Originally Posted by
AirGunner
Left Wing, as a currently serving combat veteran of Afghanistan/Iraq who has reluctantly pulled triggers in anger, I don't think my comment is presumptuous. I have participated in combat live and in person, not via a remote control station and TV screen. There is a HUGE difference between seeing it on a screen versus actually doing it in person. Additionally, I have friends that are currently UAV operators that were previous "real life" flyers and they will tell you the same thing. Does their job have stress, yes I'm sure it does...but it is not at the same level of those who actually leave the wire on a daily basis and get shot at. No chest thumping or bragging, just a simple fact.
The ultimate stereotypical internet post all in one, bragging on your supposed quals and hero status and referencing "friends" as sources.
The toughest part of employing forward-firing weapons of any kind, especially in a CAS scenario, is being confident that you aren't killing the wrong people. That has been a constant in my experience and amongst all that I've flown with and respected. As a matter of fact, most I know (including me) wouldn't give it a second thought to trade an increase in personal risk for a decrease in the risk of fratricide. I have to wonder what actual weapons employing pilot would brag about "leaving the wire and getting shot at" and imply that's where the majority of a CAF pilot's stress comes from.
In the day, we used to take pride in the ability (actually the requirement) to develop global SA in our cranium based on radio calls only because the technology mandated that; nowadays it's the guy sitting in the GCS that has to maintain and utilize those skills. All of the manned assets have links and pods, etc that have eliminated that need. The guy in the GCS has to maintain SA on the stack with no TCAS or Link, maintain SA on the weather with no radar or window, and maintain SA on the ground situation with a soda-straw view and a "maybe" radio. Yeah, sounds easy to me.
BTW - who posts things like
As a CSAR guy, I have zero sympathy for these clowns. They claim to be battle hardened warriors, last time I checked they haven't had to scrub blood out of their boots, actually see the faces of the people shooting at them, fly every single day in a deployment with ZERO time off, or go to their friends funerals. I, unfortunately, have done all those things I've mentioned.
? You said earlier that you "could play Call of Duty and get the same level combat experience that the UAV guys have seen" but I think you do play Call of Duty and post as if you're a CSAR aviator.
While I certainly respect the service of all CSAR gunner/crew chiefs (assuming AirGunner is one) and I felt more comfortable flying in combat because of them, there are distinct differences between employing a door gun and employing GBU-10s, Hellfires, etc. While the nuances .50 cal employment are worthy of discussion in their own merit, let's stick with an "apples to apples" discussion when talking about the stressors of weapons employment. The ROE of high CDE air-ground ordnance is much more strict and people get charged with crimes like manslaughter when they are mis-employed.
I note that it wasn't the article that focused on weapons employment as much as it was the expected posts in response to the article. A example quote from the article is: "The Air Force study also turned up a surprise for some top brass - the main source of stress for crews manning the Air Force's drone fleet wasn't firing Hellfire missiles or taking out targets on the battlefield. Although a small number of pilots were seen at high risk of post-traumatic stress disorder, the biggest factor wearing down drone crews were things like long hours and inadequate staffing, which have pushed the Air Force's 350-odd drone pilots and the crews supporting them to their limits. "We've kind of been in a surge mode with our remotely piloted aircraft since 2007 in terms of crew ratios that aren't as good as we would like them to be," said Lieutenant General Larry James, the Air Force's deputy chief of staff for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance."
AirGunner, you complain about flying every day of a deployment, how about maintaining that pace for years vs months? Notice the surge mode since 2007 part? For those worried about RIF or promotion, how about no PME or release for career broadening. There's no credit for deployment, no tax-free, no post-deployment R&R, etc. No medals (again for those concerned about promotion), no padding the logbook, etc. How'd you like to look forward to YEARS of working holidays, working weekends, rotating shift work as you work around a 24-hr schedule every few months, etc. Amazingly enough, families expect to have a normal life when you're home - there are advantages to being gone when you're gone and home when you're home. Remember, for the time being at least there are plenty of RPA operators who also have plenty of actual deployment time under their belts and the majority wouldn't mind going back to the traditional deployment cycle even if it means "getting shot at". The AF (not the operators) decided that the majority of ISR and a good portion of CAS support to the ground forces would be in the form of RPA support; fortunately, many of the operators recognize that an obligation to support the warfighter with quality support outweighs the selfish "I'm too cool for RPA" attitude.