Why did I leave AD?
I always say it was a million paper cuts... but the highlights include (1) all the skippers in the Airwing getting micromanaged - they were at best glorified DHs (2) deployments upping from 6-10 months, plus the fun of surge time (3) Naval Aviation not valuing or growing tactical prowess, just tactical retards who punch the tickets and can't fight their way out of a wet paper bag.
I left for many reasons as well, but the one that concerned me the most and I think could do long-term damage to the community is the lack respect for tactical prowess at the higher levels of command. I'm all for developing leaders, but when that takes priority over tactical excellence, we've lost our edge.