YGBFSM...you do know that not every A-10 pilot is Sandy qual'd right?
If there was an A-10 pilot that was giving off the vibe that he would rather concentrate on the range instead of getting Sandy qual'd, I would bet my monthly paycheck that he would NEVER be upgraded...that mission is too important to let someone skate by...I'm sure A-10 pilots will chime in with their two cents.
With regards to the original incident, I'm not sure what happened to the helo wingman, but some F-15E'sm from my squadron were in the kill container next door, established comm, and got eyes on with the Sniper. Since Bagram was a stone's throw away, the Pedro's were there fairly quickly...shortly thereafter, the Sandy's showed up and took over...my two ship showed up next and having personally seen the Sandy's kick ass and take names and run that show like they owned it (because they did), I would challenge any airframe to do it better!!,
Just my $0.02.
Cheers,
Cap-10
Edit:
jschmed,
Could you add some reason behind your words? What is it about the Jolly's make them a better choice than a Sandy?
Also, where did the rest of your post go? I'm wondering why you deleted the part about A-10 guys not caring because RMC "gets in the way of my primary CAS mission" statement?