aviatorhi

While this is very true I didn't say every, I said average, I think it's pretty accurate to say that most every current F-15, F-18, F-whatever pilot has not "smoked a MIG" during their career.

Also I suspect that a war with China or Korea would have a lot less aerial battles than one might suspect, if I were to venture a guess I'd say a DDG-1000 and a pair of Arsenal Ships parked next to it off the coast of China would be enough to take down most of the Chinese Air Force (should they decide to all be in the air at the same time).

USMCFLYR

Absolutely - and it will probably never be this way - but that is not the way we train, and this is not a type of philosophy that we live by - don't worry it, it will be the other guy.
Every pilot who carries an air-to-air weapos trains to put himself in that very position. What makes the two pilots different? Circumstance.

I guess we will just have to agree that we disagree on the shape of any future conventional battle between our countries then. Let us hope that we never have to find out who was right.

USMCFLYR

FlyBoyd

...but you did stay at a Holiday Inn last night right? So then you could say...

I'll keep it unclass so read here People's Liberation Army Air Force - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Your post is arrogant and misinformed.

To the OP:

No matter who you think you are talking to on the internets you are just getting advice. The advice could be from some assclown or from someone who knows how to help you. Use the advice to generate your own research on the topic so you can make an informed decision.

Adlerdriver

Quote:

Originally Posted by aviatorhi

Just a quick chime in here:

FlyBoyd beat me to the punch but I’ll add my two cents. Arrogant and misinformed is putting it mildly.

Not the most accurate picture of a typical F-15 pilot’s life:
· 150 hours/year is a bit low. You’re probably closer w/ the 200-250 hours/year. Sometimes higher if you deploy a lot.
· You might spend 150-250 hours with air under your ass in some kind of aerospace vehicle, but you’re stretching it trying to compare that time to the yearly flight experience of a fighter pilot.
· “PT or other military things”?? What the heck is that??? No fighter pilot does “PT” You just go to the gym like everyone else. I don’t know what “other military things” are – you mean like salute or march or play volleyball with no shirts?? Good grief. You don’t need to be on here giving a guy advice when you come up with that.
· Fighter simulators have limited use and most of that centers around emergency procedures, instrument training or maybe some radar/weapons training. For the first 10 years I flew the F-15, the simulator didn’t even have a visual display. Some fighters have better sims (F-16 and F-18 come to mind). However, I doubt even they spend enough time in them to make the guys “want to blow their mind out”.
· Join the Air National Guard, go to flight training so you can be a lawyer, “come and go as you please-almost” instead of “spending time in the military”. You have got to be kidding. ANG pilots join the military, go to the same training and fly the same aircraft as USAF active duty pilots. They might be able to attend law school after spending a pretty significant amount of time gaining flight experience. My guess is that they wouldn’t be a very good lawyer and probably a worse fighter pilot trying to do all that.

Quote:

Originally Posted by aviatorhi

While this is very true I didn't say every, I said average, I think it's pretty accurate to say that most every current F-15, F-18, F-whatever pilot has not "smoked a MIG" during their career.

“Smoking MIGs” isn’t the only type of combat our current crop of USAF/Navy/Marine Corps pilots train for. While we don’t currently face an adversary with an air force, many potential adversaries have very capable air forces. I’m sure many of our deployed combat pilots are dropping bombs, strafing and supporting ground troops as I type this. This is probably viewed by all involved as “combat” and far more valuable than killing the enemy one at a time in their fighter 20,000 feet above the fray. Few, if any are going to measure their career and the value of the time they spent in combat by whether they shot down an MIG.

I think you might want to re-think your evaluation of both the China and Korean peninsula scenarios regarding potential air battles. Both countries have large numbers of fighters and won’t hesitate to use them in a major conflict. Since we don’t actually have any DDG-1000 class destroyers yet, it’s kind of silly to use them to refute the possibility of air-to-air combat over Korea or China. Actually most knowledgeable fighter pilots (you know – ones who actually ARE in the military and know what they’re talking about) look at either theater as having a HUGE potential for air battles. Both countries possess large air forces with highly capable 4th generation fighters and reasonably skilled pilots who will be more than willing to fight. You give a few guided missile destroyers (even ones we actually operate) off the coast of either country wayyyy more ability to influence the air battle than they actually have. If the Chinese Air Force (known as the People’s Liberation Army Air Force) decided to all “be in the air at the same time”, their biggest threat would be from a mid-air, not some imaginary DDG-1000 off their coast. This is due to the fact that they’d have launched over 1800 fighter and bomber aircraft. We’d need more than a couple of DDGs to handle all that.

But, how was the stay at the Holiday Inn anyway??

aviatorhi

Yeeehaw this is way more fun when somebody doesn't the slightest sense of humor... or other things. Needless to say 200-250 hours/year of flying would bore me to death (regardless of what procedures oriented check check triple check quadruple check sign off policy is in effect at the time), and spending even more time in the sim would be boring as well, now while ANG pilot's typically do a bit of flying at first my friend is definitely not doing that full time or anything close to it, he's usually pre-occupied in the cockpit of a FedEx MD-11.

I'm not going to waste the OPs space with anything more on the subject of wars with China after this, but if the DDG-1000 and Arsenal Ships are completed as expected and China or NK launch an air attack against a CVBG protected by that sort of complement, and they come en-masse, I don't expect them to return home en-masse.

FlyBoyd

We'll see...know it all, because my friend said, Holiday Inn Express Assclown trolls have a habit of showing back up.

Erthwerm

Considering the OP's question/intention and the fact that most people present at the forum are here to either receive or give information, you're in the wrong place; especially if your wish is to contribute to the vast amount of disinformation out there.

I guess you should be glad you're not doing that, then. However, most jobs are boring. For the past 7 years, I've been a freelance musician throughout the United States. Even that was boring at times (set breaks, recording sessions, stupid weddings.)

It might be different. As somebody looking into Guard units, I've found they're all different. Fighters may fly a lot more or a lot less than you think depending on: where they are, how much time they have in the weapon system, what the weather is like, and how often the planes are maintained, probably a lot more factors go into it than that. Heavies might have a completely different kind of workload. Just because your friend's doing one thing, that doesn't necessarily mean it's the standard for the Air National Guard or even for that particular air frame (if there is one.)

USMCFLYR

Some people have formed their opinions on military hardware capability by watching 'Stealth' and the opening action scene from 'Behind Enemy Lines' (hint - - no missiles really can't do all of that - even the really good ones)

Erthwerm - I feel very lucky that I've not found my job to be boring - at least when I was flying

USMCFLYR

blujay

Anyways...

I've been researching the ANG, and it seems like it fits me pretty well. If I decided to join and try to get a pilot slot after college, would I be doing any ROTC type thing in college? Also, what is pilot training like? I've researched and read all kinds of things, one claimed that you are dumped in the woods to live off the land while trying to evade the enemy, then being captured and being psychologically and physically tortured. Is this part of the training?

If I do want to fly fighters (which I really really do), I'm going to have to begin my long and hard battle against my airsickness, because that is not going to fly well (no pun intended) in flight school. Specifically addressing USMC flyer, what is the training to become a fighter pilot like?

USMCFLYR

Yes - it is called SERE Training (Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape) There is quite a bit more to it than you've heard - but you have the jist of it. It is interesting now that some of the **training** you endure in SERE has now been defined as torture when applied to terror suspects.

Sorry blujay - but this question is worded to broadly for me to really be of any use. I'd be glad to answer your questions but they should more detailed.
In general - it is a lot of studying, mentally preparing yourself for every academics test, brief, flight and debriefing because each event may make or break your dreams.

USMCFLYR