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F-18's in Colo.
- Thread starter juslaxn
- Start date
MasterBates
Well-Known Member
HSL East
HSL-40 HK (RAG)
HSL-42 HN
44-48 were H(x)
HSL-40 HK (RAG)
HSL-42 HN
44-48 were H(x)
You might be thinking of these guys.... but it's an association and not a squadron. While a majority of members are former Air Force, they have a large representation of Navy and Marine pilots too.
http://www.river-rats.org/
invertedflyer
500 ft. from said obstacle
More power to the cargo guys.... but wrt F-16s thats NOT what I heard. My buddy is an F-15 crew chief at Nellis, and he said that only a handfull of F-16 units are deployed right now. Granted, theres only so much he would be privvy to, but thats what he said. Honestly, it didn't make sense to me. F-16s are low-maitenance and multi-role... you'd think that the Air Force would want that platform in theatre as much as possible. My friend could have mixed up his facts. Anyone else have any info, Hacker?
F-16's use half as much gas and are therefore more efficient.....There are more 16's in theatre than 15's.
Thank you sir! Q: Are they still as useless as when they were Commander, Carrier Air Wing Reserve 20?
We went to sea as an "air-wing" three times when I was there and each time the "CAG" either showed up late or left early!
Where I come from, the "Commander, Carrier Air Wing Reserve 20" was a guy; "CVWR-20" was an organization. Not clear which you are calling useless, which is a strong word either way.
There's a long history with CVWR-20 (and -30...) as to whether Big Navy ever intended them to go to sea as integrated wings, or whether it was simply a management structure for a bunch of reserve squadrons. I think the track record is clear that it was the latter, but Big Navy still voiced the former, and the wing tried to do what it could. The transition to TSW is (finally) a recognition that CVWR-20 was not a deployable air wing, at least in the mold of the others.
The times that individual CVWR-20 squadrons have gone to sea (or war) over the past 12 years have demonstrated that Reserve squadrons can still pull their weight, and then some. The future is bleak, though, so we'll have to wait and see what the next few years brings. The bottom-line intent of the Total Force Policy may fall by the wayside, which is probably not a good thing.
Usually, (by usually, I mean in the Navy) "Carrier Air Wing ONE" is the Air Wing. "Commander Carrier Air Wing ONE" is the Commander and his staff - in other words, if you looked up my UIC when I was a CAG LSO, I was not attached to "Carrier Air Wing ONE" but "Commander Carrier Air Wing ONE."
Clear as mud?
If you are a deploying wing, the CAG staff's job is to support the squadrons and facilitate deployment. At Cag 20, the staff spent most of their time tasking and basically trying to justify their existence. Perhaps that has changed. I doubt it.
There are two problems with USNR in general:
1. The real Navy (I prefer that term to "Big Navy" it is more accurate.) does not use the reserves effectively, or really, at all. IAs do a great job of filling the gaps, but you don't need all the structure we currently have to provide IAs. With the exception of IAs/CBs/MPs and Docs, what does the great big USNR contribute to GWOT or OIF/OEF? Not USNRs fault, in fact it is USN leadership fault. They still haven't learned what USAF and USA learned long ago - if you beat up the reserves, you will lose a lot less of the active force. That is what the reserves are for.
2. Too many senior "leaders" in USNR want to keep the USNR status quo. When Balls Cotton and CEO Clark started talking about revamping USNR so that they REALLY contributed, which involved (gasp) TARs and the rest of us yahoos deploying and more then 1 weekend/month 1 week/year for the Prairie Navy, the howling from reserve Captains and Flags was unbelievable. At VAW-78, we prepared a brief about the most effective use of our people and assets. We figured out that on 15% of what we did actually contributed to the mission of the Navy. The rest was basically squadron level and wing level masturbation. Our proposal was to get rid of the reserve "CAG" and chop the squadrons to the typewings where they could do some good - support the RAGs, augment deploying squadrons, etc. The CAG at the time told us to never give that brief again...
Clark is gone, Mullen was no fan of the reserves, don't know about the new CNO, but if I were a betting man, I'd bet that nothing will change.
My little slice of the Reserves was VAQ-209 from 1995 to 2006. In that time went to Aviano for the Kosovo debacle, two trips to fly Northern Watch and One to fly Southern Watch. Since I've gone they've done one cruise in country. More combat time in the Reserves than I did active duty (ODS and ONW)
Lost track of the number of RAG dets, deck quals, Red Air support and joint EW support we did. I averaged four, week to two week dets a year, one drill weekend and five additional drills a month. All in all it averaged 11 weeks of active duty a year. A Reserve squadron is by no means a one weekend a month job. By saying "chop them to the typewings," at least in the case of the Prowlers, they'd simply become a pool of winged parts. At least as a Reserve component we were able to provide assets and a pool of aircrew with far more experience than any fleet squadron. Most times we did not have any aircrew with less than 1000 in type and most had 2K+, In addition, from the ECMO side, most of us worked in the DoD and Intel community and brought far more insight into the EW and SEAD world than the fleet "experts".
Awesome. You were ambiguous in your wording as to whether you were referring to the man or the organization. Tighten up your grammar, and you won't have those problems.
You are spot on that the mismanagement of the Reserves belongs at the feet of the senior leadership of the Navy, past and present. Has "the Navy" restructured the Reserves since 9/11 to best support ongoing ops? Hell, the Navy has barely gotten itself out of a "seize the Norwegian Sea and bash Kola" mindset, let alone restructure the Reserve component for GWOT support. The motto of the Navy since time immemorial has been "We fear change
As far as USNR contributions to the GWOT? I can only speak from my little corner of the world. Since 2001, we've done an OSW rotation, an ONW rotation, a UDP deployment to Iwakuni, flown 1500+ hours in OIF, and are getting ready to go donwnrange again. Also multiple ME Phases, RAG dets, FME testing, and other Fleet support efforts. I'd call that a decent effort.
phrogpilot73
Well-Known Member
Since this thread has devolved from spotting F-18s in colorado, to tail codes, to USNR support in the GWOT - I figure why not spiral it in another direction...
I'm not surprised that the USNR is contributing alot to the current mission. My future unit did 7 months in Iraq, then did the high-five turnover with their counterparts from the West Coast. Seven months later they did it again. As I was starting to rush them, the CO/XO both mentioned that while they do get more good deals than active duty squadrons (air shows and the like), they do alot of real-world stuff all the time.
I also agree that a reserve squadron will bring more experience to the table... I'm going to be the boot of the squadron and I have over 1000 in type, and close to 400 goggle hours. No nuggets. Ever.
I'm not surprised that the USNR is contributing alot to the current mission. My future unit did 7 months in Iraq, then did the high-five turnover with their counterparts from the West Coast. Seven months later they did it again. As I was starting to rush them, the CO/XO both mentioned that while they do get more good deals than active duty squadrons (air shows and the like), they do alot of real-world stuff all the time.
I also agree that a reserve squadron will bring more experience to the table... I'm going to be the boot of the squadron and I have over 1000 in type, and close to 400 goggle hours. No nuggets. Ever.
Rats! As I was typing my post last night, I thought "VAQ-209" and forgot to give you props. You guys DID do a lot. My bust.
As far as "chop to typewings" we stipulated that in the "best use" scenario, they would be used for their expertise, not for parts.
Amen on the aircrew experience. VFA-201 kicked every other squadron's ASS when it came to any metric you wanted to use. So they disestablished them....
Again, I apologize to all you VAQ bubbas... I forgot and left you out.
Indirectly supporting the GWOT I suppose, but gotta give props to the reservists in the HT's. They are usually some of the better instructors, in my opinion. Plus they give a different perspective when they talk about the civ flying they usually do outside of the military.