Comments on: Sigh

By: dave

dave — Sat, 31 Dec 2005 20:50:17 +0000

you guys just don’t the know the details

By: Eagle1

Eagle1 — Fri, 09 Sep 2005 00:09:52 +0000

Let’s see -

Free-lancing a mission, talking back to the boss and going to the press afterwards…and messing with unit integrity …

Probably not getting a very high mark in “judgment” on the next fitrep..

By: Shadow

Shadow — Thu, 08 Sep 2005 16:56:51 +0000

I suppose the stereotype authoritarian commander makes sense if one’s experience with the military is confined to Kelly’s Heroes reruns (quite frankly the folks I new in the service were a far more diverse group than the yuppies I’ve dealt with since then). Of course it wouldn’t register on the NYT type that the assigned mission just might have been just as, or even more, important and life critical than a rescue of opportunity. Beside, if you don’t get chewed out a few times as a JO you’re probably a bit short in the initiative dept. anyway (as an old associate of mine used to frequently put it “if we’re not suppossed to, somebody will yell at us”, they did).
As far as 17 year LTs go, probably an ALDO or NESEP.
New site looks good, I imagine the “object expected” error flags will diminish over time.

By: badbob

badbob — Thu, 08 Sep 2005 16:04:30 +0000

I saw this yesterday in the EB and just wrote it off to a NYTs kind of job- IE blackening the eye of an institution under the guise of “just rteporting”.

I take it the CDR was their (the JOs) CO. Bad move. LT fitreps loom. LOL.

But then again some folks may be terminal. To prove a point:

“We’re not technically a search-and-rescue unit, but we’re trained to do search and rescue,” said Lieutenant Shand, a 17-year Navy veteran..”

A 17 year LT doesn’t have much to lose…

The question remains though. Would you hire him if you owned a helo business?

As the movie TopGun points out, Maverick is a fine callsign for gamblers but isn’t neccesarily a good moniker to have in Naval Aviation.

By: lex

lex — Thu, 08 Sep 2005 15:18:18 +0000

Good catch, Joe – still getting used to the new interface.

Sean, glad you like it – and I trust you guys and your values. Something about having to put my elbows on the table make me want to trust you

Beth – I think both are probably true: Once the guys got off mission, it’s impossible to say, “Stop rescuing people.” But once they return to base, the boss has a right to tell them that their “initiative” was misdirected. I think at that point, one of the guys grew a beak and protested that his boss was being an idiot, or words to that effect. When the boss (no doubt harried) took exception and put the pilot to pasture for a while to cool down, the young man went to the press.

Yelling at your seniors is viewed rather dimly, over here. As is going over their heads to the press…

By: Idaho Joe

Idaho Joe — Thu, 08 Sep 2005 14:11:49 +0000

Kind of early for a Friday Musing isn’t it? I like the new look though, not that anything was wrong with the old one.