http://www.stripes.com/opinion/whose-helicopters-are-they-1.276979
It's one of those things that sometimes just makes you go....Hmmmmm.
The Army has begun deactivating the OH-58, the Kiowas at JBLM are the first to go. Seems that they are removing them in conjunction with the units rotation to Korea.
What seems odd to me is that while the deactivation of the OH-58 came with no resistance from Congress, there is a ground swell of resistance to transferring the 190+ Apaches from the Guard to Active Duty. A bill is being presented to block this move until the plan can be reviewed further.
So in the meantime the AD Army will begin to lose an entire Airframe with nothing to replace them. These pilots and crews will return to a deactivated squadron with no clear plan of what to do with them. Word has been batted around that pilots and crews will cross train to a different airframe which is fine, except for now there is no clear plan as to when they will have the airframes for them to go to.
I would think that the Pentagon would have all the players on board and decisions made before eliminating a large part of the Army Aviation Branch, but then I guess that would be a bit naive.
It's one of those things that sometimes just makes you go....Hmmmmm.
The Army has begun deactivating the OH-58, the Kiowas at JBLM are the first to go. Seems that they are removing them in conjunction with the units rotation to Korea.
What seems odd to me is that while the deactivation of the OH-58 came with no resistance from Congress, there is a ground swell of resistance to transferring the 190+ Apaches from the Guard to Active Duty. A bill is being presented to block this move until the plan can be reviewed further.
So in the meantime the AD Army will begin to lose an entire Airframe with nothing to replace them. These pilots and crews will return to a deactivated squadron with no clear plan of what to do with them. Word has been batted around that pilots and crews will cross train to a different airframe which is fine, except for now there is no clear plan as to when they will have the airframes for them to go to.
I would think that the Pentagon would have all the players on board and decisions made before eliminating a large part of the Army Aviation Branch, but then I guess that would be a bit naive.