How much flying?

[RampFreeze]

300 hours a year flying tankers??? Wow. Where ya at? Mildenhall or Kadena? You guys gotta start deploying alittle more. I'm at about 500 hours over the past 6 months. 400 of which is "combat".

Please tell me you put "combat" in quotes intentionally in an attempt to minimize the term. Logging "combat" time in the same airspace that civil airliners fly in is beyond a little silly. Now, for the guys down below 10,000' in that same airspace, it's an entirely different story. But, for the guys up above 20,000'... (Yes, I've got my fare share of this "combat" time) It really bothers me to see the exact same Air Medals given out during WWII for flying missions over Germany handed out today like candy for logging "combat" missions.

O.K., descending off of the soapbox now. Out.

 

[pilotyip]

Is it not know as combat support?

 

[CobraKai]

not anymore. When you are over the same threats as the guys below. Yes we are a little higher, but someone thinks we still have a chance of being shot down. Yes I have been and know other tanker guys that have been shot at. And before some pointy nose gets his panties in a wad, we do know that missles come up and flares go down (and by the way when was the last -15C modle combat hour logged?) Is it fair to those guys that flew in "real" combat? Probably not. Do most tanker pilots take our combat hours fully seriously, especially with Luftwansa 262 flying 10,000' above us? Probably not, right up until the DIRMOBFOR asks you to cover for the spec ops tanker that just MX CNX, hello low alt AR. The answer is, it all depends on what airspace you fly in. But hey we haven't lost a tanker yet so when the Iran thing kicks off in a few years we can move them closer to the target area.

 

[TankerDriver]

Please tell me you put "combat" in quotes intentionally in an attempt to minimize the term. Logging "combat" time in the same airspace that civil airliners fly in is beyond a little silly. Now, for the guys down below 10,000' in that same airspace, it's an entirely different story. But, for the guys up above 20,000'... (Yes, I've got my fare share of this "combat" time) It really bothers me to see the exact same Air Medals given out during WWII for flying missions over Germany handed out today like candy for logging "combat" missions.

O.K., descending off of the soapbox now. Out.

Yes, I did actually. I put "combat" in quotes because I don't consider this a conventional war anymore. It's more of a peace keeping mission now. However, I've done my fareshare of A/R at FL180 over Iraq and as low as 10k AGL over Afghanistan, well within range of most of the shoulder fired SA's that are being smuggled into these countries. Considering we're a pretty big target with 4 hot engines out there without countermeasures mind you, don't think the thought of being shot out of the sky with absolutely no warning hasn't passed through my mind. I wouldn't be suprised if CENTAF makes a "below 10,000" rule for the Air Medals one day. They already changed the amount of missions needed to get one. I agree that Air Medals for most of us just aren't a big deal anymore. I've gotten 3 of them over 2 - 60 day TDY's. The paperwork gets to be more pain than it seems to be worth.

Combat support is when your doing a mission in support of Iraqi or Enduring Freedom but you're not flying over a combat zone, ie: Iraq or Afghanistan. For example, refueling a Buff over the ocean on its way to Afghanistan.

The days of air combat have changed a bit since WWII. Should an F-15C pilot get credit for an Air Medal on a mission after shooting down an enemy aircraft 40 miles away that he may never see? The same medals P-51 guys got for dogfighting their way out of a big furball in the sky? Apples to oranges.

Medals don't play a huge factor in promotions for officers anyway. Enlisted troops, yes. It's nice to have a big rack and all, but for the most part, it's all bling.