It doesn't help that Army 60s have the ridiculous IDLE-to-OFF spring-loaded lock.
Arrrrgh! And yet somehow the new guys coming out of Rucker seem to already have the bad habit of holding in the lock when they pull the PCLs out of fly. This of course is not required and it defeats the purpose of the locks. And then another common screw up is to put their thumb on the starter switch instead of the lock when shutting down.
As for keys? I think it is just to counter
this sort of thing. As an interesting side note, we actually have one aircraft whose #2 engine will start with the key off or not even in the ignition.
And then there is the cyclic mounted stabilator slew up switch.
No one asked us peons in the Army before they chose the LUH as a training aircraft. This was all wrapped up in the Army's budget and agenda to replace AD 58s and bolster their 64 fleet. So they take 64s and LUHs from the guard and give the guard broken down 60s. The actual politics don't matter so much as the fact that the LUH choice was based more on politics than training requirements.
Yes, Rucker sucks. But that is a thread better communicated over beers, and even then not very interesting. In addition to going to Rucker for seven courses over the past nine years, I've been to all three national guard training sites (EAATS, WAATS and HAATS). They all do a much better job than Rucker. BTW, HAATS had some of the best flying I've had in my career.
Not that anyone on this forum is being asked, but for the love of all that is Holy, do not use what the Army does at Rucker as an example to follow.