"Pete" wrote in message
...
"Yama" wrote
My memory is fuzzy so I dug out the original article. Person in question
was
not a pilot but a Finnish mechanic. Here's his exact words (my
translation):
"In Finnish Air Force mechanics need a long and throught training, but
in
USA much of the technical work is done by recruit with a couple of weeks
theoretic training. -Maybe that's why Americans sometimes had hard time
to
grasp that we at rank of Lieutenant still actually do something to the
aircraft." Obviously I cannot personally verify how accurate his
description
is.

If the LT's are fixing the jets, what are the lower level NCO's and
privates/airmen doing?

They're helping them, doing all the kind of stuff which does not require
special expertise (hauling ordnance, fueling etc).
Reportedly it was difficult to position Finnish mechanics to USN training
programs, as they were used to totally different sharing of tasks.