Punk's War: Question

[Typhoon1244]

I don't know how many of you have read this book. If it's reasonably accurate--and based on what I saw during my short time in the Army, I suspect it is--Navy aviators spend as much (if not more) time and energy on collateral duties and "office politics" as they do on flying. True?

I'm starting to think you guys are special not just because you fly hot planes or land on ships, etc., but because of all the crap you have to put up with when you're not flying!

 

[navhnt]

Navy TACAIR squadrons are completely self-contained. We bring everything with us (admin, maint, personell, supply, etc) when we deploy. The pilots usually have several ground jobs that take a considerable amount of effort and time besides their aviation duties. They have to balance staying up with tactics and flying with leading the ground troops and getting the paperwork done.
This has always been a bone of contention with Navy pilots. We want to concentrate on the flying stuff but the space limits of the ship require that we do business this way. But, just to put this in perspective... when it comes to getting jets in the air for the real game, all that other stuff quickly fades into the background.

NAVHNT

 

[pilotyip]

Secondary duties

I know this is out of line with the tread of this board, but those skills developed in the non-flying duties are really a key to many pilots success if they elect to not pursue a flying career. You become a master of getting things done, under pressure, in a short amount of time. One of my most successful squadron mates, P-3 PPC who only flew for 5 years in the Navy became a very successful VP in a fortune 100 company and propbaly had salary and benefits well beyond the airline level. And he controlled his own career. Other Navy pilots freinds of mine were also accepted to the Harvard MBA program with under grad degrees in Phys Ed. Those non-flying duties of a Navy pilot develope a special skill beyond stick and rudder

 

[DaveGriffin]

All line JO's in the Navy, if they are in an operational billet, experience the same thing. Much more of their time is spent dealing with administrative responsibilities and learning to successfully deal with the chain of command than actually training or fighting.

It doesn’t make any difference whether they are driving an Arleigh Burke-class DDG, a Seawolf-class SSN, an F-18 or leading a platoon of SEAL's, the seemingly BS admin demands are 80% or more of their time and job.

But as pilotyip points out, this is good training and develops skills and habits needed for post-service employment.

The main thing is that it is difficult for the 27 year-old hard charging warrior-types, with millions of $$ of training and equipment, to be happy with all the required admin work. These guys join to operate, not to be pencil pushers.