"Jake Donovan" wrote in message
news:smQJa.21975$H17.17298@lakeread03...
John,

And YES, I have questioned the badges and quals
of many officers and enlisted in my job. And YES, there have been more
cases than we'd like to admit of active duty members wearing devices they
were not qualified to wear. Officers and Enlisted alike.


I don't recall anyone wearing any awards or insignia they weren't
"qualified" to wear. I do remember some awards, and some claims some people
made that I thought were BS. The best story I've heard along this about the
young enlisted man who wore a WWII ribbon on his uniform. Obviously the lad
hadn't even been born during WWII, but when asked, he said it had been his
father's and he had given it to him. We all had to chuckle - the guy made a
mistake, but I don't think there was any attempt to deceive.


Last Enlisted Naval Aviator actually retired in 1980 and not 81 even
though
it has been recorded as such.

I for one would not climb into a FA18F with a WSO I have never met for a
test flight or PMH without 1st making sure he was indeed qauled. The
leather (or cloth patch) with NFO wings on it doesn't mean squat to me
unless I know the man personally, or I have seen his NATOPS jacket.


I can understand wanting to know who you're getting into an aircraft with,
but this seems a bit much. A decent Ops Dept should have separated the
qualled from the unqualled. A few drinks together at the O-club would also
reveal as much, and perhaps more. Sir, I think this thread has got your ire
up a bit.


As for him being a pilot, sure, he could be, a private pilot. Heck, I
know
civilian pilots who have been allowed pilot Naval aircraft. As for Secial
Ops in a C-12? There are no special OPs missions for C-12s. A C-12 is a
Beech (Raytheon) Super King Air Primary Function: Passenger and (UC12)
cargo
airlift (Has been used for Med Evac and Maritime Aviation Training)


The closest thing I can recall to SPECOPS might be the Guard Rail mission
where the C-12 did SIGINT, but I can't see a SEAL being involved with that.


C141 and C17? Now you are either dreaming or your friend is pulling your
leg over your head and up somewhere else.

Yeah, I agree. An enlisted SEAL gets "trained as a pilot" and just goes to
the USAF and into a heavy transport? Nope, not going to happen, sorry.

I think this thread has taken on a life of its own. Part of it being the
original poster who I think misunderstood a bit of exaggeration on the part
of a shipmate, and everyone has been involved in a battle caused by
semanitcs. Case in point - a young enlisted fellow in the last USNR squadron
I was in loved to mention to me, every time we met (EVERY TIME), the "over
250 hours" he had in the H-2. It still makes me chuckle, and I just didn't
have the heart to tell him that while I was glad he enjoyed sitting in the
troop seat, it really didn't count for anything. Sounds like the SEAL in
question may have had flight training, paid for by the USN, and while he may
have flown IN Navy aircraft, perhaps even been given some stick (or yoke)
time here and there, he was never a designated Naval Aviator.

Depending on what stories you want to believe, there were at one time, some
SEALS who had taken flight training, ostensibly to provide them with enough
knowledge to fly certain civilian aircraft.

To be fair, however, I did know a fellow who had been a crew chief on UH-1s
with the Army in Vietnam. His story was that he was given just enough
training to enable him to fly the aircraft in the event of the pilots being
killed or wounded. I have no reason to question the veracity of his story,
and he never claimed to be an Army aviator, though I've never heard or read
of an instance where this happened.

V/R

Eric Scheie