How does the military choose which pilot goes to the war?

[PureMuscle]

How exacty does the military choose which pilots go to war and which ones don't. It s based on years of experience?

 

[KC-10 Driver]

It's generally based on your unit of assignment. If your aircraft or unit is needed, you go. If only part of a unit goes, then perhaps experience plays a part in the decision. Or, maybe squadron politics might play a part.

However, in my experience, in a partial unit deployment, a good cross section of experience levels deploy.

 

[talondriver]

I know a guy who was MQT'd in the viper as a brand new wingman during Desert Shield and subsequently flew combat missions during Desert Storm.

I also know a guy who was MQT'd in the Eagle as a brand new wingman during Desert Shield but stayed home during Desert Storm while his unit racked up the kills.

We like to to think the first situation is what should happen since you are technically certified to carry out your squadron's war doctrine after MQT and certification. BUT, we also know the individual wing commanders can do whatever they want with their squadrons.

My Eagle buddy's squadron put together a "Dream Team" (if you will) and sent them over. Some of the requirements were two-ship flight lead qual and at least one flag exercise under their belt. There were also a lot of FWIC grads on that team which wasn't a surprise.

That was then. Nowadays everyone's logging combat time due to all the obligations "forward".

 

[CrewDawg]

In our last deployment, we had two guys 4-5 months out of the B-course at luke.

 

[TankerDriver]

I'm assuming this question was aimed mostly at fighter pilots, but as a tanker pilot, I was sent over to "the war" a week after I was mission qual'd, which for me was about 3 months after I PCS'd to my base out of Altus. At the time, 3 months was a long time. I knew guys who mission qual'd in 4 weeks and were out the door a week later. Of course, we don't drop bombs though.

 

[PureMuscle]

Thanks guys'. I was always curious as to how they go about choosing things like that.

 

[RedDogC130]

I changed this reponse b/c it did come off a little harsh. Let me re-do it. The younger pilots will get tasked many more time than the older ones due to some of the reasons Albie and TD listed below. They covered it so nothing more to say from me. Thanks Albie and TD. You took my thoughts and put them into a real paragraph. Mabye that is why I can't seal the deal at the darn airline interview. Later

 

[AlbieF15]

Red Dog,

I don't want to sound condescending or like a know it all when I say this, so just take it for what its worth.

I heard similar arguments a while back in my current wing from some of the young captains. The fact is, some of those guys were in high school when I was off getting shot at on the ground in the first Gulf War. They were off at college during my first, second, third, and fourth TDY to the container for no-fly zone enforcement. They also missed those weeks out of the squadron I took doing other exercises, like Keen Edge over in PACAF.

So...they look at the roster and ask "why do I have to go--when THIS GUY or THAT GUY (use whatever old guy to fill the blank)" hasn't gone recently. The answer is generally something like "when you have as many days TDY as I do then we'll start making it equal..." Perfect system? Of course not. However--don't just judge what is going on by what you see happening this week or even this year in your squadron. I have a lot of friends who spend YEARS TDY to the various contingency locations around the globe, and remember a time when 120 days TDY per year was baseline and 180-200 wasn't out of the norm. I know the GWOT and post Iraqi Freedom world depends a lot more on Tac airlift guys then fighter guys, but from 1992-2003 there were squadrons deployed for extended periods to Saudi, Turkey, and Kuwait continously. If you squadron is anything like mine, there are a lot of "old" guys who have missed a lot of birthdays, anniversaries, and holidays over the years, and a look at the last 12-24 months of bad deal list won't show you the full story.

On the other hand--if they are just sandbagging you--shame on them.

 

[TankerDriver]

It all depends on your "other" job. Lots of people work the system and get jobs working in the OG or Wing so they get to stay home more. Others who don't have jobs or as important of a job get to deploy more often. IP's are scarce, so they get to stay home quite a bit more, especially the ones working for OGT. For the most part, the younger guys get sent out a lot to gain experience so they can go to upgrade (in the heavy world). Lately, it seems as though we are getting more hours than good experience, since being over in the desert for 200+ days a year flying circles over Iraq with one to a full stop when we get back isn't very beneficial when the squadron decides to send you on a TACC tasked Coronet, Capstone or Business Effort as a new AC. Right now, going from copilot to AC in the tanker takes about a year and a half, but I digress.

 

[L'il J.Seinfeld]

Red Dog,

I don't want to sound condescending or like a know it all when I say this, so just take it for what its worth.

I heard similar arguments a while back in my current wing from some of the young captains. The fact is, some of those guys were in high school when I was off getting shot at on the ground in the first Gulf War. They were off at college during my first, second, third, and fourth TDY to the container for no-fly zone enforcement. They also missed those weeks out of the squadron I took doing other exercises, like Keen Edge over in PACAF.

So...they look at the roster and ask "why do I have to go--when THIS GUY or THAT GUY (use whatever old guy to fill the blank)" hasn't gone recently. The answer is generally something like "when you have as many days TDY as I do then we'll start making it equal..." Perfect system? Of course not. However--don't just judge what is going on by what you see happening this week or even this year in your squadron. I have a lot of friends who spend YEARS TDY to the various contingency locations around the globe, and remember a time when 120 days TDY per year was baseline and 180-200 wasn't out of the norm. I know the GWOT and post Iraqi Freedom world depends a lot more on Tac airlift guys then fighter guys, but from 1992-2003 there were squadrons deployed for extended periods to Saudi, Turkey, and Kuwait continously. If you squadron is anything like mine, there are a lot of "old" guys who have missed a lot of birthdays, anniversaries, and holidays over the years, and a look at the last 12-24 months of bad deal list won't show you the full story.

On the other hand--if they are just sandbagging you--shame on them.

Albie--Let me start this post by saying I have all the respect in the world for you. I used your services and you helped me get hired by UPS last year.

Current Sq CC's were the ones who chose not to chase the airlines in the late 90's and just prior to 9/11. To label these guys as AF Yesmen would be accurate. How does averaging 240 days in the desert per year since 9/11 sound? That's what the O-3s and below have been doing while senior leaders were at home debating the new fitness uniform. The USAF is so political today, especially AMC, that to get ahead you had better champion every whim and each pet cause of your leadership chain. Rickenbacker, Mitchell, Arnold, Lemay, Daugherty, and Warden would be ashamed.

TankerDriver-- Don't you dare apologize for flying combat sorties as a tanker pilot!!! We were sent in during the first few days of OIF and the CFACC fully expected tankers to be shot down. We were there when the F-15Cs were on their way back to Kadena because they had no role in the fight. I saw plenty of AAA, MANPADS, and "science experiments" being fired up over my airplane while at 12000' refueling A-10s and 130s. And we did this with no defensive systems and no way to counter the threats. No other air campaign in history depended more on air refueling than OIF. I do not cower or defer to any fighter pilot regarding combat experience. It takes a lot of balls to pilot a flying gas tank when AAA bursts are knocking your altitude hold off. You don't have to drop bombs to be a combat pilot.