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Reading a book called "Catus Airforce" about the Guadalcanal campaign. Many of the fighter and bomber pilots were enlisted. Why are all the fighter/bomber pilots today officers? It seems very wasteful to require all pilots to be officers. Yes, there are many pilots that are warrant officers but why no flying sergeant? The U.S. Marines and Navy had enlisted pilots as well as the Japanese Army & Navy.
Guadalcanal was WW2. Being technical has nothing to be with been officer/enlisted. It seems to be a matter of being competitive in the employment market.
Reading a book called "Catus Airforce" about the Guadalcanal campaign. Many of the fighter and bomber pilots were enlisted. Why are all the fighter/bomber pilots today officers? It seems very wasteful to require all pilots to be officers. Yes, there are many pilots that are warrant officers but why no flying sergeant? The U.S. Marines and Navy had enlisted pilots as well as the Japanese Army & Navy.
Amazing first post. Do tell why it is “wasteful?” How did draw that conclusion?
Amazing first post. Do tell why it is “wasteful?” How did draw that conclusion?
Pay rates. the fact that an O-3 is paid twice what an E-5 is with the same years of service. Officers are needed for leadership of troops but why does every one of them in a cockpit need to be a "leader"? In the Airforce there are 63626 officers and 264629 enlisted. That's one officer "leading" 3 enlisted men.
Do tell why an individual needs to be an officer to fly aircraft. Do tell why we need so many officers (aka leaders) for so few troops.
First post? Where did you get that idea? If you look at the upper right of this post you will see I have posted a few times in the past. Another interesting metric provided is the "reputation" count which indicates how many people found the posts useful.
Guadalcanal was WW2. Being technical has nothing to be with been officer/enlisted. It seems to be a matter of being competitive in the employment market.
Tell a kid graduating high school that for a ten-year commitment they will be trained to fly and many would jump at the chance. Heck, I have a family member who committed to six years just to operate a nuclear reactor in the Navy. (He is intending to stay in for at least 20)
I am not unfamiliar with military service or flying. I was an enlisted Marine back in the day. I am also a licensed private pilot and understand how complex flying is. You do not need a college degree (which I also have) in order to fly; you just need training.
Back in the late 90s, the first Air Force drone operators were enlisted (some of my young intel troops got into that).
I wonder why they didn't continue the practice (if the Air Force now requires officers to operate). Piloting a drone seems as if it would be perfect for a gamer kid right out of high school.
I think it's been the tradition for fliers to be officers ever since the beginning, the enlisted airmen during WW2 (and maybe some during Korea?) was an anomaly driven by need.
I would suspect the "officers only" tradition may have come from the high degree of autonomy and independent decision-making of flyers vs. many other troops. Consider also that in the WW1 timeframe, the enlisted ranks (I think) tended to be viewed far more as expendable grunts without decision making capability. And further, I think that the autonomy of pilots in the WW1 timeframe with no radio communication, underdeveloped squadron techniques, and all that, was probably a lot higher than it is today.
Tell a kid graduating high school that for a ten-year commitment they will be trained to fly and many would jump at the chance. Heck, I have a family member who committed to six years just to operate a nuclear reactor in the Navy. (He is intending to stay in for at least 20)
I am not unfamiliar with military service or flying. I was an enlisted Marine back in the day. I am also a licensed private pilot and understand how complex flying is. You do not need a college degree (which I also have) in order to fly; you just need training.
Tell a kid in high school that there are university programs in aviation paid for by airlines with considerably less commitment then ten years plus real pay and options to branch out. On the other hand have them join Civil Air Patrol, get their license, get their instructor and build hours at the local airport while working a side gig then move into the airlines. Nothing personal but military fly boys are mainly button pushers.
Well, remember with aircraft, a lot of the time, they take off and in an hour or two, they are some 600 or more miles away, carrying out or even in the position to decide national policy. Who do you want in the position to be deciding to or not to bomb that AA position that shot at them from the opposite side of the DMZ? How well trained a mind do you want for the pilot who is only 24 years old (flying does seem to be a thing for the young)?
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