WaltBJ wrote:
I think it all depends on how bad you want to fly. If you want to get
to flag rank, then, no. If all you want to do is fly (fighters, of
course!) then it looks good. But cutting them off at W4 is weird and
keeping them from Squadron CO slots is stupid because that's where you
need a top-notch leader and pilot. A super warrant rank equal to O5
would fit the bill but that will never happen in the mighty USN. I
presume in the USN one must fill the CO square to become a CAG and then
command a CV on the way to a flag. (Pardon my ignorance in such
matters.) In the USAF DCS/Personnel rates 'career progression' over
flying performance. USAF operators have looked at and pushed LDO for
quite a few years (personal communications from guys with stars here)
and have always been shot down by the personnel weinies. So - just
about when a pilot gets really sharp in fighters he is given a desk.
I've only been in one squadron (out of eleven) where at least 90% of
the guys were what I would call truly prepared to meet any eventuality
and prevail. The average fighter (!) time in that outfit at that time
was about 2400 hours. The skill doesn't come easy - you have to want to
and you have to work at it - continually. Problem is the DCS/P types
think winged personnel are fungible - one is just as good as the next
one. Hell, civil aviation has amply disproved that concept time and
again. Greek 737, anyone?
Walt BJ

You've got the picture, almost precisely. Naval aviators "screen for
command" at O4. No one who fails to screen is going to be selected for
O5. Many of the best and brightest will not screen because of quantity
limitations (there are tremendously more O4 than O5 billets; I don't
know the ratio). Those whose careers have been outside the norm of
their contemporaries are going to be left in the shavings. The more
non-flying or non-fleet or logistic assignments, the more the hazard of
non-screening.

Your first four sentences tell the real tale: Warrant accession pilots
will NEVER be considered top-flight leaders and pilots. The intent to
exclude fighter/attack squadrons from the career path of warrants rings
the bell on that. They're intended to be low-paid equipment operators.

Rick