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Boudreaux Bob
30th Sep 2014, 00:18
Monday is never a good day to pass on good news.

Today was no different.

One US Army Aviator's take on the Briefing about the Future of Army Aviation.

Highlights from today's brief (note: SARCASM):

1. 13 down to 10 CABs in 4 years
2. OH-58 buddies, if you didn't know, you're out of a job. About 40% of you can go fly AH-64s, or go be UAV turd-er-operators, but you cannot under ANY circumstances fly UH-60s, we have too many pilots...
3. The army has the need for a light reconnaissance helicopter, but no $$ to procure a new one.
4. 58D Crew chiefs you are SOL, go do something else, oh yeah, and so are your MTPs and MEs.
5. They're nixing the TH-67s...so all those spoiled little WOJGYs at Rucker will now learn to fly in the LUH. Air conditioning? WHAAAAT??!!!
6. In the next four years the Aviation branch will be cutting 10,000 positions.
7. RLOs... well, nobody really cares about you.


Loosely translated it means Three less Combat Aviation Battalions.
OH-58 Kiowa Pilots face a bleak future.
Army Aviation is going to cut 10,000 Personnel.
Commissioned Officers are going to be really hurting for jobs.
Chinook and Blackhawk fleets are over manned.
Apaches and UAV fleets will take only about 60% of the soon to be unemployed Kiowa Pilots.

Tis not a good time to be an Army Helicopter Pilot if you want flying hours, promotion, or a pension.

Lonewolf_50
30th Sep 2014, 19:12
Bob, when the A-6 went away, not all of them became fighter pilots.
This happens in every drawdown.

Flugplatz
30th Sep 2014, 19:20
Bob,

Thanks for posting. I thought that the 'scout' pilots were the 'cream of the crop' so to speak? (or maybe that was just a rumour that some of them liked to spread!). I was told that the top-of-class graduates usually opted for the Kiowa as it was more interesting flying than ass-and-trash? (no disrespect)

Surely an option would be to let go of the guys nearing retirement or who would look at voluntary redundancy?

On the TH-67: Weren't a lot of the guys teaching basic rotary, civilians/ex-mil? (one of my friends did it for a while). I wouldn't expect contractors to be flying the UH-72, so would an option be to send some of the over-flow there?

Flug :8

The Sultan
1st Oct 2014, 02:09
Hugh Mills shows how "useless" the scout mission was/is!:ugh:

Lieutenant Colonel Hugh L. Mills, Jr., Retired - Lee's Summit Tribune - Lee's Summit News (http://lstribune.net/lees-summit-news/community/lieutenant-colonel-hugh-l.-mills-jr.-retired.htm)