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"Ed Rasimus" wrote in message ... On 09 Mar 2004 14:46:26 GMT, (ArtKramr) wrote: Since I started this thread on instructors who have have combat experience versus those who have not, 100% of the replies were in favor of instructors who have never been to combat. Many state that they would rather have an instructor who was skilled at instructing suggesting that once you have been to combat you were automatically a bad instructor. Hard to buy. That isn't what has been said. No one has suggested that having been to combat made you a bad instructor. Some points that have been made include: 1. Some course (such as UPT) are taught at a level that doesn't require operational experience, let alone combat. Take-offs and landings, basic formation, and instrument flying skills can be taught by almost any graduate. 2. While combat experience might be good at the operational training courses it isn't always available--long periods between wars have often left a shortage of combat experienced folks. 3. Combat survival does not equate with instructional skill. Some folks make good teachers and some make good warriors. Sometimes both skills exist in the same person, but not always. 4. A mix of some combat vets and some non-combat experienced instructors is more than adequate to inculcate the necessary combat skills. 5. Technology has advanced since WW II. I know that is hard to believe, but sixty years has resulted in some increased complexity in war-fighting beyond the Browning .50 and the Norden bombsight. In some training courses, the instructors are civilian contractors rather than operational military. There is another factor. when you have an instructor who has never fought and probably never will, and you know that you damn well will, he goes down a notch in respect because he is in a job that "protects": him from combat while you will soon be sent into the thick of it.. So when we all talk of combat experiences and one among us says " well I wasn't there, I was an instructor in the states" he is now out of the loop.. Not that his job wasn't critically important. It sure was. . At any rate things sure have changed since WW II. We considered a combat veteran as an instructor a gift from the gods. Your mileage may vary. Tactics are today. Doctrine is yesterday. Do the same thing more than twice in combat and you are stereotyped and predictable. Survival depends upon unpredictability and tactical creativity. Quite often training by combat experienced instructors from last year or last war might be counter-productive. The intangible of demonstrated courage lends credibility, but it doesn't equate with best training. My mileage has most definitely varied--and there's been a lot more of it. Ed Rasimus Bravo. Spot on point for point. JB |
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