For my first fleet squadron (and your first) this would mean you were probably one of the high time guys for about the last year to year and a half I was in the squadron, if you weren't the constant FCP. The majority of pilots were averaging less than 10 hours a month when not on deployment and homeguard was dumping needed hours on the Dets, where auto's or instrument approaches could be problematic to impossible on most flights. The other issue I saw was due to the new requirement for Level III across the board to be eligible for command. With the lack in hours, hours were being pulled from the LT's that needed the quals to get O-4's multiple quals so they would be competitive. Multiple LT's deployments were pushed back because the plan to get them their quals just in time to deploy did not work out. Then the O-4's would have multiple quals and fly the majority of tactics training flights while the LT's with only one Level III qual flew less often. The rich got richer and the poor got poorer. The requirement for Level III across the board to screen seemed to favor HSc squadrons that had the advantage of squadron wide work ups and Fallon debts at the detriment to those in the expeditionary squadrons. Of course all of my observations were from one expeditionary squadron. Maybe the others are able to make it work...
Go Bruce.
Huh, 15-20hrs/mo was probably average for a post cruise guy when I was in. If you were an ANI you might get a few more. BUT, there was also a period of three months when the squadron stopped flying a lot of the post cruise HACs to give more hours to the junior guys. 8-10 is pretty bad. With hours that low, each pilot really needs to squeeze the most out of each bag. If you're out just flying around and punching a qual, you're pretty much wasting hours. That's a tough place to be in.
As another data point, when the SWTP was first implemented and whole squadrons all of a sudden needed to qual everyone to deploy, it was awful. That happened between my cruises. This was also when the sierras were cracking. I think we had three or four birds in depot getting fixed. For awhile we had one aircraft and several dets worth of deployers who needed form flights. If you weren't deploying in a month, you weren't flying. Which also meant that despite being home for over a year between cruises and making HAC quickly, I didn't start the SWTP syllabus until two months before I left. I flew my check ride and then deployed two days later. When I left the squadron a year later, we had plussed up our airframes and were launching three sections at a time. Another year on and I came back for a change of command and to show off the tow bird and the squadron had twenty airframes.
My point in this is that this stuff is cyclical. Yeah, the LVL III for everyone sucks and I've heard from the Island Pride knights how many hours it's taking away from JOs. I understand the intent of the instruction, but the impacts are hard on the squadrons. But, starting this year or so, DHs with a lot more SWTP time, even from HsC squadrons, will be returning to the sea wall, so hopefully the pendulum will swing the other way. On that note, the writing is on the wall: want to be a player in the community? Get a patch.
