Originally Posted by
sigtauenus
Marine Corps doesn't really care if I dropped my letter. This is now the 3rd year in a row the retention bonus for Hornet pilots dropped. (25 to 18 and now 15) They just shut down an active Hornet squadron and 3 reserve Hornet squadrons. Supposedly we are the "healthiest" group among Marine aviators. That sounds great on paper, until you look at a ready room with half the seats empty because all the O-3's and O-4's are overseas on IA's.
I'm not sure what exactly goes on up at headquarters, but the word denial seems to come to mind quite a bit lately.
I'm hearing its not because Hornets are that healthy moreso the helo guys are that thin and let's face it, they are getting the lion's share of the work these days and the most burdened. While I agree with what you're saying I personally think not buying the Superhornet is now forcing the Marine Corps hand a bit. Hard to keep legacy squadrons around when you don't have FLE left on the airframes or simply not enough airplanes to make a squadron. 8000 hours is getting close on alot of jets at one time. The only hope is that the Navy transitions sooner so the Marines can take our jets. The problem with that thinking is we don't fly D's except at the FRS and they are already a huge issue there. Hence the single seat FAC(A) program is up and running.