I think it was standard procedure in all the Companies of the 227th that any New Guy (usually referred by the title of FNG...the F part of the FNG you can use you imagination of what the F stands for ) had to have 350 hours flight time with the unit before he could be recommended for Aircraft Commander. Even after the required time there was no guarantee you would ever make Aircraft Commander if you were deemed a weak pilot who could get people killed. These weak Dicks would become permanent right seat copilots with extra duties of something like “Cut the Grass Officer, Pest control Officer, or even sometimes safety officer”.
Some of the safety officers were afraid of everything. Since most of them could not fly they were wonderful people when it came to making up reasons why something could not be done or had to be done a certain way. They were given a type writer and a way of communicating with other safety officers on safety related problems. It was great for the pilots of a unit because we never saw any of these safety officers work unless it had been filtered, changed and made appropriate by the Battalion Safety officer who was usually there because he was old and had survived being a combat aviator. Since the mission of the First Cav was really a “NO SH*T” fighting unit, the Army B.S. was usually kept a bay- never far away, but held back by, “Hey there is a war on, can do, mentality which worked best without interference from some REMF (rear essalon MF).who thinks they know what the flights are facing...many did, but some did not have a clue and at times those few tried to throw a wrench into the fine oiled machines that were the front line fighting units.
The End for now.....
I have to take faded pages from the satchel and retype the pages into my word processor which with only two fingers working is rather slow and tedious. If there is interest in the remaining story I may type more pages otherwise this is all for now..
Some of the safety officers were afraid of everything. Since most of them could not fly they were wonderful people when it came to making up reasons why something could not be done or had to be done a certain way. They were given a type writer and a way of communicating with other safety officers on safety related problems. It was great for the pilots of a unit because we never saw any of these safety officers work unless it had been filtered, changed and made appropriate by the Battalion Safety officer who was usually there because he was old and had survived being a combat aviator. Since the mission of the First Cav was really a “NO SH*T” fighting unit, the Army B.S. was usually kept a bay- never far away, but held back by, “Hey there is a war on, can do, mentality which worked best without interference from some REMF (rear essalon MF).who thinks they know what the flights are facing...many did, but some did not have a clue and at times those few tried to throw a wrench into the fine oiled machines that were the front line fighting units.
The End for now.....
I have to take faded pages from the satchel and retype the pages into my word processor which with only two fingers working is rather slow and tedious. If there is interest in the remaining story I may type more pages otherwise this is all for now..