Harrier by Paul Tremelling

Author:Paul Tremelling [Tremelling, Paul]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780241557068
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
Published: 2022-03-21T00:00:00+00:00

23. What On Earth Is FTC?

We were in the North Sea. Somewhere near Newcastle. We were probably having a couple of drinks most nights.

None of the following is a whinge about RN career management or how I felt treated. It is a simple scene-setter for what happened next.

For the initial part of our careers, there was simply too much going on to worry about our careers. We lived day to day. To think too much about our future could even be seen as arrogant, as we had so much to prove in the here and now at that stage. However, this leads to senior folk on squadrons being exasperated by junior people who don’t know what they want to do next, don’t have any idea how to fill out preferences on a form and don’t know the basics about career progression and the prerequisites for follow-on jobs. Long may it continue. Young pups should be worried about only one thing – learning their weapon system and being the best warfighter they can.fn1

We all got a bit muddled by careers choices, which boiled down to whether or not to volunteer for a longer commission. The carrot was a possible F-18 exchange, which would mean flying with the United States Navy and living out the TOPGUNfn2 fantasy we all harboured somewhere. The stick was the longer commission. After much thought, this actually became simple. If jam tomorrow was an F-18 tour, then I was a volunteer. Despite it being quite important, I volunteered and then forgot about it. Bearing in mind the fluid nature of appointing plots at the time, the chances of me going on F-18 exchange appeared to depend on jam tomorrow made in a factory that might, in due course, be built on reclaimed land in a location yet to be determined, or drained, from as yet ungrown fruit to a currently undefined recipe. I went about my business as a Sea Harrier pilot. You might think that’s a little cavalier or ‘gash’.fn3 Well, if you are one of the low-capacity types in the surface fleet who has to think at walking pace, and for the first couple of tours is not let anywhere near a weapon system, then you probably have enough time on your hands to worry about trivia. If you fly Fast Air, you are expected to lead fourships and missions in the wide blue yonder from the get go, are presented with numerous opportunities to kill yourself on most days, and are expected to be master of the Blue Vixen, AMRAAM, Sidewinder, 1,000lb bombs, 540lb bombs in high explosive and inert guises with retard tails, freefall tails, a variety of fusing options, practice weapons, cannons, counter-measures and ESM systems, as well as having all the duties any other officer would have. Things like promotions and pensions tend to slide down your list of priorities.

I went to the RAF electronic warfare range at RAF Spadeadam with Monkey on my wing. We only (thank God) had 3kg

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.