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Six Months In the Air Over The Af
From the Usual USAF Source...
Warthog Pilot Hits Combat Milestone: Lt. Col.
James Roy, an A-10 pilot from Moody AFB, Ga., recently reached 1,000
combat flying hours in the cockpit of the A-10 ground-attack aircraft,
according to officials at Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan, where Roy is
currently deployed. "It is a very rare accomplishment to hit 1,000 hours
in a career, period, let alone in one [area of responsibility] and on
the same platform," said Lt. Col. Marty Garrett, commander of Bagram's
455th Expeditionary Operations Support Squadron, in the base's Dec. 20
release. "In comparing this to a 40-hour-a-week job, essentially, I've
worked six months in the air over Afghanistan," noted Roy, who is
director of operations for the 455th EOSS. He has flown more than 250
missions; all of his 1,000 hours of combat time resulted from sorties
launched from Bagram, according to the release. "Close air support is
very gratifying," said Roy. "You get to directly help somebody on the
ground and you directly affect the battle," he added. (Bagram report by SSgt David Dobrydney, photo by SSgt Dobrydney)
Congrats, Col. Roy... and thank you. A lot o' troops are gonna have a Merry Christmas because of what you and your brothers-in-arms do.
Oof. Hog Pilots! They have a certain gravitas don't they? Top of the hat to Col. Roy and all the troops!
ReplyDeleteErr, "tip" of the hat. (Dang eyeball to keyboard interface!)
DeleteIn re: gravitas. That, and a certain je ne sais quoi... in 30 mm caliber.
DeleteWho put that "O" right next to the "I"?
Delete@Skip: That took me a minute. And a look at the keyboard.
DeleteWhat's really nice, is the wild dog packs get a free meal !
ReplyDeleteNow that ya mention it... couldn't happen to a better group o' people.
Delete"It is a very rare accomplishment to hit a 1000 hours in a career. period."
ReplyDeleteThat statement is a testament to the pitiful state of the "new" Air Force where bean counters have put flyng training hours at a premium and have pretended it can all be made up for with simulator time. Hell, I had over 1700 hrs in a 5-yr stint (to inclu a year &1/2 combat tour) and I wasn't unusual.. Of course we flew 40hrs/mo min in tng and were outraged when they cut us to 30 as being unrealistic in expecting to maintain proficiency. Now 30 is but a distant dream and most make do with 15/mo. The AF is kidding itself by redefining "proficiency." The bean-counters won't allot enough for true maintenance of needed skill levels? ANS: "We didn't want those grapes anyway.."
And they're (the grapes) prolly sour (the grapes).
DeletePS: Despite much improvement over the years there NEVER HAS BEEN a simulator made that flew like a real fighter, at least. The mental "thought process"/reflexive mental "cues" that one develops to successfully "fly" a simulator are almost the oppo of those needed to fly a real aircraft. The USAF has buried its head in the sand and pretends there is no problem. The Navy, at least, has acknowledged this problem (w.o. "officially" saying so) by refusing to allow any pilot to fly a scheduled mission within 24 hrs of a "sim session" so that their motor neurons can "unlearn" all the reflexive cues that they "learned" in the sim. "There is a cost to doing something and there is a cost to doing nothing." Unfortunately the front-end costs (more $ for flying time) are easily identifiable and are easily rationalized away, while the FAR, FAR higher costs of lives lost in combat (or wars lost) are nebulous, "unprovable" and in the murky future--which might never come to pass anyway, right? I mean, the PRC will never go to war with us because the economic ties are too tight, right?
ReplyDeleteSure...the fact that England and France were Germany's biggest trading partners is ancient history, right? Nothing to see here..
You know the flying bidniz a LOT better than I do, seein' as how (a) I was enlisted, (b) my Ol' Man told me to "stay away from airplanes," and (c) I took his advice and was only stationed at two REAL AFBs (with active runways) during my entire career. So, we take you at your word. I agree with everything you say, too. FWIW, the AFA seems to agree, as well.
DeletePPS: Heavy into the Harvey's Bristol Cream tonight while listening to Hungarian, Bulgarian and German Choir music.."Old School" all the way..
ReplyDeleteNo snow to complete the picture, tho..
Old School, indeed. I was into the Bulleit and watched the Syfy Channel... "Serenity," among others... not schooled at all. ;-)
Delete