Originally Posted by
Tweetdrvr
I don't think you will see this anytime soon. I recently heard a general officer speak on this subject. They are very much undecided on how ab inito UAV pilot training will be conducted.Will those dudes then return to their MWS? No answer, probably some will, some won't.
The general did say the U-28 Spec Ops assignments were likely to continue for some time. Those who get them from the 38 track, just like the dudes who got UAV'd in the TAMI 21 process, were unlikely to ever get out of that career field. But just like it was written earlier, he said, those dudes were likely to do a lot more shooting and being shot at in the current GWOT scenarios than the fighter guys were likely to see.
I'm guessing this is the same 2 star who I heard speak about this back in January. Word on the street at KRND goes in line with the rumor mill out of Columbus, that UAV drops are a matter of when, not if, and when is pointing towards this year. While they will primarily be from the -38 track, drops from T-1 land are entirely possible. As one IP here put it, UAVs "are the way of the future". My gut feeling is this is going to get messy later this year, and like was said, look for people to drop out rather than take 10 years flying a suped up IBM pentium 486, and take with them six figures worth of wasted money, time, resources, and effort.
Not good times, not good times at all. Sad thing is, all of this is easily avoidable.