USAF Ordered to Step Up and Man Up

Strategy Page ^ | 3-23-08 | Jim Dunnigan

[SIDENET]

This thread will probably devolve into a lot of anti-Air Force and anti-officer comments.

[Jet Jaguar]

Just FYI. The Predator crew operate from the States. However, the maintainers work from deployed locations halfway across the world.

Supply procurement difficulties and duty day work hour limits for maintenance crews plays heavily into this.

[Jet Jaguar]

It will.

If history is any indicator.

[Red_Devil 232]

The Secretary of Defense is siding with the army, and is telling the air force to get off their butts and get more Predators into the air, or else.

This kind of program should never have been a mission of the Air Force. Put it in control of the Army and Marines.

[thackney]

Sky-Warrior ERMP UAV System
http://www.defense-update.com/products/w/warriorUAV.htm

The Sky Warrior carries multiple payloads and have wing hardpoints for carriage of external stores including expendable sensors and weapons. Up to four Hellfire / Viper-Strike weapons could be carried. Unlike the US Air Force Predator, Army Warriors will be configured to fly autonomously. The system will utilize the 'One Station', the US Army standard STANAG 4586 compatible UAV GCS also used for the control of the RQ-7B Shadow, MQ-5B Hunter and future combat system's Vertical take-off and Landing UAV (FireScout VTUAV). The use of a common ground station offers better utilization of available assets and manpower skills. The same GCS is scheduled to fly with the US Marine Corps Pioneer tactical vehicles in early 2006.

[tongue-tied]

duty day work hour limits for maintenance crews

Say again, over? While I am enjoying truly scheduled work hours right now, I've always understood that I was there until there were enough "up" aircraft for the next day's schedule. Be that 12, 15, even 20 hours if required. And that was ashore, and stateside.

[Jet Jaguar]

12 hours on equipment work. You stay later to complete documentation.

[tongue-tied]

hmmm...not in my Navy. You stay until the equipment is fixed, and THEN do the paperwork. Might as well leave your watch in the shop, because there is no ‘time’ on the flightline.

[A.A. Cunningham]

Based on the air force’s track record, most of those comments will be wholly justified.

[SIDENET]

Based on the air force’s track record, most of those comments will be wholly justified.

Well, you threw it out there.

Now back it up.

[SIDENET]

Based on the air force’s track record

Pretty broad brush there, BTW.

[flowerplough]

Any reason that this post shouldn’t devolve into a lot of anti-Air Force and anti-officer comments? Many are of the opinion that Air Force officers sometimes deserve a goodly portion of the verbal abuse that enlisted men and men from the other services seem to heap upon them.

Never around Air Force when I was in the Army, but do remember reading David Hackworth explaining that in First Iraq, the Air Force pilots’ air-conditioned buses, the ones that ran between the airbase and their hotel billets, kept washing dust all over the Marine pilots who were sleeping in their foxholes next to their planes.

Has the devolution begun?

[Jet Jaguar]

Well, I have worked +12 fixing jets

But, the regs (USAF) don’t allow it.

Just saying.

[Jet Jaguar]

I enjoy my hotel room when I can get it.

I endure my tent and cot when I have to (currently).

I have slept in a bag in a hangar a few times.

[SIDENET]

Any reason that this post shouldn’t devolve into a lot of anti-Air Force and anti-officer comments?

Perhaps because the US has the best Air Force in the world, with the broadest mission of any air force in the world, and is currently strung out all over the world enforcing national policy?

Never around Air Force when I was in the Army, but do remember reading David Hackworth explaining that in First Iraq, the Air Force pilots’ air-conditioned buses, the ones that ran between the airbase and their hotel billets, kept washing dust all over the Marine pilots who were sleeping in their foxholes next to their planes.

You want your country's AF personnel living in crappy conditions? (BTW: a lot of them currently are) What point does that serve?

[SIDENET]

Pardon the run on sentences, bad puntuation, etc.

It's early, need coffee, blah blah blah.

[tongue-tied]

Well, we have crew rest for aircrew. Required rest rules, bottle to throttle rules - all of that.

But maintainers have no such relief mechanism. We work until the job is done or we're relieved by the oncoming shift. In my checkered past, there were several days where I've said "Here's what we've got..." to my day check maintainers. Unless it was Friday night - that was when we could put in those 20 hour days. Yikes.

They (DX) work 8 hours, night check (NX) works until they finish or see smiling faces of day checkers. Our motto was "There is Day Check, and Stay Check."

That was before I crossed the stream and became the bad guy directing such tasking.

[Jonah Hex]

Should they live under better conditions than soldiers, Marines, and SEALS?

[Strategerist]

The Air Force were the ones that named their “Strategic Communications” enemies as the Army and Navy in a recent powerpoint.