RustyShacklford

From what I understand only two C-17 guys took the "fly only" track deal. They were only offering it to the folks who were at the stay in/get out decision point in their careers anyway, and most had already made up their mind or feared it as just another bait-and-switch trap. They should've offered it to senior captains and junior majors. I know a lot of guys who probably would've jumped right on.

paulcg77

In Army digital camo, no doubt. I've seen something similar to this on our end, but I'll pass and stick with my olive green onesie that my father and my father's father wore, thanks

Hobbit64

back in the late 90’s when the AVN BDU’s came out, their cost was 4 times what a one piece flight suit cost. And they wore out much faster. Stupid!

But Hey! What’s a few bucks? As long as SGM isn’t upset or feeling others have a cooler outfit to wear.

Navy paints their boats first, the Army does Army stuff first. Nature of the beast.

rickair7777

Overheard on a high school quad....

"YOU'RE joining the Corps after graduation??? How many pullups can you do?"

"None. How many DDoS attacks can you execute in 90 seconds?"


You could have made the same argument for a Cyber Force, perhaps with more urgency. Although we kind of already have a national cyber force comprised of NSA and their not-so-loose affiliation with cybercom and it's subordinate elements.

Excargodog

Military Uniform stupidity is ingrained in the culture. Once upon a time NORAD - in a fit of concern over midair’s - painted all their tip tanks day-glo orange. Then yo up the ante, got day-glo orange flight suits. When the squadrons eventually rotated to SEA and got shot down, they found a real dearth of day-glo orange vegetation to hide in.

Later on a USAF Chief of staff was also uniform obsessed. Came up with a number of different uniforms - that no one but he liked.

https://www.airforcemag.com/article/0109uniform/

Fortunately, he only held that position for three years and the institution slow-rolled his idiocy until someone more reasonable replaced him.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/archi...-3ab085817d68/

I knew a senior officer who - as a young captain - had been selected to test wear the blue flight suit McPeak had designed. Besides sharing the NORAD flight suit problem of little blue vegetation to assist with the E&E, it pretty much made the wearer look like a giant smurf according to the senior officer.

rickair7777

One of the majors rolled out a very smurf-like uniform a few years ago. The pilot group flat out refused to wear it, and are still in black pants, white shirts today. Their WO regional didn't display quite as much sack as the mainline guys, and they look ridiculous to this day.

hydrostream

Meh. I like the blue.

rickair7777

Honestly it was the cut more than the color... might be OK if you have a good personal tailor.

paulcg77

You're right but I think there' s a distinct difference between how the navy treats aviation versus how the army treats aviation. Naval aviation is given its own priority and isn't competing with the air force - we've got our own C130's, our own 737 transports, etc., and aviators in VP, VR and VQ squadrons (P-8, C-37. C-40, C-130, EP-3, E-6) never touch the blue water navy, never have to do underway cruises, never get to find their sea legs, pretty much don't touch water at all their entire careers in the navy unless they request a non-flying u/w tour which is pretty much just to get the sea service ribbon. Even in the USMC, where every marine is a rifleman and marine pilots still get infantry training in TBS, there is no one size fits all "you better blend in" aviator envy with the rest of their branch the way that the army tries to make their aviators lose their own identities. The way the army treats its aviators is definitely unique among the branches.

The Air Force also seems to have it out a little bit for the army - I remember when ya'll were going to get those baby hercs (C-27's) back in the late 2000's and an army unit even started training on them in a simulator and took delivery of a few airframes, but the AF came in and pretty much took them from you overnight, arguing to politicians that it was their job to have that role, not yours. That was BS. I'm happy you've gotten a few back recently, after the AF had them for a while and then gave most of them to the USCG. I feel like army aviation is always getting the short end of every stick and it isn't right.

Hobbit64

PREACH!!!
If I remember correctly, the Army COS gave the -27's away in exchange for another ground Combat Brigade, that I am sure has since been stood down. Meh!, no longer my problem or fight.
As I type, my retirement paperwork is making its way through the 7 layers of the candy-cane forest.
Due to the bureaucratic delays in processing said freedom packet, I have made it clear that I myself already 'identify' as a retired soul.