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Navy Helos: Day in the life of?
- Thread starter eddie
- Start date
ChuckMK23 said:
I could not disagree more! Not only would it be incredibly foolish to let those skillsets diminish, to say that airborne ASW is "not cool... and unrewarding" is just plane ignorance. Are there those who do not like it.... SURE!
I am not trying to start a flame war, but to my knowledge you were a -46 guy, just curious where your belief on this subject comes from.
The two are not mutually exclusive.Brett327 said:
ChuckMK23 said:Hey I didn't say it wasn't absolutely neccessary as a mission, it is - just for a helo guy it's not the most enjoyable of mission areas as a helicopter pilot.
Chuck I am just trying to understand why you think the way that you do. Based off your profile...IE -46 and -57 pilot, I can't imagine that you did much if any asw at all. So how can you say that it is not an enjoyable missions or rewarding. Granted all of my ASW so far is limited, but I find it highly enjoyable, and rewarding. It is like playing one big chess game, trying to out think the other guy. It is nice when you beat him.
Now is ASW as cool as shooting hellfires and things??? Maybe not. Is it as cool as flying a cobra around and killing bad guys... I am sure that you and most people would say no... Does that mean that it is not a good mission, worthy of a Naval Aviator??? NO! Just because we do not do marine or army type rotary wing flying, does not in any way mean we are lesser pilots doing a meanial task. I know from most of your posts that you believe that the Navy helicopter community should be taking on more of a combat role in the GWOT, and I agree with you... However, I do not agree that the other missions that we can do are any less important or as you say "glorious."
I personally did not join for the glamour or cool factor. I take pride in what I do and enjoy it a great deal.
Again I am not trying to attack you, just making sure that those who are thinking of going navy helos are not deceived into thinking that our community is full of a bunch of 2nd rate bench riders. Our missions are important... ALL of them.
Question: What Navy helo community has the most fun and does the most rewarding flying? In my former line of work, which I will not mention, I got to see HC do their thing from up on the bridge, but that's all I've seen. Who has the most fun? I'm selecting out of HT-8 in a couple months, so I need to know! Thanks for any input and sea stories.
I can't talk intelligently about HS as I have no knowledge about their community, however I have seen both the HC and HSL side. I will say that HC is definetly more laid back. HSL will be a lot more studying, but I still think it is a good time and good comm.
If I could choose all over again I would still pick HSL.
If I could choose all over again I would still pick HSL.
BCH,
Your point is very valid, but I think what Chuck might be referring to, even if he doesn't have much experience with it (and I don't know if he does), is the tedium of ASW. From what I remember, you are probably still in or just finishing w/ the WSTs. As far as the trainers go, their pretty engrossing. You usually have contact on something, MDRs are as far as you can see. Just wait until you're up at PMRF, the Chileans or, god help you, the Japanese, are zipping around on the range and all you can hear are those damn whales! Plus you have a fish on the rail, you're down to your last 2 buoys, and they're DICASS (read: screwed), and you need to get the qual so you don't have to come back here tomorrow.
Then there's ASW "Freeplay." Another term for looking for some damn 209 or something that might be in the area, but you have no place to start and you just want someone to queue you. And of course there's no P-3's on station because they're busying "not having a mission" in the 16 other theatres they have to support.
But when you do find them, you're right...it's pretty cool to ping the poor bastards into submission.
Your point is very valid, but I think what Chuck might be referring to, even if he doesn't have much experience with it (and I don't know if he does), is the tedium of ASW. From what I remember, you are probably still in or just finishing w/ the WSTs. As far as the trainers go, their pretty engrossing. You usually have contact on something, MDRs are as far as you can see. Just wait until you're up at PMRF, the Chileans or, god help you, the Japanese, are zipping around on the range and all you can hear are those damn whales! Plus you have a fish on the rail, you're down to your last 2 buoys, and they're DICASS (read: screwed), and you need to get the qual so you don't have to come back here tomorrow.
Then there's ASW "Freeplay." Another term for looking for some damn 209 or something that might be in the area, but you have no place to start and you just want someone to queue you. And of course there's no P-3's on station because they're busying "not having a mission" in the 16 other theatres they have to support.
But when you do find them, you're right...it's pretty cool to ping the poor bastards into submission.