USMC C130

[///AMG]

We still have one or two sim instructors that actually flew them. They must think we’re a bunch of sissies.


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As the A-4 dudes before them probably thought as well. As I sometimes do about these Rhino babies.......

In the end, all of our most important decisions involved enemy response, fuel, weather, or some combination thereof. None of that has changed since aviation began. I still don't think there is anything that makes you better at thinking on your feet and responding to the unexpected than wearing a pair of gold wings on your chest for a decade or (better) two-three. Iron wings are probably the same, though that is being charitable Regardless of the fancy stuff your airplane might have had.......none of that stuff is able to make the really tough aircraft commander decisions for you.

 

[Roger Roger]

As the A-4 dudes before them probably thought as well. As I sometimes do about these Rhino babies.......

In the end, all of our most important decisions involved enemy response, fuel, weather, or some combination thereof. None of that has changed since aviation began. I still don't think there is anything that makes you better at thinking on your feet and responding to the unexpected than wearing a pair of gold wings on your chest for a decade or (better) two-three. Iron wings are probably the same, though that is being charitable Regardless of the fancy stuff your airplane might have had.......none of that stuff is able to make the really tough aircraft commander decisions for you.

Which makes it all the more sad that the services are sucking at retaining their people past their minimum commitments.

 

[///AMG]

Which makes it all the more sad that the services are sucking at retaining their people past their minimum commitments.

I agree. I know a few folks who I really wish had not left......folks the Navy and future generations really lost out on not having as commanding officers. I wouldn't be so bold to put myself in that category. There are a lot of average joes like me walking for a lot of reasons, and the "problem" is a lot more complicated than the people speaking out in the media would have you believe. That the airlines are hiring currently is a big part of it. It is giving people the ability to walk away, for whatever reason. The self induced part of it is that people have been sick of the way Big [insert service here] has treated them for a long time. The manpower piece, the quality of life piece, the focus on important things and funding to do so could/should have been corrected long before this perfect storm occurred. If it had, I think the numbers would be different. So they have that to figure out, but they won't, because they are counting on an airline hiring or larger economic slowdown to occur that will allow them to continue business as usual, which is exactly what will happen. But the reality is that a number of people weren't ever going to stick around to 20 in the first place, or maybe they were but then family happened (mostly my situation). The unfortunate part is the original group of people I mentioned, who fully intended to stick around, who had a real talent for leadership, and got too sick of the BS along the way and left much too early. Of course there will be others like them in the future, but I don't know how many there will be in the coming 3-5 years.

 

[Lawman]

I agree. I know a few folks who I really wish had not left......folks the Navy and future generations really lost out on not having as commanding officers. I wouldn't be so bold to put myself in that category. There are a lot of average joes like me walking for a lot of reasons, and the "problem" is a lot more complicated than the people speaking out in the media would have you believe. That the airlines are hiring currently is a big part of it. It is giving people the ability to walk away, for whatever reason. The self induced part of it is that people have been sick of the way Big [insert service here] has treated them for a long time. The manpower piece, the quality of life piece, the focus on important things and funding to do so could/should have been corrected long before this perfect storm occurred. If it had, I think the numbers would be different. So they have that to figure out, but they won't, because they are counting on an airline hiring or larger economic slowdown to occur that will allow them to continue business as usual, which is exactly what will happen. But the reality is that a number of people weren't ever going to stick around to 20 in the first place, or maybe they were but then family happened (mostly my situation). The unfortunate part is the original group of people I mentioned, who fully intended to stick around, who had a real talent for leadership, and got too sick of the BS along the way and left much too early. Of course there will be others like them in the future, but I don't know how many there will be in the coming 3-5 years.

If you’d told me when I started my career I’d have the questioning of staying I’d have called you a liar. After the last few years of stupid at watching the Army take Aviation and basically go full “beatings will continue...” as I told my wife, if I hadn’t gotten the assignment I had I would be putting in papers to walk well short of the retirement brass ring.

The military will continue to hemorrhage talent because to most leaders they simply don’t know any different way than the current always deploying suck so they don’t know to say no to a customer or adjust the training calender to not be at a sprint. I had a Commander take the squadron and couldn’t figure out why all the people who had been flat to the board for 2 years and just got back from a deployment weren’t thrilled at the idea of doing a gunnery 3 months later. With people like that at the controls, or even better the guys that have no family and didn’t want one so they don’t understand what that entails it’s only gonna to get better as they reward likeminded people who work 14 hours to their family detriment and sacrifice it all for the next green chicklet power point metric