We may be saying the same thing, but differently. I took your initial post as meaning the best mission leads are those that have tactical knowledge but are better airspace/aircraft managers than tactical gurus, but I think we have actually agreed.
If I remember correctly at start of OIF, our CAG said that front office needed to be on first strikes or CO needed to come talk to him.I understand what you're saying about CO's not going down range on Day 1, but our airwing's first day of combat ops in Afghanistan went as follows:
Wave 1:
CAG piloting a F
My CO piloting the old girl Prowler
Wave 2:
My XO riding shotgun in the Wave 2 Prowler.
There was no discussion whether or not my CO and XO would be in the first 2 combat waves, and I'm willing to bet most of the other squadron COs/XOs went in-country on Day 1 also. Whether the same would carry over on Day 1 of a conflict with a more lethal adversary, I don't know, I can only tell you what I witnessed.
If I remember correctly at start of OIF, our CAG said that front office needed to be on first strikes or CO needed to come talk to him.
We've threadjacked the threadjack (yay AWs), but I think there's two separate arguments here. Who CAN go over the beach and execute if called upon, all else being equal. And who is expected to do so because they're in charge and should lead from the front. In our case, let's face it. That front seat pairing was probably decided before we left San Diego, because it just obviously made sense. And if war had somehow kicked off with Iran, the lead jet would have still contained that Skipper and the DH who was his ECMO1 that day. And no one would have had a leg to stand on to launch a complaint credibility-wise, because those two were that damn good. As you're well aware, that doesn't mean that there weren't other subsets of the squadron or airwing that couldn't have performed at least competently enough to take care of business, either on Day 1 OEF or something more major, if theoretically called upon.I understand what you're saying about CO's not going down range on Day 1, but our airwing's first day of combat ops in Afghanistan went as follows:
Wave 1:
CAG piloting a F
My CO piloting the old girl Prowler
Wave 2:
My XO riding shotgun in the Wave 2 Prowler.
There was no discussion whether or not my CO and XO would be in the first 2 combat waves, and I'm willing to bet most of the other squadron COs/XOs went in-country on Day 1 also. Whether the same would carry over on Day 1 of a conflict with a more lethal adversary, I don't know, I can only tell you what I witnessed.
I will say, anecdotally... didn't see a single skipper/XO fuck away an employment or tanker hit or somehow fuck up their tac admin and fuck away a vul... OIR and OEF.
I know of, in the same time frame, multiple flight indiscretions SFTIs (among others), including several employments fucked away. One of them career-ending.
Maybe there's just no substitute for reps and experience. Maybe it's the tactical equivalent of old man strength.
I've also known/experienced front offices that were as tactical as my mom's minivan. So, as with all things, YMMV. Even with former Bros.
O-5s standing SDO was awesome; as was their NVG foosball setup.I thi
I think 204's deployment at the beginning of OIF was a great example of what a ready room full of senior O-4's and O-5's can accomplish
I thi
I think 204's deployment at the beginning of OIF was a great example of what a ready room full of senior O-4's and O-5's can accomplish
That wasn't 204. I think it was 201.
It was 201, and they rewarded the squadron by disestablishing them 4 years later.
Someone care to elaborate on what their story was for those of us outside the VFA community?