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From: Bill Altman
Date: February 6, 2016
Subject: Commando Culture
Thanks for sending this Forest. It is an excellent article. Remembering the discussions about moving to a fully professional military and eliminating the draft while I was still on active duty, Many of those "what ifs" have occurred. Our current professionals are better trained and more effective. BUT most citizens that I meet have no understanding of the stress and sacrifice faced by our military members and their families because very few of them have relatives or close friends on active duty. I live in a small town near a naval air station. Landing an aircraft on a carrier is a perishable skill just like hitting a target with an M-4. It requires constant training to maintain. Yet property owners in this area have multiple billboards on their property condemning the jet noise as harmful to the hearing of local children. They have created a non-profit organization to hold meetings and write letters to Congress complaining, and asking that the flights be reduced or moved. The defended seem to have little appreciation for their defenders. I hope I'm wrong, but the older I get the more I believe when a large majority of our population is distanced from their own defense, it makes America weaker.
From: Forrest Brandt
Date: February 6, 2016
Subject: Commando Culture
Very interesting, thought provoking article on the new Commando heavy military we are relying on.
Welcome to the Age of the Commando
Forrest
"Commando Culture" Today
February 2016
From: Joe Ciokon
Date: February 6, 2016
Subject: Commando Culture
Had that same discussion with a three-star fleet admiral this morning at our Navy League breakfast. Fleet Forces has a contingency plan in place to deal with these threats. The SEAL admiral who was in charge of JSOC Africa, based out of Tripoli, during Bengazi, told a meeting of the UDT/SEAL Association the truth about the ground combat scene. The movie “Thirteen Hours” accurately portrays the entire battle, but does not go into the leadership decisions that were made. Interesting to peek behind the curtains once in a while.
Joe C.
From: Steve Sevits
Date: February 6, 2016
Subject: Commando Culture
Certain mechanical skills such as flying or shooting tend to skill “plateau” over very long experience and while they do deteriorate from inactivity, skill levels revert to a “plateau” level. Most times intensive, short term retraining brings skill levels back up to full proficiency very quickly.
I speak from the vantage point of having been a commercial pilot for over 40 years. In a couple of instances forced inactivity on my part required brief retraining which quickly sharpened skills.
Carrier pilots who normally do not have decades of experience haven’t yet developed the “muscle memory” to have reached the “plateau level” of experience where skills can be quickly brought back with short term refreshers. Carrier pilots who are younger have sharp reflexes but require continual practice and training to maintain required skill levels.
Carrier duty for pilots rarely approach the lengthy experience required to develop “plateau levels” of experience and therefore normally require continual practice and training. I’m not sure about the sharpness of reflexes required for carrier landings in a pilot who has been flying for 30 or more years, although the issue itself poses an interesting question since there would be continual changes in carrier landing technology. In theory a very senior pilot would make a great carrier pilot with skills brought about by extensive experience, but most pilots are posted to carriers with a thousand or fifteen hundred hours of flying experience.
More than once I’ve seen very senior pilots whose reflexes are showed by age, but who are successful, acting on muscle memory and intuitive judgment and who instinctively make superb operational decisions based on experience and “thinking ahead of the aircraft.”
Give me an old guy up front with tons of experience every time. Just remember Capt. Sullenberger who dumped the airliner in the Hudson River with zero fatalities. A younger and less experienced aircraft commander might not have done so well.
Steve
AFVN Group Conversations
From: Ken Kalish
Date: February 6, 2016
Subject: Commando Culture
Good find, Forrest.
Ken