Flash, thanks for the comments, and seeing this through my eyes.
Folks, I don't subscribe to much of this. I was asked to chime in on why I thought there were some cultural differences.
I'm not a fan of the F-22. Also, it's not a "national asset" in the sense that other systems are. But, it has soaked up a great deal of limited dollars,... dollars that could be used for a great deal of warfighting capabilities. Some might argue that those billions of dollars represent a "national asset".
I am a fan of some "national assets", like the U-2. I'll save about 10 paragraphs of commentary, but I'll certainly take a magnitude more risk to bring a U-2 back to the airpatch than I would for other aircraft. Losing a U-2 would be devasting to many capabilities,... capes that directly aid the Army and Marines on the ground. I'm not an "air-to-ground" pilot in the traditional sense of putting kinetic energy weapons into bodies/buildings/vehicles, but you can bet that the U-2 line pilot culture currently revolves around the warfighters on the ground. Ask the Marines infantrymen that have gotten capes brief at WTI in Yuma when we've been there. We are trying VERY hard to support those guys. But a community with less than 100 pilots, and very few staffers has a tough time cutting through the political minefields to change doctrine/policy/tactical employment. We've got a lot of guys trying very hard to allow us to do even more,... and we've been making progress in a USAF run by folks that don't understand ISR as well as they understand fighters and bombers.
I don't like a lot of this any more than you guys, so don't shoot the messenger. But, if two humvees collide, roll over, and kill 10 ground troops, the "fallout" will be minimal compared to what will happen if someone makes a "pilot error", and loses a B-2,... even if both pilots survive without a scratch. Like it or not, I imagine most of you will agree with that statement.
When typing late at night, it's easy to not be clear in my words, and to misrepresent my thoughts. And it's hard to go back and say "what I meant to say was...". But that's the reality of posting.
Folks, I don't subscribe to much of this. I was asked to chime in on why I thought there were some cultural differences.
I'm not a fan of the F-22. Also, it's not a "national asset" in the sense that other systems are. But, it has soaked up a great deal of limited dollars,... dollars that could be used for a great deal of warfighting capabilities. Some might argue that those billions of dollars represent a "national asset".
I am a fan of some "national assets", like the U-2. I'll save about 10 paragraphs of commentary, but I'll certainly take a magnitude more risk to bring a U-2 back to the airpatch than I would for other aircraft. Losing a U-2 would be devasting to many capabilities,... capes that directly aid the Army and Marines on the ground. I'm not an "air-to-ground" pilot in the traditional sense of putting kinetic energy weapons into bodies/buildings/vehicles, but you can bet that the U-2 line pilot culture currently revolves around the warfighters on the ground. Ask the Marines infantrymen that have gotten capes brief at WTI in Yuma when we've been there. We are trying VERY hard to support those guys. But a community with less than 100 pilots, and very few staffers has a tough time cutting through the political minefields to change doctrine/policy/tactical employment. We've got a lot of guys trying very hard to allow us to do even more,... and we've been making progress in a USAF run by folks that don't understand ISR as well as they understand fighters and bombers.
I don't like a lot of this any more than you guys, so don't shoot the messenger. But, if two humvees collide, roll over, and kill 10 ground troops, the "fallout" will be minimal compared to what will happen if someone makes a "pilot error", and loses a B-2,... even if both pilots survive without a scratch. Like it or not, I imagine most of you will agree with that statement.
When typing late at night, it's easy to not be clear in my words, and to misrepresent my thoughts. And it's hard to go back and say "what I meant to say was...". But that's the reality of posting.
