Nothing new here, Obama's PC Rules of Engagement (ROE) and the same mistakes being made again when civilians micromanage the U.S. military when they are sent into combat. Obama's personal Six Star General, Valerie Jarrett running the war against ISIS, the liberal politically correct way.
Perhaps the Nobel laureate-in-Chief is worried about his legacy as the "Pax Obama" Emperor of America. He's not going to make any waves in his last few years, in terms of promulgating wars...he'll provide a token show of force to make it appear the U.S. is responding to the ISIS threat in Iraq, but with an ROE that basically turns the show of force into the equivalent of an air show.. At least the pilots are getting some stick time.
You make an excellent point there. Deserves it's own thread if we could find a reliable source how much time our pilots getting in the cockpit today ? I read one article that broke down how much stick time each country's pilots were getting and that Russian pilots are getting more stick time than American pilots. But we are getting a lot more stick time than the chi-coms. My sources are mostly FA-18 pilots with three different squadrons. Each squadron is different but all said they are only flying 2 or 3 out of 5 scheduled flight training missions under the current administration. Mostly due to the lack of maintenance and spare parts but even some times the lack of fuel. One mentioned having to attend mandatory PC sensitivity classes instead of flying combat training missions.
I'll try to find a reliable source on that, but I do know, flight time is down, more often quals are done on simulators. Squadrons are trying to save money on training, fuel and maintenance expenses...thus flying less. I've heard some numbers as low as fewer than 120 hours of flight time annually.... To provide a reference for this...as a former civilian pilot for a Part 135 carrier, I averaged 50-70 logged hours a month...roughly 720 annually. I was professional pilot, and we would hope our military pilots are equally professional...however if you're getting 120 hours or less of actual stick time; it's harder to be a professional. Practice makes perfect and while simulator training has advanced, it can't make up for real-world flight experience.
WTF is this? THEY wan't to die for allah, and I want our military to do what they are good at and OBLIGE them. Im so sick of the chump in chief-that dog wont hunt.
I did a quick search, and I suppose the Wall Street Journal is a reasonable source. According to this article published in late 2013...some U.S. Air Force pilots were averaging 120 training hours annually while China managed 150. The problem with such low hours is the potential for a pilot to lose their currency. What is currency? Basically, requirements for recent experience that demonstrate that one's skills and flight experience are "current" and up-to-date. After you lose your currency you have a window of time to re-qualify. This all seems to be budget related. http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/366872/us-air-force-pilots-fly-less-chinas-do-michael-auslin The original article appeared in the Wall Street Journal, but that link seems to require a subscription to view.
Surely there's some middle ground between nuclear bombing entire cities and using rubber pellets as a last resort.
I seriously doubt Obama or Valerie reads the Wall Street Journal or the National Review and until Fox News reports this story, Obama will remain in the dark. According to former SECDEF Gates, Obama doesn't listen to his military advisers, rarely meets with the JCOS and Fox News seems to be his source of what's going on with in his own administration. As the former liberal darling of the left, Bob Woodward revealed, it's Obama's sequestration, it was the Obama White House who came up with the idea of the sequestration and when Obama signed it into law he said he would veto any attempt repealing the sequestration. The damage has already been done. As the Navy reported to Congress a couple of months ago, knowing that Obama will be gone in 18 months, repairing the damage can begin and it will not be until 2020 that the U.S. Navy can surge three Carrier Strike Groups in a national emergency. For the next five or so years you will be seeing a Navy that can only put three carriers at sea at any given time. G.W. Bush's Navy was able to put eight Carrier Battle Groups too sea. Obama has problems just keeping two small Carrier Strike Groups at sea.
C'mon-you know those pellets are just going to make them hate us. All they need are green jobs and hugs.
