Originally Posted by
Marvin
If you really feel this way, then you ought to get out at your earliest opportunity. In fact, you probably should not have joined in the first place, because you are only going to suffer disappointment in the end.
We can discuss all day how other nation's militaries do it, etc .... all irrelevant. The bottom line is, the US Air Force does not need a Lieutenant Colonel who only flies jets. Nor does it need a Major who does only those things. So if that's what you want to do, great! Get promoted to Captain (ie, show up every day and don't get caught with a live boy or a dead girl) and then get out and go Reserves/Guard or just go to the airlines.
The US military needs a certain number of people to be 4 star generals. Those people need to have had a wide variance of experience prior to getting into those positions, and ideally the AF would have 2-3times (or more) viable candidates for each position when the time comes. In order to have that, they need a pool of 3-stars with a good breadth of experience, both operational and otherwise. To get that pool, they need a pool of 2-stars ... and 1-stars ... and Colonels. You get the point.
The military will continue to shrink, so the opportunity for someone to "just fly" is going to be reduced even more.
I am not saying it is right or wrong ... I'm saying it is what it is. You will not change it. The sooner you accept that fact and start making plans for your post-active-duty career, the happier you will be. :-) And, don't worry ... someone else who understands and accepts the "up-or-out" philosophy of the US military will be there to fly your old jet for you -- and when he lands, he will clear out his in box and take the paperwork home, because that is the job he signed up to do.
This attitude is the fundamental root of the issue IMHO.
I had several Commanding Officers, who were arguably some of the best tacticians ever to grace the F-18. It was maddening trying to fly with them sometimes (or fight them) because they were just that good. Keeping up as a new guy was sometimes the only thing you could accomplish. The standards they set and the force they fostered in our squadron was nothing short of eye watering, and they did it with a quiet professionalism that we may or may not have carried on in our off hours. That experience for them came from uninterrupted careers in the jet. Weapons School grads, instructors, training officers... they had spent their entire careers becoming lethal masters of their art. Both I would follow back into combat at the drop of a hat.
Compare that to others that had done the joint/post grad/staff tour, color all the boxes green that came back to the jet as a squadron CO and couldn't fight their way out of a wet paper bag. Sure they knew how to run a squadron, but they couldn't lead lead a horse to water and it showed.
Guess which crop went on to post command tours?
Before the Goldwater-Nichols act, we some how managed to foster a lethal fighting force, with GO and Flag ranks that had grown up in their weapons systems. They made mistakes, they crashed airplanes, they ran whole fleets aground. They also understood their war fighters needs, and some even gun decked their own careers to go back (Robin Olds anyone?).
For evidence of this today, one need look no further than Army Warrants. Guys that can spend an entire career in their steed, and have proven in combat time and time again that experience counts for so much more than any bean counter can ever quantify with his slide rule and pocket protector.
Dreamers take heed the above posts. An entire generation of combat experienced warriors are so disenfranchised, and have been so demoralized that the ideals that got them there in the first place have been completely begrudged by the absolute desire to jump ship at the first chance they get.
My .02, YMMV.