The end of the Naval Air Reserves???

"Bill Kambic" wrote in message
...
"Giz" wrote in message

snipped for brevity

Hey Bill, are you an A-dub?

Ayup!g

I'm one of the active duty types that has seen
behind
the curtain. I left active duty after my first 4 and joined the
reserves
(SAU VP0545),
but came back to active duty after 4.5 there. I don't view the reserves
as
wasteful,
but I do view them as somewhat of a luxury. We shouldn't have reserve
squadrons
instead of active squadrons.

Well, maybe so and maybe not. A lot depends on your definition of
"luxury"
and and missions that need to be accomplished.

Substantial numbers of birds will be parked this summer. By luxury I mean
we
are facing a this or that choice. The day when we could have both has
passed
us by. To keep all the Reserve Squadrons would cost us Active Squadrons.
While I believe in the value of the Reserves, I don't think that would be a
wise
choice. Bottom line, we can't have both.

One of the hardest lessons of WWII was that the virtual elimination of ASW
assets in the RN and USN after WWI damn near caused a catastrophe. If the
Japanese had followed German practice with their subs it probably would
have. Again, the WWII analogy is not directly on point as no potential
adversary CURRENTLY possesses a significant subsurface threat. There are
lots of subs out there in the hands of possible "bad guys" but so far they
have not choosen to use them. If they do then long range maritime patrol
may not be of too much help and the S3 series might be sorely missed.

A choice that the VP community would be facing
in the
near future if we didn't make use of the aircraft in the reserve units.
I
do believe that
the SAU concept will be making a return to the Naval Air Reserve, and
hopefully we
can reform some of the units when MMA is online.

I doubt that budget pressures in the future will be less than they are
now.
The idea that we will buy enough MMA airframes to outfit non-existant
RESFORON/SAUs smacks of a GREAT DEAL of optomism!g

I doubt that too, but a shuffle of P-3 airframes that are left may
reconstitute
several Reserve Squadrons.

And that still does not address the other hardware units. If the air
assets
go how long before the FFGs follow?

It seems to me that if the Reserve Forces are to survive being anything
but
"knife and fork" units spending their time watching "Victory at Sea"
reruns
then they had better look to their "hole card" and crack up some
Congressional support for at least maintenace of the status quo.

Hopefully, the SAU concept will keep that from happening.

Bill Kambic

Giz

AW1(NAC/AW)
CPW-11, CV-59, VP-0545, CV-66, VP-45, VP-30 WTU