VMFA187

They're just happy to be off the boat with a reliable internet connection.

Hope he's not looking to fly fighters...

It might be because aviation is such a small part of the Marine Corps, but I'm fairly certain it's just as bad, if not worse. At least for the fighter community - I can't really speak to the others. USMC F/A-18 squadrons are at, or just slightly below 50% required manning at the Captain level, and the vast majority, i.e., 80% of the Capts I know, are planning on leaving after their commitment is complete.

Now I made my choice years ago, but you could be a Marine fighter pilot with no bonus who was just told that $5k a year will probably be approved in the future. $28k doesn't sound all that bad. I could put a new street and track bike in the garage with that!

The RAG and VTs are different in terms of follow-on orders in the Navy/USMC. Lower performers, i.e., dudes who leave their first fleet tour without their four-ship flight lead qualification can't teach at the RAG, they can only teach at the VTs in T-6s and T-45s which is why they end up there. Now I don't know personally, but I'd imagine the Air Force isn't sending it's below average dudes to teach brand new F-15/16/22/35 pilots, those guys are probably teaching in T-6s.

I enjoyed that.

From the sheer standpoint of aircrew training requirements/proficiency - This is a bad idea. Especially when you consider declining flight hours. Coming from a multi-role platform, I've always been impressed, and comforted, when we've played with Eagles. I want someone who does that mission exclusively in the fight, when it occurs, because half to two-thirds of my time is spent putting heavy objects into or near the ground.

Time will tell. It won't be this event - Occurrences like these only make things our leaders in the past did for fun completely off limits for current service members. What will really have an adverse effect is allowing everyone to attempt to do every MOS regardless of their abilities its effect on our combat capabilities.

The Marine Corps not purchasing any Supers is why we are hurting so bad now. But yes - Some of those advanced Super Hornet models look pretty amazing.

I was more apologizing for the request for a requirement that likely won't ever be incredibly useful, at the expense of so many other vital aspects critical to fighter performance and capabilities.

Valid. I'm an instructor at Miramar - Where the movie was filmed, where we still send studs to go land on boats... And some of these kids going through haven't seen it. Ridiculous.

Jokes. Make more Raytheon Award Videos or something.

We should have bought only A and C models. The B is terrible. On behalf of the Marine Corps - I'm sorry.

Dudes, Am I dense or do Air Force squadrons not make cruise videos like the Navy and Marine Corps? Akin to something like what the Pukin Dogs' released -

I like where his mind is at, but an 12,000lb fighter with the ability to supercruise and spend that amount of time airborne seems a bit fanciful to me. I do like the idea of flying 30+ hours a month though. I'd not be trying to knock out my ATP if that were the case. The 8 or 9 hours a month I've AVERAGED since flying Hornets don't give me much of a choice, however.

Rarely. Multi-tasking in the fighter community is flying form in proper position while operating your sensor(s) and executing active listening. Attitude hold isn't really relevant in a dynamic environment. Perhaps CAS detached, but we (in the Marine Corps) rarely operate detached unless the S/A threat is non existent. They have to be.

That's it. I'm out. If the airlines and decreased flight time weren't enough, there's no way I'm launching if some dude can knock me out of the sky without knowing I'm targeted or potential counter-measures. Unless we're the only ones with that technology, of course. Would certainly change missile defense procedures. Bonzai all.

Excellent, thank you. It's actually AF SOS that I'm nearly complete with - USMC PME is a two year distant learning program where I'll have knocked out AF PME in about three months after the fourth, final module begins next month.

Perhaps a bit off topic from what is being discussed here of late, however how would a Guard unit view a rated pilot from another service who is looking to join as an O-3? I've chosen not to complete USMC PME for O-4 promotion, but am 75% complete with SOS DL Course 22 having started in January. Am I wasting my time? Or would it be viewed favorably?

Amongst my Marine Hornet brethren, $60k minimum would be required to change someone's mind. $75k would go far in solving our retention problem.

There was an Air Force dude years back that flew with us when I was a student in Kingsville who said he was tasked to evaluate the T-45 as a potential replacement. That was probably back in 2010...

I've been there a handful of times during WestPacs and Translants, but never for more than four weeks at a time. What * said is pretty accurate. I think I'd have a hard time living there for more than a month or two due to its incredibly small size, but it was fun getting out of Japan and going somewhere tropical for a few weeks at a time while we were deployed. Good diving, fair beaches. Tumon Bay is really the only place to go out and have dinner / drinks but it gets old pretty quick. I do have fond memories of The Beach Bar, however.

Concur.

I see. Our continuation relates to twice passed O-3s because they can't get any Captains to stay, but it sounds generally like what is happening in the AF apparently. There has been rumor of stop loss in the Hornet and Osprey communities though... We are. When I winged it was 8 years for jets and other fixed wing aircraft, and only 6 for helos. I think it's 8 across the board now. Dude - Just let us train. Allow us to be fighter pilots inside the cockpit and out. And stop making us do countless collateral duties / BS training which has become our primary focus. Retention problem solved.

Is the AF actually doing that? The Marine Corps started doing that this year, tacking on an additional 3 years to one's commitment automatically, unless the individual seeking to depart jumped through hoops over the course of only two weeks.