What % gets Admiral?

[pdx]

Id have to talk to him again as to the why and how of it. Im thinking it has something to do with the idea of if the mains dont come down the first thing thats gonna touch is the engines.

I am guessing it has more to do with AF training and logic developed by fighter pilots for fighter pilots.

Its interesting to compare the percentages of 1LTs and Captains flying fighters in the AF to the number of Generals that came from those communities.

 

[Flash]

Its interesting to compare the percentages of 1LTs and Captains flying fighters in the AF to the number of Generals that came from those communities.

Huh?

 

[pdx]

Huh?

OK, that was a convoluted way of saying the fighter pilots lead the Air Force and make policy for everyone else. Even though they are a minority (Air Mobility Command is much bigger), they have the lion's share of flag officers.

 

[Flash]

OK, that was a convoluted way of saying the fighter pilots lead the Air Force and make policy for everyone else. Even though they are a minority (Air Mobility Command is much bigger), they have the lion's share of flag officers.

How is that different than the Navy? There was an excellent Proceedings article about 6-8 years ago that listed the percentage of Admirals that were aviators and what communities they came from (if I remember correctly, it was a critique of the lack of diversity at the ADM level). The vast majority, 60-70% came from the VFQ, VA and VF communities, while VP made up almost 20% with VAW/HSL/VS/VAQ/HS making up the other 10-15%. Several communities like VRC, VQ, HC and HM had no ADM's.

Not much different than the Air Force, especially when you consider how many Naval Aviators were and are helo pilots (around 50% now, right?). While the numbers might have changed a little bit (but not that much), they are still very under-represented in the Admiral ranks.

 

[skidkid]

Seriously off topic but interesting nonetheless.

On the Green side it is Phrog guys and Hornet guys that are overrepresented at the Flag level but that seems to be changing slowly.

 

[Gatordev]

Sorry, couldn't resist the thread name. Split this off as it's an interesting topic.

Skid, is it -46 guys because they're assault, and therefore in the middle of the action? Or are there just a majority of -46 guys in the aviation community (ie, lots of Phrog squadrons)?

 

[airwinger]

Intrestingly, we were talking about this at the squadron today and from my(i.e snuffy) level it has more to do with command opportunities as a lt colonel and colonel than anything else.
A hornet pilot has 6 dedicated single seat squadrons at the LtCol level plus the 6 two seat squadrons they split with the WSO's. Then MAG-11,MAG -12 and MAG-31 are exclusively(or so it seems hornet commands) Add the possibility of MAWTS-1 and things look up for those 7523's

The Phrog guys are even better off(%wise at least) They have their phrog Squadrons at LtCol but at Col they then get to be MEU CO's and those commands seem to show up in a large number of Generals' Bios. Most of the MEU CO's have previously commanded either the BLT(grunts) or the principle aviation asset namely the Phrog squadron. Add the various helo MAG's and ...you get the pic.

Harrier guys seem to be have a lock on MAGS 13 & 14 and/or MAWTS-1.

Prowler pilots (in case your curious as I was) have the 4 VMAQ squadrons where the ECMO's outnumber them 3 to 1, then after that since MAG-14 has had(past 2 CO's if not more) a harrier CO, well I don't quite know what happens to Prowler pilots that are full Colonels. Truth be told don't think I've heard of or met one yet.
That's a snuffy's perspective, I'd be curious to hear what the more experienced guys think.

 

[mmx1]

What command opportunities do the Light/Heavy helo guys have?

 

[Gatordev]

Could it be that certain communities (i.e. anything big and multi-engined) are more likely to split for the airlines while other communities (fighters) are more inclined to stay in for a full 20 years?

That may be true, but there are still plenty of people staying in to man the jobs. Let's get down to the nitty gritty. The air wing is where the action is, so if you're outside of the airwing, generally, you're not w/ the "in" crowd.

@mmx:

For HSL (and perhaps HS), things slow down after squadron CO. Guys will roll to a paper-pusher tour and/or go be an Air Boss on a big Gator. From there, it would be things like Region Commander, which often is an Admiral. Two guys every two years will be the Wing COs for the community. And that's about it. It's pretty limited if you're one that wants to keep climbing.

 

[skidkid]

Sorry, couldn't resist the thread name. Split this off as it's an interesting topic.

Skid, is it -46 guys because they're assault, and therefore in the middle of the action? Or are there just a majority of -46 guys in the aviation community (ie, lots of Phrog squadrons)?

The paradigm is changing a bit but it is Phrog guys becasue they are the ones who form the basis for a composite squadron, the ACE on the MEU so they have "led a Squadron of 5 different TMS forward deployed blah blah blah"
on their FITREPS

 

[Gatordev]

Gotcha. Plus, there really do seem like there are a lot of them, percentage wise. Maybe that's just me.

 

[airwinger]

Three years ago I said General Conway was my best bet for the next CMC, keeping the tea leaf reading business, based on the colonel command slate I bet that the 2008(or worst case 2009) BGEN promotion boards will have
1.Col Mccoy going 7th Marines
2. Col Fippinger going to MAG-11
V/R
'snuffy promotion guesser' airwinger