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.
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NEWS Air Force leadership talks frankly about pilot retention
- Thread starter ChuckMK23
- Start date
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.
So does that mean your CO was the first into the Starboard D? I keeeeed!
From a MPRA wing staff fucker perspective (which doesn't mean much, whatever) since we've gotten back onboard the WTI squadron training officer train I'll say, at least on the home cycle since that's where I have SA and minimal authoritah, the guys in those jobs have been leading the charge on every major tactical evolution. And on deployment they're doing the same. It's not the O-4s or front office. I hope to continue that trend.
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.
That said, the other thing to keep in mind is that OEF was a more, well, mature theater. And nothing like a Fallon LFE. Again, as you're well aware, the danger wasn't from enemy fire, it was from porking away tac admin and running into someone, into something (Iran also being a "something"), or out of gas. We'd talked about it as a squadron, but all us nuggets had never actually done it or even seen it. So especially in our case, it's a matter of starting off with people in charge who had done the OEF thing off of a boat and could introduce the rest of us to what was, at least till you learned the ropes, a somewhat byzantine tac admin environment.
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RadicalDude
Social Justice Warlord
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.
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.
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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 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
O-5s standing SDO was awesome; as was their NVG foosball setup.
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?
They were the first Naval Aviation reserve squadron to get mobilized and then deploy on the boat since the Korean War. They had a wardroom full of O-4's and O-5's, all but one of them TOPGUN grads, got pretty much every Top Hook along with other accolades and general awesomeness.
You mean a bunch of guys who stayed in the cockpit we good at flying and employing their aircraft? Say it ain't so!
