The issue here, as in the line, is a question of ‘availability’ versus ‘productivity.’ You cannot have both. Availability costs money in the bean counters’ eyes, because you run the risk of your people and assets being underutilized when things are calm. Availability is indeed life-saving and crucial when the brown hits the fan. It can make the difference between winning/losing or living/dying. That is a cost that does not fit neatly on a spreadsheet.

Productivity is the new mantra. Fewer docs, even fewer nurses and corpsman. Doing more with less, until you’re doing everything with nothing. CO’s look good, because their hospitals are “productive.” Lost in all of this is the cost of being unable to meet demand for services when crisis occurs. In other words, when war happens.

You said the name of the Devil! Nose and I had just about put the “S” name out of our heads…………

Nose,

We had already fixed the Seabats by the time you showed up.

The Navy is the author of this current crisis. It kicked most of its major Naval Aviation procurement decisions down the road. Just about every platform we are buying was feasible back in 2000 (E-2D, F-18, Growler….). Naval Aviation leadership was so fixated on the F-18 E and F that it let so many other things slide, because the F-18 program “cannot fail. We cannot have another A-12″ We got our wish. Now Helo procurement is a train wreck, the P-3 community is killing itself, JSF is bleeding us white, and there is still the problem of C’s and D’ running out of shelf life.

And not once during the last 9 years did any of our flags bang on a table and complain about it. They were too busy trying to re-organize CNAP for the tenth time.

As for AT’s-well they may be sending boxes to AIMD but to what purpose? Most of the AIMD’s have been raped manpower wise because of the Regional Maintenance Center concept and the decline of overseas production capabilities.

And for SJS, you obviously never flew with Burl (you know who I am talking about). You would not wax so eloquent on FT’s if you did.

Don’t want to tell you how to run your place, but it would add some curb appeal…

Blackeagle – I see your problem, you started out on the gay….er, sorry, I mean wrong….oops, West coast.

Have a nice weekend.

One of ‘em got a nice pic of it w/ one of our birds on the taxiway before they got busted and sent to repaint it.

Oh.