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Fighter pilots’ dreams crushed
The Copenhagen Post ^ | 4/19/2010 | The Copenhagen Post

Posted on 04/20/2010 4:34:05 PM PDT by ErnstStavroBlofeld

There is no need for any more fighter pilots so current trainees have had their training programmes halted

Twelve young Danes, who were due to be sent to the US to train as fighter pilots, have had their dreams taken away following a political decision. The ruling follows an agreement in parliament to reduce the number of operational F-16 fighter pilots from 48 to 30.

Lars Skjoldan, a communication officer with Tactical Air Command, told Berlingske Tidende newspaper that the decision had not been taken lightly.

‘The Air Force really regrets the decision and realizes that the dreams of these young people may have been destroyed. But it would be absolute madness to train people to fly combat aircraft that we don’t have,’ he said.

The cadets, who had already completed basic training at a flight school in Karup and trained to be officers, now face a career with both feet on the ground, perhaps as radar operators giving combat aircraft orders.

Tactical Air Command say they have already cancelled two squads of trainee pilots at Karup and have stopped all new applications. It takes five years to train a fighter pilot

(Excerpt) Read more at cphpost.dk ...


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: aerospace; danishairforce; denmark; f16; fighterpilot; nato; tacticalaircommand

1 posted on 04/20/2010 4:34:05 PM PDT by ErnstStavroBlofeld
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To: sonofstrangelove
Perhaps it's about time we start thinking about withdrawing from NATO. Let the Europeans begin to foot their own bill for self-defense.

We might think to start a new alliance with some of the former Eastern block countries that aren't so hostile to America.

2 posted on 04/20/2010 4:36:22 PM PDT by OldDeckHand
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To: sonofstrangelove

But 100 pot smokers and 30 foreign born Muslims had their dreams made when their government gave them some cheese.


3 posted on 04/20/2010 4:37:44 PM PDT by Red6 (Where's my stuff? I want some more stuff too Mr. President!)
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To: OldDeckHand

The Eastern Europeans are always eager with the USA.


4 posted on 04/20/2010 4:37:59 PM PDT by ErnstStavroBlofeld ("I have learned to use the word "impossible" with the greatest caution."-Dr.Wernher Von Braun)
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To: sonofstrangelove

That’s happened here before too. It was called tailhook.


5 posted on 04/20/2010 4:38:42 PM PDT by pfflier
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To: sonofstrangelove

Heck just bring them over here and let them be pilots in one of our armed forces.


6 posted on 04/20/2010 4:39:05 PM PDT by Red_Devil 232 (VietVet - USMC All Ready On The Right? All Ready On The Left? All Ready On The Firing Line!)
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To: sonofstrangelove

I bet those 30 fighter pilots get all the hot chicks.


7 posted on 04/20/2010 4:47:01 PM PDT by mowowie
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To: mowowie
I bet those 30 fighter pilots get all the hot chicks.

And there are some really hot Danish chicks to be gotten.

Ask me how I know. ;)

It has something to do with both my daughters being blue eyed blonds and my granddaughters all having blue eyes as well. (although the twins probably are not blonds, their big sister is.

8 posted on 04/20/2010 4:57:55 PM PDT by El Gato ("The second amendment is the reset button of the US constitution"-Doug McKay)
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To: OldDeckHand

On a serious note-

Yes.

Nearly all European states will put national security and defense on the back burner while they focus all their effort on decade old bloated social experiments that failed but are as popular as ever for some reason (Maybe because the majority sucks off the government cheese teat in some way).

Near all these European states have their own agenda, i.e. France which sees it’s influence in Europe being bolstered by their military might, force projection capabilities and nuclear deterrence. Influence though security matters. There is a reason why every-time there is a crack in the alliance, instead of coming to help the French begin talking about how they can assume the role of providing a nuclear deterrence....bla bla bla. They all have their little pathetic interests and hardly see a macro picture, consumed by the provincial thinking and shortsighted ideological or economic interests. Their national politics dives their foreign affairs and security positions, as was the case with Germany and Iraq in 2002 (Schroeder got re-elected playing the anti war card). Even within Europe you can’t really find agreement for an embargo on Iran because after all, the German do a lot of business with them. Of course the Austrians too, and they to this day will try to deny that their rifles ended up in Iraq......... No macro picture, nationally driven (provincial thinking), concerned more about some “deal” they can carve out somewhere (While screaming no blood for oil), they are literally as Stain said, “The capitalist will sell you the rope with which you’ll hang em.”

Drilled through and through with ideology from the former soviets, massive immigration, massive birth rates by not Judea Christian peoples......Europe doesn’t even know who their allies and enemies are, and their is a reason why even in Europe you’ll see so much sympathy for the Palestinians around France where in some suburbs you have a small Arabia.

They take what they have for granted, not only their own freedoms and democratic processes, but also the fact that they are under the shield of NATO and specifically the US. They are quick to “demand” assistance in the 90s when the Balkans were ablaze, but they are weak to respond whenever the US needs anything. Again, look at the nay sayers in 2002-2003 and look at who benefited and “demanded” NATO intervention in the Balkans. The former German secretary of state is the best example of this type of person. Born with a silver spoon in his mouth, under the security blanket of the US and NATO, a young Joschka Fischer talked about the spiral of violence, the hegemony of the US bla bla bla, until he became the German Aussenminister and was the one asking for military intervention in the Balkans........ Irony-

While there are some in Europe that are close and trusted allies, many are not, and unfortunately NATO allows the moochers, the freeloaders that do nothing except talk about blood for oil when it’s election time to hide out and benefit from our actions and those that do take action. In the end of the day, the Germans even today are benefiting from what we did in Iraq and their firms are doing business there, their own threat picture was improved with the removal of Saddam and yes, they even buy oil on an open free market at the same price everyone else does............... The free-loaders in Europe get a free ride and there is no consequence. NATO as it stands is essentially a voluntary security organization where nations help at times to the degree they feel fit, when and how they want to. NATO is like a store where paying is optional, and you can decide yourself how much you feel like paying, yet walking out of the door with the goods.

The US should start a new security organization and dump NATO. NATO can’t be fixed. Rumsfeld tried 2001 - 2005 for years and they rejected every effort. Of course those doing the rejection were the moochers. It’s like asking a thief if we should pass a law against stealing. The new organization should be based on NATO but it’s new mission statement as well as the commitment by the member states should be better defined and enforced. NATO worked when Europe was scared of a Soviet and Warsaw Pact invasion and most understood the need to pay up, today it’s just a “useless expense” to most except when they need it. However, they demand and expect that the US honor and stand behind it 100% when they want something. NATO is a one way road and a financial liability for us from which we get little return.

Kill it, start over.


9 posted on 04/20/2010 5:13:01 PM PDT by Red6 (Where's my stuff? I want some more stuff too Mr. President!)
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To: OldDeckHand
Let the Europeans begin to foot their own bill for self-defense.

Defense from what? NATO was dead with the fall of the Berlin wall.

10 posted on 04/20/2010 5:17:52 PM PDT by AndyJackson
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To: Red_Devil 232

We too have more pilots than airframes and meaningful flying jobs.


11 posted on 04/20/2010 5:44:37 PM PDT by Sequoyah101 (Half of the population is below average)
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To: Sequoyah101
We too have more pilots than airframes and meaningful flying jobs.

Well you always need more pilots than airframes, even just counting line pilots. But you also need experienced fliers to lead the flying units. At least at the lower levels, perhaps up to Group or Wing.

12 posted on 04/20/2010 6:29:03 PM PDT by El Gato ("The second amendment is the reset button of the US constitution"-Doug McKay)
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To: sonofstrangelove

Bring them to America. We’ll swap a hundred (possibly more) illegal aliens for each one. The Danish politicians should love them. I know ours do.


13 posted on 04/20/2010 6:35:03 PM PDT by Moonman62 (The issue of whether cheap labor makes America great should have been settled by the Civil War.)
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