makes sense.
 
Swanee said:
Why not? They go through the RAG syllabus. We have a Spanish IP at 106 whose first trap was in a Hornet during his tour here. I also know an AF dude who did a Prowler tour and qualed at the boat in the Prowler.
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I've known several Brits (Brittons?) who have CQ'd in the Hornet. One of them is actually in my airwing, so it is not just a token CQ for him.
 
Brett327 said:
Unless things have changed, they are not normally assigned to CVW VAQ squadrons. The USAF guys in a boat squadron are a temporary anomaly caused by transitioning the Prowler Exped squadrons (133, 134, 142) back to being assigned to a CVW.
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I think they've changed that policy recently. We had an F-15 WSO in our squadron (140) from 2011-2013. It made the front page of the Navigator when he was assigned to us, because he was the first ever "boat wso." He had a blast, even if he had a little bit of trouble using the radios at first :)
 
Good for those guys, plus you'll get a little taste of the USAF way of thinking - for better or worse. :D
 
Brett327 said:
Unless things have changed, they are not normally assigned to CVW VAQ squadrons. The USAF guys in a boat squadron are a temporary anomaly caused by transitioning the Prowler Exped squadrons (133, 134, 142) back to being assigned to a CVW.
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FACT
 
Swanee said:
One of my IPs in Kingsville was the last Marine Prowler pilot to qual. My Marine Prowler buddies at the RAG say they don't CQ. Makes sense.
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Last December we had a Marine Prowler CQ'ing. They were terrible at it, but they were out there.
 
xmid said:
Last December we had a Marine Prowler CQ'ing. They were terrible at it, but they were out there.
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If you are talking RAG CQ, that isn't anything to do with the Marines. Prowler RAG CQ is horrifying to watch and/or listen to. I have thanked my lucky stars on many occasions watching the drumstick behind the boat at night on the PLAT, that I didn't get my 1st choice coming out of flight school (which was Prowlers). I'm average behind the boat, meaning I'm not good, so I can only imagine what that would equate to with me flailing around in that hog, what with it's spoilerons and funny CG.
 
Spoken like someone who has no idea what night traps are like:
xmid said:
They were terrible at it, but they were out there.
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Spoken like someone with the credibility:
MIDNJAC said:
I'm average behind the boat, meaning I'm not good, so I can only imagine what that would equate to with me flailing around in that hog, what with it's spoilerons and funny CG.
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It's different....



This is not "rotor trash hate". Just added for some perspective.
 
Brett327 said:
How do you know it was a Marine Prowler crew?
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I ate dinner with them. I'm not saying it's easy, or that I really have any idea at all the difficulty level, but I was in the D for lots of "Bolter, Bolter, Bolter" calls during the day. They were frustrated to say the least by dinner.
 
Apparently the pilot handles all of the admin comms in the strike eagle, so he wasn't used to consistently talking to anyone besides a JTAC, plus he had only been around the boat once or twice as well. He got through it ok, ended up becoming the air force ewo of the year while he was attached to us.
 
FYI The Marine Prowlers (FRS) stopped sending guys to the boat in 2009. Stopped sending fleet jets in like 93. I don't know what dudes were there in 2012, but they weren't students or fleet guys.
FRS now has a field qual.
 
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