CONUS Squadron is the word. From what all of the briefs I've sat in on have said, none of the squadrons will be deactivated.
But like I say, nothing in the Navy is 100% until its already happened, and even then its questionable.
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The Great Growler Gallery
- Thread starter woodman
- Start date
CONUS Squadron is the word. From what all of the briefs I've sat in on have said, none of the squadrons will be deactivated.
But like I say, nothing in the Navy is 100% until its already happened, and even then its questionable.
I still can't get my head around a 4-plane "squadron". The last Whidbey A-6 squadron fly-in had 4 diamonds of 4 each in one big diamond = 16 total. Oh, well .... 
And I should know this, but to save me lookin' it up -- will the "new squadrons" have 4 (6?) aircraft ... ???
And I should know this, but to save me lookin' it up -- will the "new squadrons" have 4 (6?) aircraft ... ???
Huh?! Sorry for the bad info: I have an AF bud who got hired by them about 8 months ago. Thanks for the update. I'll have to call and find out what will happen to his billet/assignment. I believe he's at Whidbey in training right now (in the Prowler).
I believe that the Gauntlets will remain in CVW 5, but will be completing an aircraft swap with 141. 132 was supposed to do the aircraft swap, but that appt was delayed by the GW.
The answer is that the pilots are going to have A LOT of work to do. They (we) are no longer going to be able to simply drive the bus. The nice thing though is that we will be trained to and capable of doing just about everything the guy in the back is doing. If I were an ECMO/WSO and I knew the pilot could make jx assignments and harm packages, I would want to make sure that I was REALLY good at it myself (watch E2/E3 get all sorts of pissed when the pilot starts fooling around in an ICAP III jet now). My thought is that this and the fact that the number of NFO seats is being reduced is going to mean that if you're not a superb / break out ECMO/WSO your days are numbered. The community will no longer be able to 'hide' its weak players (and there are A LOT of 'em out there) in a four person crew. All that being said, much more is going to be expected from the pilots - however I contend that you have a lot of pilots in the fleet that are itching for something more to do than simply take off and land.
It will be nice to get away from the "its an NFO's community" mindset that gets ingrained as early as VT-4/10/86. A little parity is never a bad thing.
My two (an probably unpopular) two cents.
Easy there, dog - the final death knell hasn't been struck yet. There are a lot of machinations going on behind the scenes. The Magic Eight-Ball still says "Future uncertain - check again later!"
U-2 interservice transfer pilots may still have a future beyond the Prowler...
You know, you bring up a good point, gotta get rid of all those weak ass pilots too!
You want some cheese with that?
Perhaps, but your opinion of who is a "weak player" is likely a pilot-centric view of that persons skills. Back seat is the weapon system and there are those that like that work and are good at it and there are those that are better at front seat. The Growler will be a forcing factor in rounding those skills out but I don't think it's accurate to pronounce it based on what you see.
This is "normal" when you consider the squadrons, the RAG, depot level maintenance, hangar queens, VX's, TPS, other flight test requirements, etc, etc, ... and was confirmed to me today by an O-6 who's gonna fly the Queer F-18.
And he also told me 5 birds/squadron -- thanks a lot for the non-response to my earlier question, guys. Boy, guess I gotta go to the "top" to get any answers around here ...
The "swap" in question (141 for 136) will happen around 2011. This is totally different than the swap going on WRT HK for GW.
@ A4s, there will be 5 jets per squadron.
@ FlyinSpy - wishful thinking. Everyone (and I mean everyone) I've heard talk on the subject says you guys aren't getting Gs. Sorry bro, wish it weren't so.
Brett
Classic.
Roger that -- thanks -- which brings a slight detail to mind:
How ARE you boys gonna do a fly-in w/ 5 birds and look "good"??
A 5-plane "vic" .... ???
Concur...and they also buy a few for "attrition reserve" based on historical mishap rate of similar airframe/mission.
I presume your assertion is that my previous post was 'whiny'? Typical. Feel better now? The guy asked a question about how the division of labor in the cockpit would work and I answered the question for him.
I'm starting to recall why I stopped visiting this site the first time several years ago. :banghead_