RadicalDude
Social Justice Warlord
I work just as hard today as th day I joined. Don't worry about that.Is the current situation great? No - but I do not believe the situation is as bad as your sensational posts. I would not feel the need to gatekeep if you offered hard data to back up your assertions (e.g. 95% of all #1/2 EPs from the FRS / WWS are getting out and going to the airlines) or a way forward to fix the problem. But you offered neither.
I also do not feel qualified to compare the current situation or the T-notch to that of WW2, Korean War, or Vietnam aviators. I do not pretend to understand what it was like to lose an entire squadron out of a CAG, to be spit on after coming home from deployment, or keep my troops from starting race riots. The fact of the matter is that we go through some really tough times - this is one of them. The T-notch was another - where I saw (to name a small few to keep this post from being too long):
-the inability of squadrons to keep aircrew, and maintainers - during a time when you weren't kicked out for failing 3 PFAs or getting 3 x DUIs (so even if you had the flight hours, no one was around to fix the aircraft)
- There was no such thing as a DH board. You went to Pottery Barn, found a mirror to fog, and became an O4/ DH (in every community).
- you didn't have to compete to go to a production tour - you were going production unless you were broken (and this was because we didn't have enough pilots to fill production IP seats)
-I saw top guys get early selected for O4 and then get passed over for O5 because their early promotion set them up for failure because they didn't have a high water DH ticket when they were up for the O5 board
- mission aircraft hot seated between passing boats on deployment
- COs rankings affected by retention data submitted to their ISIC
- The start of the NC rate - (an auto E7 maker at the time) - for a full time person to press people to stay in
It really sucked - but today I see a lot of top officers sticking around and working to prevent us from going toward the issues of the late 90s/pre-9/11, which makes me hopeful. What kept it together through that time were officers who still cared, accepted that it was tough lot, and led to the last day of their MSR or 20-30 year mark. I would hope that you can do the same.
If those are your examples of "how bad" things can get... well I've got news for you. We're past that in some areas (if you fog a mirror, you make DH, production tour is a default unless you have a DUI) and heading there in Others.
I don't think I'm being sensational. I think I'm giving a sober assessment of the feeling of many JOs in the fleet. They are not interested in fuck fuck games beyond MSR. They don't think the current conflict is worth staying in and potentially dying over.
I've been downtown over Mosul, back when it was real bad. Literally lit up by spotlights.. King Kong style. I don't blame people for wanting to get out. No matter how many assholes you blow up, it doesn't feel worth it to potentially be burned alive in a cage and have your skipper who counted beans and had no useful tactical knowledge to command give your mom a flag.