BuddhaSixFour

We could make this a more productive conversation, just not without going into specific capabilities, which is a terrible idea on BODN. If you want to discuss this in another forum, I'd be happy to get the pertinent information from you and actually figure out what we could have done, could presently do, or will be able to do in the near future for any example you want to throw out. Better yet, hand me a stack of PMRs and I'll actually figure out how we stack up over a large sample. Yes, that will show us doing fewer, so it would take figuring out how to quantify what you guys didn't do that we could have done... that's a trickier task seeing as how its looking for events that didn't happen. It could probably be done, though. Someone with a medical degree and access that neither of us is going to get could even figure out differences in medical outcomes based on time differences (including a penalty for a CV-22 pass where another asset then has to spin up), on-board medical capabilities, etc. Hell, you could even look at instances where we would have had to hoist based on terrain where a -60 could have landed but the individual could not physically have done it. In fact, if anyone from Big Blue is reading, any argument about moving rescue into AFSOC, using CV-22s for some of the PR mission set, or even laying out requirements for a new rescue platform are going to be really incomplete discussions without someone doing that exact homework. If we're going to be making billion dollar decisions, what's a few weeks of a science project?

I think it's that we're the only ones that see through the "had to change it to PR to dodge the fact SOF does most of the real CSAR" stuff that they put out to hide the fact that their real mission set, CASEVAC, as flown by Army Dust-off, has already been found. I'll grant it has some amazing capabilities that go right next to some pretty big...oh yeah... sorry...forgot that you were reading this at helicopter speeds and are still stuck on "fact". I'll wait. But it is, friendly community ball busting.

Yeah. Its sort of the modern incarnation of the 30+ year Rescue-SOF debate. I think it started with some sort of debate about who owned a pig.

Edit: On second hand, not worth the effort to argue.

I had a long debate about this once with a school select friend who has mediocre hands. I came into it arguing you need good piloting skills to lead in the ops world. He, obviously, felt you didn't. I think we settled in the right place... I don't think you need stellar hands. You do need competent hands with stellar judgement, experience, and knowledge. Without those, how is a leader/commander supposed to make decisions regarding flying? How are they going to judge risk versus reward? How are they going to identify and set standards of performance or develop reasonable squadron flying policies? If you can do those things well, along with the other thousand things leadership entails, your hands just need to be good enough to not undermine your credibility. When I had a commander fail to meet that criteria, I didn't directly care that he was a bad stick. I did care that he made bad decisions and created meaningless restrictions based on his own fears, shortcomings, and misunderstandings of the aircraft.

"You have the time" isn't defending the institution, its simply stating that you can if its important to you. That's just it. Its not a rule at all. There are far too many exceptions to call it a rule. Acting like it is just convinces a lot of guys to not even bother trying. Awesome. That's how I think it should work. Unfortunately, its a rare opportunity. Make the best of it. Enjoy it.

It's all about trade-offs. If its worth it to someone, they can do it. I've seen it plenty of times ranging from Aero to Applied Mathematics and Computer Science from good schools. Between crew rest, whatever weekends you get, CTO, post-mission crew rest, that 30 days of leave you get a year, and the occasional ETIC, you can get a a hell of a lot done. It might be a giant pain in the ass and a whole lot less time drinking, but anyone who says it can't be done is flat out lying or lacks time management skills. However, the #1 thing I can say if someone is really worried about it is to put off popping out the kiddies for a few years. You'll love them just as much when you're 30 and when you're 26. Kids change everything, but they are a choice in and of themselves. If its not worth it to you, great. That's your choice and its valid. Either pass on the AAD or get your diploma-mill degree. But it is a choice. Its perfectly possible to get a good AAD, you just have to accept the trade offs.

Short version -- Yes, guys have come from AMC. The community is still growing, so your timing would be pretty good. I'm super, super cereal.

The CV-22 community has neither the resources, the time, the inclination, or the demeanor to play stepping stone for you. Its a serious airplane flown by serious people. Go elsewhere.

Wait... let me get this straight. Do you guys honestly think this whole thing is being driven by one complaint that spun out of control? If so, you should be concerned about popping for a urinalysis tomorrow because you're f***ing high. (Except Rainman. I dunno. Maybe you moved to Washington.) The Air Force is on track for 700 *reported* cases of sexual assault and you guys are trying to pass it off as being one woman who couldn't fit in and has a problem with fighter pilots? That's pretty dense.

Hella - I'm with you, but its not a winnable fight on an internet forum. Just keep building the V-22 community and win the debate with actions.

Quick question: For any of you who have started using iPads for Electronic Flight Bags, are you using them for checklists? If so, what are you using? Are you just loading PDFs into a reader or are you using some other app?