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Maybe I missed something but I don't think anyone was arguing for a 'Helo (or otherwise) CAG' were they? Just wondering what spurred this discussion?

This sole sentence says a LOT. Your sentiments are well placed and are not VFA/VAQ/Pointy-nosed specific. The helo community has some MAJOR (and I do mean MAJOR) problems of it's own. Generally speaking, you are very correct with your assertions. Tactical prowess/actually flying the damn...

That seems like a perfectly viable explanation to me. I know that if our squadrons were built that way then things would be pretty different.

Eh, yes and no. I think you're missing the point. We all 'bro out' while we're flying. It's those officers who can't seem to differentiate between their temperament in the air and their temperament on the ground that make it a problem. When they're hanging out with AWs in their free time and the...

Yeah that is a big difference. When you have pilots (LTJG or LT) "bro-ing" out with the AWs and spending their free-time doing things with them that they don't do with the maintainers or other enlisted personnel then that's a problem. It will, in one way or another, affect evals and rankings in...

Rog. It would be very weird to me to have more of that 'culture' than the Navy already has. I feel like we cross the line with our AWs pretty regularly. Some pilots more than others. To me it feels like there's a lot of pilots who try harder to get the AWs to "like" them rather than "respect"...

So true. By the end of cruise our fo'castle follies were just abysmal. The term "mandatory fun" doesn't even begin to imply the sentiment in that room.

Sounds very much like the helo community in the Navy and our relationship with the AWs.

Exactly. And that's how it should be.

We're Officers. It's not our jobs to pal around with enlisted and skirt the lines of frat so as not to hurt someone's feelings about "not getting invited" to the O-club party or whatever the hell it is. Ultimately we sign off on these guy's Evals and, in turn, 'collective fates'. The separation...

I did this whole process with my car a year and a half ago and it worked out great. The lady at the DMV was actually getting perturbed with me because I was so adamant that I needed to pay taxes somewhere. She just kept saying, "Just fill out the affidavit form and send it in with the rest of...

It's not VP exclusive. I've seen this in the helo community too. The competition to see who can look good by doing arbitrary B.S. and get out the door last by doing the most of it is insane around here.

I'm obviously not an Apache guy, but short answer without giving up TTPs/info: helos do it differently than jets. Flying right next to each other is a bad idea for wing when Muhammad is shooting an SA-(insert # here) at lead's tailpipe. Keeping some distance between lead and wing allows for more...

Is the Langley one still up and running? For some reason I thought that it had closed.

I have a Sig 1911 abd it's one of the smoothest shooting pistols I've ever had the pleasure of shooting. I highly recommend looking at them. They run about $850-900 ish but worth it. I've shot kimbers and they weren't an ounce smoother or better IMO.

Trigonometry and Algebra are the two biggest areas I remember from the ASTB (given it was years ago at this point). Problems like the following: If 3a = 4b = 5c then what does a = in terms of c? In other words, solve for a. Crap like that. If the two angles in the triangle are >60 degrees...

I'm flying about 25-35 hours a month on deployment. We have too many pilots and not enough hours right now so it would be more than that if we had the dets we're supposed to have. At the beach, it's more like 10-15 a month in my squadron. I'm an HSC helo guy.

Do a search here for LASIK. There are multiple threads here about this topic.

Yeah I'd think you guys on the wrong coast would have a multitude of places to go for that sort of thing.

It's huge. Save yourself a good hour for walking around and drooling over the cool stuff. They also do a once-a-year sale where everything in the store is like 75% off. I got a surefire aviator a2 for like $50 and some other goodies on the cheap. There's also a place around corner at of...

Our Sr. AWs buy them for the newer guys once they get all their level 3 quals. For those of you in Norfolk, GSS Gear off of Diamond Springs Rd has all sorts of stuff like IR patches and whatnot.

Let me interpret: Lots of getting your $hit pushed in, squadron drama over stupid (i.e. one of the girls in my squadron flipped out over not having a fancy smancy paper cutter on the boat to cut her KBCs with when she had 3 pairs of scissors sitting right in front of her like using a pair of...

If only we could all be accepted to TPS...

I wish I could triple like this.

Well here's to hoping I have better luck than you have had my friend!

I completely agree with you here. 99% of a CATM-EX (ASU flight) where we're doing SCAR or ASU could be taught in the SIM if we just took the SIMs more seriously and they were more readily available. Seems like most of the learning that occurs on these tactics flights, for me anyways, is just...

How so? I've always wondered why the AF would send guys to us for primary and then to you guys for helos. They may be 'admin' but they're not something that you get good at handling or remain proficient at by sitting around talking about them. Of course we do, but I think it goes without...

It's easy to think we could just knock it off early and go practice autos or single-engine stuff, but we're already cutting it close on a 2 hour bag to get the tactics card requirements and training done. I get what you're saying and I agree with you to an extent, but you can't sit here and do...

The PRT numbers are based on the individuals age. However, if you are worrying about the minimums then you aren't where you should be for OCS. You need to be hitting the maximums in at least 2 out of the 3 categories.

And they will continue to get fewer and fewer until those in key leadership positions tell their superiors "We dont have the hours the prepare for said yellow horde" and that their squadrons are combat ineffective due to lack of flight hours and training. You mentioned how we do the 'basics'...

Crossfit is great if you kinda ignore the olympic lifting and stick to the basics: Bodyweight workouts + Basic lifting (squats and deadlifts and presses). I have to choose to do crossfit intermittently due to being gone a lot right now so I blow off the crazy stuff and stick to that sort of...

We wear them in my command. I haven't really heard of squadrons going piss cutter only but I agree that the ole piss cutter is a little easier to stash away.

This sounds exactly like the AF TBAS thing. And that test is ridiculous. Chasing completely uncoordinated movements of the 'targets' =/= a good pilot. The movements of the stick and rudder skills required by those of us pilot types are highly coordinated (i.e. right pedal for collective pull or...

The problem is when those "warm bodies" turn cold and shitty attitudes prevail. Then they may as well be gone.

Yeah, that being said, the NOB commissary isn't much better. It can be ridiculously busy in there at times and I'm pretty sure half the people that are in line, shouldn't be there. Or at least don't look like they should be.

Does it count if I consider Hampton Roads OCONUS? 'Cause most of the local grocery stores here either suck or are stocked with a line of idiots/vagrants a mile long at the ONE register they manage to have open.

You're doing the right thing. Reading and understanding the requirements and the waiver guides will save your ass. It certainly has for me multiple times throughout my career. A doc tried to down me this week for my eyesight slipping and he was utterly wrong. One call to my squadron's flight doc...

Absolutely. No worries my friend.

The civilian docs typically use different tests than the military and a letter from one of them is a good thing but the military wants to be the one that says you're good to go. MEPS =/= flight physical and the docs there =/= aviation medical. For the depth perception cards, sometimes the best...

It's just about "playing the game" and showing people what they want to see. The IPs in primary (and advanced and the FRS and everywhere in the Navy) are given the same books as you and told to grade strictly upon those rules. Many of the IPs you'll have in primary will have less flight total...

Umm...thanks? Sadly, OCS has gotten much easier since I was there 3 years ago and it wasn't exactly that hard when I was there. If you can't show up running a 1.5'er under 12 minutes and doing some pushups and sit-ups without dying then you need to think about another profession because OCS is...

He's probably looking at the 'corrective lenses' thing for those of us that are already winged. Your vision can degrade to 20/200 or something like that and you'll just wear glasses or contacts to fly. The 20/4o Rx is what NAMI requires to let you start flight school. And don't worry, you'll be...

Soooo let me get this straight... You can get a ticket for pissing outside? Learn something new everyday I guess. I'm with Dave. Those of you saying "he will get shit-canned" and/or backing that approach should stand down. You are part of the problem. We seem to forget that some of our most...

That's a total shame. I saw it going downhill when I was there 2 and half years a go.

King shit of shit mountain?

Just because it's the 'measure of physical fitness' for the Navy doesn't mean it should be yours. Like I've said many times, if the PRT is the hardest PT you do in a year then you're doing something wrong.

"Just because you can. Doesn't mean you should" <---- Applies to many things in life.

If the PRT is your 'measure of fitness' then you should be ashamed of yourself. You're in the military. You're an officer. Get out and PT. I'm not saying everyone should be marathon runners, but if you can't run a 5k without dying then you're wrong.

Some of the guys already left. I'm flying out Tomorrow. The helos flew out on Sunday and our first flights up there are on Wednesday or Thursday.

I might be surprised. I would hope so. I was referring to dropping bombs in combat and actual air-to-air 'against the rooskies' so to speak. I wish we got to shoot as much as you guys do. It takes an act of congress to get us a hellfire shot. We get about 1/year per pilot. Maybe 2 if we're...