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Posted on 06/01/2007 6:38:34 PM PDT by SandRat
FR WAR NEWS!
He left active service as a Captain USA and came back as a CWO? He must’ve pulled some mighty long strings to do that ...
Wow. 36 years, that’s amazing.
The Sherpa (C-23/Shorts 360) is one of the most hideously ugly aircraft in the world, BTW, but it can go a lot of places and haul a lot of stuff, so it gets the job done! I’m actually surprised at this story, I didn’t think the Army had any fixed-wing aviation assets left whatsoever.
}:-)4
I’m not from a military family and don’t appreciate the significance of returning as a CWO. Would you splain it in simple terms for us non military folks?
And my congratulations & thanks to the CWO for serving our country for so long and so well!
Hand Salute to CWO Walker.
Great post! Thanks.
Got it, thanks!
I’ll bet he’s an expert STOL pilot.
If he flew Beavers and Birddogs, you know it.
}:-)4
For many of us that got caught in the Reduction in Force after Vietnam we were offered WO2 if we wished to stay in the Army. That was the offer for a lot of captains.
C-23 Sherpa: ‘The Aircraft That Can’ in Iraq
http://www.military.com/NewContent/0,13190,SS_101904_Sherpa,00.html
BALAD AIR BASE, Iraq — Fourteen hours before takeoff, the operations center of the 171st Aviation Regiment, owner of the C-23 Sherpa, gets a call that absentee ballots must absolutely, positively get to an airfield southwest of Mosul.
Can it do it?
Of course.
(snip)
It was '78, Mr. Peanut was President. Officer's slots, even in the Guard, were not easy to come by. While the enlisted ranks had openings, lots of draft induced enlistees were finishing up their 6 year commitment about that time. (I was in the Air Guard at that time, and we had one of those useless slugs, and he was *my* responsibility, sort of. There were two officers and two enlisted, one an NCO, in the engineering section, I was the junior officer, so I got tasked to ride herd on our draftsman, which was the guy who insisted on wearing a wig to drill (which was allowed at the time as long as the appearance of the wig met the regs.) Fortunately there wasn't much drafting to be done at that time, so as long as he kept to himself, and nominally did his "homework" (study for skill level upgrade, which he cared less about, since he really was a draftsman in his civilian job), and came to the minimum number of drills, we pretty much left him alone. I think he felt cheated once the draft had ended, but he was stuck with that six year reserve/guard commitment. The rest of the unit, was either veterans of active duty, or post draft true volunteers. We got the jobs done. We were an electronics engineering and electronics squadron, and often supported the active duty military in our area. In fact one job I oversaw, kinda sorta since the NCOs actually oversaw the troops, was one I'd help arrange when I was on active duty. Even though I spent 1 1/2 years in the AF Reserve while a grad student in between.
Anyway, I expect that while officer slots were hard to come by, because of all the folks RIFed in the Ford and Carter era downsizing of the active force wanting to fill those slots, Warrants and enlisted slots were not at the same premium. A warrant slot meant he got to fly, but didn't have to put up with most of the Mickey Mouse additional duties that the officers had and have to do. (The same is not true of non-flying warrants, at least not now, as I understand it at least) The Air Force retired it's last warrant, actually the Air Guard, at least a decade ago, and most were gone long before then.
They've also got various versions of the RC-12. Essentially versions of the Beech/Raytheon Super King Air. Some of them have somewhat "spooky" jobs, and lots of funny "stuff" sticking out of the airframe and wings.
.
A guy I work with used to be an army pilot, but he wasn't too good at the fixed wing stuff, being primarily a helicopter pilot. Still he felt he had to fly everything in his unit on occasion. One of the times, when it had been quite a while since he'd flown a fixed wing, he had to let the WO land the bird. Embarrassing, but smart. (He flew primarily Huey's and Blackhawks)
“For many of us that got caught in the Reduction in Force after Vietnam we were offered WO2 if we wished to stay in the Army. That was the offer for a lot of captains”
Same thing happened during the Clintoon years. I had to revert to CW2 from CPT if I wanted to keep flying. The alternative was to re-branch into the Infantry or Field Artillery.
“I didn’t think the Army had any fixed-wing aviation assets left whatsoever.”
The Army still flies several versions of the civilian King Air, namely the C-12 in various configurations. When I retired in 2005 they were also flying the UC-35, a “military” Cessna Citation. Now they’re working with the Air Force to field a Joint Cargo Aircraft to replace both the C-12 and the C-23. It would look something like this:
I bet you had more fun as a Warrent Officer.
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