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Pretty simple to me actually....best person on the stick is on the stick, and the best trigger person is on the trigger. I don't care if it's somebody's Grandma....
British Army lowers minimum rank required to become helicopter pilot. Privates can now apply.
- Thread starter Ping Monkey
- Start date
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Probably volunteered for it.
"Ooo, are you a pilot?"
"Why no fair damsel. Pilots are but my coach drivers. I am a Weapons Officer!!"
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My uncle was one of them. G2G already knows this story: 419 Squadron RCAF 1941 to 1945 F/S Charles Emile LeBlanc
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Bruce, clearly you are ill informed - there is simply no way that a NCM could be a better Pilot than an Officer, the RCAF said so...
Honestly when one looks at history - it is no surprise that the "Knight's of the Sky" took to ensuring their gallant trade was not infested with peasants. However now that most of the peasants are also literate, it's hard to justify beyond "we have always done it that way" (which of course runs smack into the wall of reality when one looks at what was done when one actually needed a lot of Pilots).
I don't see the British Army doing much different here than the US Army did with the SF, graduate the Q Course and you get promoted (if you already where not a Staff Sgt)
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From what I gather, the only change is that they're lowering the eligibility from LCpl to Pte. The British Army has always had NCM pilots.
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Understood -- I was just ranting at the AirForce systems in general
Many Armies have NCO Pilots for Helicopters - apparently they aren't as cool as Fixed Wing, and as such can be flown by the lesser classes
I'll note none of the Fighter Pilots like my theory that they probably should be a Pet/Cpl because they really just look after themselves, and their AC is the air equivalent of a rifle - and that a Plane with an actual crew should have a Pilot that outranks them, because they are actually commanding something with troops on it.
I understand why one wants to ensure they are entrusting a multi Million dollar AC to someone with properly training and judgment, the historical oddity was when planes came about they where cheaper than tanks - as helicopters where as well. What I just don't see the justification for the rank inflation that occurs when a Pilot is a Captain - so the step is a Maj etc.
I suspiciously think it is all about the accommodations, I noted that as an O-5 equivalent in Iraq, my quarters where significantly better than an E-4/5 equivalent, and my boss who was an 0-7 rated some palatial digs. But I've also noted that for the most part the Air Forces of the world seems to have cornered the market on good quarters, as most AF quarters seem to be several grades up from the equivalent Army rank quarters.
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I don't remember where I read this, but it's totally about the accommodations - specifically, if they became POWs in WWII.
That's why most British Commonwealth NCM aircrew became immediately promoted to Sgt once they got their wings. That's not really the case now.
daftandbarmy
Army.ca Dinosaur
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Bruce, clearly you are ill informed - there is simply no way that a NCM could be a better Pilot than an Officer, the RCAF said so...
Honestly when one looks at history - it is no surprise that the "Knight's of the Sky" took to ensuring their gallant trade was not infested with peasants. However now that most of the peasants are also literate, it's hard to justify beyond "we have always done it that way" (which of course runs smack into the wall of reality when one looks at what was done when one actually needed a lot of Pilots).
I don't see the British Army doing much different here than the US Army did with the SF, graduate the Q Course and you get promoted (if you already where not a Staff Sgt)
Question: Are we back on the Milcoll bashing bandwagon again? Just wondering as it looked familiar
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2-man tents (I guess the Army calls them 4-man tents) and unlimited supply of kerosene for my Kerosun heater in my tent (kept away from the cocomatting on pallets, of course) with plenty of room for my barrack box, cot and nightstand…AF-Army would be no change. I’d even be happy to keep the lads morale up by participating in the morning immersion-heater light-off competitions…he who makes the biggest WHUMP wins!
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- Reaction score
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2-man tents (I guess the Army calls them 4-man tents) and unlimited supply of kerosene for my Kerosun heater in my tent (kept away from the cocomatting on pallets, of course) with plenty of room for my barrack box, cot and nightstand…AF-Army would be no change. I’d even be happy to keep the lads morale up by participating in the morning immersion-heater light-off competitions…he who makes the biggest WHUMP wins!
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A sub-category of the competition for you... I’d even be happy to keep the lads morale up by participating in the morning immersion-heater light-off competitions…he who makes the biggest WHUMP while keeping all the facial hair they had before lighting wins!
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I must have hung around mortar guys enough to know to duck down during the light-off!A sub-category of the competition for you
Edit to add:
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It always cracked me up when the new kids insisted on using the wand to light those things because "that's how we did it in the school". If you used your filbert a bit you would use the chimney warming cup. Still gave a glorious thump when done correctly and all hairy parts well out of the line of, errr, fire. Bonus points if you put the billie can on top of the stack and launched it.A sub-category of the competition for you
OldSolduer
Army.ca Relic
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Correction - I think flying helicopters is way cooler than fixed wing. How one can take something as big as a school bus and fly it into small areas is way cooler than flying at 40,000 feet at mach 1.2 or whatverMany Armies have NCO Pilots for Helicopters - apparently they aren't as cool as Fixed Wing, and as such can be flown by the lesser classes
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Me too - but we didn't make the rules
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There’s also a super nuanced level of superiority that a select few cool bubbas are too cool to even waste any energy to return the disdain that fast/high flyers try to inflict. To wit, how many folks get to fly in major urban centers at levels….lower than traffic lights. (Not just US, BTW)
