Commonality in the CH-46E Community
Abstract
In the Marine Corps, the aviation combat element (ACE) of a Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) is designed and built around a single CH-46E squadron. These Sea Knight helicopters and the Marines that maintain and fly them are said to be the backbone of the ACE. When one joins the CH-46E community as a young first lieutenant, he is fed this rhetoric from the moment he steps into the building of Marine Medium Helicopter Training Squadron (HMMT) 164 at Marine Corps Air Station, Camp Pendleton. Furthermore, as a brand new second lieutenant entering flight school at Naval Air Station, Pensacola, he is taught that all Marine Corps pilots are Naval aviators operating from ships. The U.S. government spends millions of dollars and our young pilots spend countless hours studying and flying to learn the science and art of naval aviation. Imagine the waste of tax payer dollars and students' time, and the heart-break of young Marine Corps pilots when they check into one of the three CH-46E squadrons and learn that they will never deploy on or from a ship because they just landed a seat in an Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) deploying squadron. The United States Marine Corps needs to establish commonality in the CH-46E community's deployment cycles because the current practice causes disparity among Marine Corps CH-46E pilots in professional development, career enhancement, and troop welfare.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Feb 19, 2008
- Accession Number
- ADA507899
Entities
People
- D. M. Grosso
Organizations
- Marine Corps University