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From: Aviator X
Date: 03 Sep 2000
Time: 16:30:45
I'm no old fart, but I am at the user level in an Army Aviation battalion. I can tell you exactly what is wrong with Army Aviation, and it is not limited to just one thing. Many of the reasons are the same reasons the Army has readiness problems across the spectrum.
PERSONNEL
Army Aviation is critically short of the people it needs to fix and fly airplanes. The CSA has promised to fill all MTOE units to 100% by October, but this won't cure the problem for us. What the CSA wants to do is push all the Light Wheel Mechanics, Artilleryman, Infantryman, etc... from pushing paper at some HQ to doing what they came in the Army to do. Unfortunately, there are not very many 2000 hour CW3 instructor pilots or experienced helicopter wrench dogs sitting up at HQ for the Army to push down. Even if we did fill out MTOE to 100%, the MTOE itself is unrealistic in terms of supporting our aircraft.
TRAINING
We simply don't train enough. We are too worried about operational readiness rates, USR briefings, staff meetings, training briefs, equal opportunity classes and whatever else you can think of. I suspect that this is what it is like across the Army. We spend way too much time having meetings, talking about how we want to train and not enough time training. I will also tell you that authorizing more flight hours is not the answer. Most units have not finished their flying hour program for the last several years. Army aviators average the least amount of hours flown per month (about 10) of all the armed services.
LEADERSHIP
Army Aviation has poor leadership, and in many cases it is no fault of those in command. It all starts with company command. Old Fart Aviator talks about the need to keep [commissioned] officers in the cockpit. I heartily agree. The one thing that could do the most for Army aviation is to give young officers more experience in the cockpit so that they have a clue when they become the battalion and brigade commanders of tomorrow. Old Fart Aviator also talks about the fact that officers are avoiding flying jobs, in some cases company command. Let me make one thing clear. The Army's commissioned aviators WANT TO FLY! You may assume that a company command affords that opportunity, but you would be wrong. The Lieutenants look at their company commanders and see officers who work horribly long hours and see their families very little. They see officers who are micro-managed by higher, who have no responsibility but simply exist to be a blame line for whatever goes wrong. They see officers who spend more time in boring meetings than in the cockpit. They see Warriors sitting at desks trying to make the USR Powerpoint slides all look good enough for the boss. Lieutenants look at their commanders and say "I don't want that job." Then, they call up to brigade HQ at 1600 and find everyone gone for the day. What choice would you pick? Neither job has very much opportunity in the way of flight time, so why not spend some time with the family? Officers in my unit are fighting to get away from the tip of the spear and into a staff job.
SOLUTIONS?
Well, the bad news is that there are no immediate or easy solutions, but we can make a turn around. The first thing we have to do is realize that aviation is different from the rest of the Army. No one likes to admit this but it is the obvious truth. We can't fit our units into the neat little Platoon-Company-Battalion-Brigade molds of the rest of the Army. We need a drastic overhaul of the MTOE of aviation units. We need more people down on the flight line turning wrenches and fixing airplanes. We need pilots flying airplanes instead of doing meaningless extra duties. We need to realize that aviation is expensive and if the Army wants it, it comes at a price. We need to completely revamp the way we look at officer management. Really, this needs to be donw across the army, but I'll stick to aviation. Aviation promotions need to be yanked out of the Army Competitive Category and into it's own category. Aviators compete only against Aviators. We need serious adjustments to the professional development timeline. Lieutenants need to get out of OBC and be a line pilot. Not a platoon leader or a staff officer, just a line dog. The Lieutenants need to fly and fly and fly some more until they make pilot in command. After a promotion to Captain and at least 500 hours, maybe the best can be assistant platoon leaders. The rest can be line dogs until they figure it out. After about 5 years at the tip of the spear, send them to the Captain's Course. When they get back to the field, they become assistant platoon leaders and platoon leaders - as senior captains. Once they have had a minimum of two years of platoon leader time, they may be given a staff job. Then comes the major's board. After that, the company command board. Not everyone gets a company, just the best officers and aviators. The board considers the total package, INCLUDING FLIGHT TIME. Command selectees are sent to the Instructor Pilots course. Now, when a new Lieutenant arrives at his unit, his Commander, Major AAAA, says "Welcome, LT. Let's go hop in the airplane and I will give you your initial checkride."