On 18 Nov 2003 21:34:49 -0800, (WaltBJ) wrote:

The real problem comes from the different missions of the 'biggies'
and the fighters. The 'biggies' all fly canned schedules, with lots of
time to figure things out.

In your fantasy dreams..

A fighter outfit following a canned traing
schedule is in much the same boat. But fighters must 'surge' now and
then, either for evaluation (flunk and hell breaks loose)or for combat
(flunk and hell is for real.)

So what would you call ORI, Chrome Dome, and something called ARC
Light, etc., on the "biggies"?
Have you ever been around the maintenace shops for B-52s when they
were regenerating aircraft for alert after an ORI? After your're in
the middle of an ORI and HQ decides to throw in some special missions?

My outfit at Danang had a stand-down day
- the other two squadrons were going to cover the frag. They fell on
their butt and while 115 of my guys were at China Beach 22 of my guys
launched 19 sorties with our 20 old F4Ds. ADC used to run 72 hour
exercises. No-notice, unscheduled, max effort. 15-20 minute
turn-arounds. I have flown 12 sorties in 72 hours several times in
those things.

Sorties are apples and oranges when comparing fighters and bombers.
They are two very different machines. There were more ECM systems
alone on a bomber than all the electronic systems that could be
crammed in a fighter. I am not sure, but I think a bomber just might
have a few more ounces of fuel than a fighter so it just might take a
few minutes more for refueling. Then there is lox, expendables, etc.
That was the good old days though. I wonder how the "biggies" have
done in our latest wars? All canned schedules, etc.?

In the Cuban Crisis we flew 1800 hours in one month with
20 F102As. That sort of effort takes the highest degree of morale and
esprit and training to pull off. That is when the extra manpower has
to be there to hack the mission. 66-1 may be efficient in the use of
manpower but there is generally no slack even considering a canned
training schedule what with real manning under authorized levels
especially in the higher skill levels plus guys on leave, TDY, etc. If
the wheels had ever manned the units to meet surge requirements -
well, any organization would have worked with good people at the helm.

SAC sucked and and the morale and esprit and training was lousy. I saw
better morale and esprit and training in SAC than at most any fighter
base. The one exception was Ubon with then Col. Olds, but before and
after things were not exactly great. People at the helm came and went,
but the NCOs were there doing the job. A job they believed in and
passed on to the new troops.

But to get a guy to put out his best over any considerable time takes
personal contact and visible leadership. It is much easier to get
everybody going the same direction if there is no visible tangible
demarcation between ops and maintenance ie we all wear the same patch.

And you still have people in the back shops that never see the light
of day right? The shop tech probably sees a crew member about as often
as the clerk did in the base tech order library? Home many shop techs
were behind the guy on the flightline?

As for 7-levels sitting in bread trucks playing cards waiting a call -
it didn't happen in the 102 or F4D outfits I was in. They were busy
fixing airplanes or training the FNGs.

Not unusual in our biggies shop at three in the morning while the crew
chiefs were sleeping, I mean doing record checks, that a 7 or 5-level
would be heading to a dark, empty flightline to replace a unit he had
removed hours earlier, repaired, and was now ready to reinstall.

I will admit I always thought it was something of a waste to train
someone for a highly technical electronics field and then have them
spend the rest of their enlistment loading tinfoil and changing 200+lb
transmitters. There were some that really disliked the shop, but if
the flightline work was finished as much as it could be they could at
least be breaking down equipment for repair, doing some of the less
technical work, paperwork, etc. Seems more prodcutive from the shop
point of view than pumping up tires, or sitting in a line truck
watching the stars...