Bully, your right about the standards being altered to allow more applicants to fly. I'm not sure about vision standards but the age standards for AF have definately changed. Max age is now thirty and max allowable "transfer period" (meaning: you join the AF as a supply clerk cuz there were no flight slots but you plan to transfer to pilot. The max time you have to sucessfully transfer is...) was extended from three to five years. Of course, along with all of this comes an extension of mandatory service obligation, raised from eight to ten years. (which isn't much longer than a Navy tour as an aviator when you consider the length of training.)
Last time I spoke to my processor at my local Navy recruiting office he mentioned I may not need an age waiver as he thinks the age max may have been rasied. If this turns out to be true it's no surprise since the AF recently upped theirs. Also, due to the low enlistement numbers I wouldn't be surprised to see an obligation extension on the Navy end either. I'll post any concrete news on any Navy age limit change ASAP.
It's funny, a lot of my knowledge of Naval Aviation in the nineties has come from two sources: (besides AIRWARRIORS.COM, and Ens. Werner's site) the books "Bogeys and Bandits", and of course "Airwarriors" the book. These two books, written in the early/mid-nineties describe the average Naval Aviator as a fine-mescher , a super student/athlete who has excelled at everything since childhood. Now old bozo's like me with bad knees and film degrees are eligible to fly!
You guys are also right about graduates these days. Considering the recent health of the economy, (Which Clinton and the Democrats are happy to take full credit for!) it's no surprise that the line of thinking for a kid with a tech degree from a good school, who's looking at a great starting salary, followed by (theoretically) a sucession of great raises, would choose that over push-ups in the mud, running in the sand and cleaning floors with his toothbrush! (I'm still asked if I did all that stuff on a daily basis as a soldier!) That's the image most young people have of the military, not that our recent CIC/admin' has tried to change that!
quote:I think Phoenix makes a good point also. He states that most kids don't realize that only a few really hit the big bucks. Everybody else gets a Dilbert cube and a Dilbert paycheck.
And now for my metaphor of the day:
It's just like filmmaking, especially independent. Every year there's a group of kids somewhere that make a stupid movie for twenty grand that the festival weanies go ape-sh*t over, becomes a hit and gets the producers fame, fortune and studio deals, which in turn inspires every other dumb kid with a trust fund or inheritance to go out and spend it on a film. In reality: for every "Blair Witch", "Clerks", or "El- Mariachi", there's about a couple thousand kids who wreck their lives trying to make a movie. Kevin Smith has no idea how lucky he got. Imagine borrowing a hundred thousand dollars to buy a car, without insurance, knowing that there was only a one in ten chance it wouldn't get wrecked driving it home and be a total loss. That's indy filmmaking.
I also have to agree with Q, I think a lot of this stems from the ammount of national pride instilled in our youngsters, or total lack therof. As big a Marlboro smoking punk that I was as a kid, I look around at teenagers these days and, I hate to sound like my parents but I quess it's inevitable, I ask: What the f*ck is our country gonna be like in twenty years!?
By the way...anybody notice the new recruiting commercials??? I like the Army's latest anti-SEAL commercial where the Rangers are scuba diving with guns, then they're on a Zodiac with bigger guns, then instead of sliding into a MK-5 gun-boat al'a Knight Rider, they slide into a chopper! C'MON!!!
I also have noticed the new Navy infomercial that's on late at night, also milking the SEALS. It's a shame, most of the kids that respond to these ads are gonna flunk the screening PT tests and end up being the barnacle scrapers, dishwashers and mop pushers of the future. Gee, ya'think maybe that's the whole idea???
As to the whole recent "fantasy military job" thing: Why don't they just build a f*ckin' carrier in the middle of Disneyland and sell CAT' shots and traps!
My $.02
Fly Navy
D
Edited by - Dave Shutter on 13 June 2000
