RAAF
Ozy Rotorhead, you are making some pretty wild generalisations there mate.
I'm out next week as it happens, after more than 20 years, and it's mainly to get stability for my family. However, I sympathise with those who are looking for something different at earlier stages in their careers.
Look around you -
low flying rates,
very poor serviceability (lots of old aircraft, cost cutting in spares support, lack of expertise in the maintenance organisations - cuts in their training schemes, struggling contractors),
overloaded squadron execs who are being EEO'd, OH&S'd and whatever else so much they hardly have time to steer the ship,
trying to pretend that less people can do the same job as more by working 'smarter not harder',
boggies being unable to get enough hours to get credible experience in their first tour and being behind the 8 ball from then on,
those same boggies coming back as squadron execs and not having much credibility because they never had time to do the job before being thrust into trying to run it,
senior officers getting posted in every 2 years, reinventing the wheel and then ****ing off,
Frankly, I think that we are simply ****ed because we have been forced to cut numbers and budgets below a critical mass, so too much corporate knowledge and experience is lost, and those that are left behind to struggle on get burnt out.
PS hueywsh, the RAAF is part of the ADF. You are talking about the Army.
[ 11 September 2001: Message edited by: Arm out the window ]
I'm out next week as it happens, after more than 20 years, and it's mainly to get stability for my family. However, I sympathise with those who are looking for something different at earlier stages in their careers.
Look around you -
low flying rates,
very poor serviceability (lots of old aircraft, cost cutting in spares support, lack of expertise in the maintenance organisations - cuts in their training schemes, struggling contractors),
overloaded squadron execs who are being EEO'd, OH&S'd and whatever else so much they hardly have time to steer the ship,
trying to pretend that less people can do the same job as more by working 'smarter not harder',
boggies being unable to get enough hours to get credible experience in their first tour and being behind the 8 ball from then on,
those same boggies coming back as squadron execs and not having much credibility because they never had time to do the job before being thrust into trying to run it,
senior officers getting posted in every 2 years, reinventing the wheel and then ****ing off,
Frankly, I think that we are simply ****ed because we have been forced to cut numbers and budgets below a critical mass, so too much corporate knowledge and experience is lost, and those that are left behind to struggle on get burnt out.
PS hueywsh, the RAAF is part of the ADF. You are talking about the Army.
[ 11 September 2001: Message edited by: Arm out the window ]
Join Date: Sep 2000
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As the old saying goes, "some days you're the hound, and some days you're the hydrant".
We all have days when we look out the window, and can't imagine any other aviation job in the world. You know what I mean - you're tally 1 and flaring into the merge, upside down at 50000' and Mach 2, landing your Herc on NVG's (or in Hawaii!) , slamming on a 40 STOL approach in the New Guinea highlands or getting sonobuoy hits off that sub you've been chasing for hours. Where else on earth can you do stuff like that and then go and talk about it for hours over cheap beers with some of the best mates you'll ever make?
Then there are other days when the bull@#%, the paperwork or the poodling just seems to go on forever. No one in the "support" elements seems to have the first clue about what we do, or why we're there, and if you want anything done properly, you have to do it yourself. On those days, you often ask yourself why you didn't leave years ago.
Someone said to me many years back that when you first start out, all the crap just washes over you. When you start noticing it, and more to the point, getting worked up over it, it's time to leave.
Me? Well, I'll never be the chief, but I reckon I've got a couple of years left in me yet. Like most of us, I've wanted to do this since I was a little kid, and I'd hate to look back in twenty years and realise that I left before I got it right out of my system. After all, you're a long time retired.
So, I go to work, I go flying in one of the world's great aircraft, I get paid pretty well for the privilege ('cause that's what it is), I ignore the bull@#$% and if I'm not flying, I'm out the door at 4.30.
Yeah......it's still the best flying job money can buy!
Cheers,
Swingwing
PS:see you all at the airshow - Friday night = enormous aircrew party at the mess. Get there, get there!
We all have days when we look out the window, and can't imagine any other aviation job in the world. You know what I mean - you're tally 1 and flaring into the merge, upside down at 50000' and Mach 2, landing your Herc on NVG's (or in Hawaii!) , slamming on a 40 STOL approach in the New Guinea highlands or getting sonobuoy hits off that sub you've been chasing for hours. Where else on earth can you do stuff like that and then go and talk about it for hours over cheap beers with some of the best mates you'll ever make?
Then there are other days when the bull@#%, the paperwork or the poodling just seems to go on forever. No one in the "support" elements seems to have the first clue about what we do, or why we're there, and if you want anything done properly, you have to do it yourself. On those days, you often ask yourself why you didn't leave years ago.
Someone said to me many years back that when you first start out, all the crap just washes over you. When you start noticing it, and more to the point, getting worked up over it, it's time to leave.
Me? Well, I'll never be the chief, but I reckon I've got a couple of years left in me yet. Like most of us, I've wanted to do this since I was a little kid, and I'd hate to look back in twenty years and realise that I left before I got it right out of my system. After all, you're a long time retired.
So, I go to work, I go flying in one of the world's great aircraft, I get paid pretty well for the privilege ('cause that's what it is), I ignore the bull@#$% and if I'm not flying, I'm out the door at 4.30.
Yeah......it's still the best flying job money can buy!
Cheers,
Swingwing
PS:see you all at the airshow - Friday night = enormous aircrew party at the mess. Get there, get there!
Join Date: Jul 2001
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Ron Forrest, yep I dont think you'd have too much trouble coming over to Army Avn. We are screeming for pilots on all types (blackhawk, huey, kiowa, even chinook). Tiger has been selected to be in service later in the decade and we are flat out with all sorts of operations all over this part of the world. Dont know anything about the citizenship requirements for you, but go for it anyway. Good luck. Look forward to having you. Just remember, the grass here is most likely just as drought and weed-ridden as that which you might be desiring to leave behing in AAC.
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Well said Swingwing.
I think for a lot of us, just providing posting stability would mean as much as a pay rise. (And the RAAF wouldn't have to go begging to the beancounters either.)
I have posting stability now, only because so many have left - and now there are so few!
I think for a lot of us, just providing posting stability would mean as much as a pay rise. (And the RAAF wouldn't have to go begging to the beancounters either.)
I have posting stability now, only because so many have left - and now there are so few!
