This article brings up a number of good point. Especially wrt training JOs and the ripple effect down the line for underqualified DHs. As the saying goes, those who do not learn form history are condemd ot repeat it. We saw the same thing during the ACTC transition. Squadrons had to spend significant training resources gettting the O-4s up to speed and qualified which resulted in some squadrons neglecting the development of JOs. There is also a leadership impact where excellent LCDRs may not be held in the esteem they deserve by the younger pilots solely due to them not being a LVL III or IV - thta's just human nature.

The argumant that civilian contractors have negated the need for additional HSC aircraft is complete hogwash. There are only four commercial helicopter VERTREP contracts, each with 2 aircraft. Due to the lift requirements of the JSF Power Module, those detachments only fit on T-AKEs. The material condition of that fleet has dramatically limited the number of air capable decks for those detachments. Recently, only 3 of the 4 detachments have had homes. These ships are not attached to the Strike Groups and are not always in the vicinity of the carrier.

In the mid-90's, the Navy finally recognized that HS squadrons, with their 4 Primary Misison Areas and 9 overall misison sets required more than 4x SH-60Fs and 2x HHs. ASW had, at best, taken a step back and CSAR/Special Misisons was on the rise - they finnaly added a 3rd HH for deployment (3 to make 2). In '98, most of the 7 aircraft in HS-15 flew through the phase cycle at lest once (4,800 hrs) with 10 crews (20 pilots). Now we have JOs rotating into shore based instructor billets with less than 800 total hours which also affects retention.

It appeared that the value of the multi-mission helicopter to the carrier strike group was finally recognized with the adoption of the Helo Master Plan, but now we're back to doing more with even less.

Best regards,

Derek "Droopy" Fry

On Fri, Jul 24, 2026 at 11:04 AM Terry McKearney <terry.mckearney@therangergroup.com> wrote:

A SWO’s-eye view: sure; you can never have enough helos so add a sixth.

The personnel impact discussion was lost on me, of course, although I get the gist: more opportunities to qualify for career milestones. It’s not unreasonable to look at such issues in the discussion; every community does it. The surface guys are enthused about the LSM because it will (supposedly) add LCDR commands. (Not a good enough reason for supporting that turkey of a ship.)

I was a bit surprised that the plane guard helo can wander off up to 40 miles and do logistics things while on duty. Not what I remember from my days of chasing the “bird farm.”

WARNING - EXTERNAL EMAIL
This Email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe.

From: Brian Miller <brianjmiller1977@gmail.com>
Date: Friday, July 24, 2026 at 06:21
To: "Michael G. Brattland" <mgbrattland@gerlecreek.com>
Cc: HeloBubbas <helobubbas@helobubbas.com>
Subject: [Helobubbas] Re: Why Carrier Air Wings Need a Sixth HSC Helicopter

In my opinion, the HSC world made a terrible strategic business decision when it put all its eggs in the CSAR basket. Despite being a disgruntled LAMPS guy, the community went forward with an excellent understanding of how to sell the capabilities of the Romeo to the air wing while HSC clung to VERTREP and CSAR. One of those missions was soon outsourced to Evergreen; the other was locked up by the AF, Army, and Marines. At no time during my deployments and later CENTCOM planning conferences was a Navy CSAR package ever even mentioned.

At the time a lot of big choices had to get made, HSC seemed content with plane guard and they structured themselves accordingly. The community has found a way to make itself a valid point defense asset, but HSM does the same job from the same flight deck.

On Fri, Jul 24, 2026 at 12:25 AM Michael G. Brattland <mgbrattland@gerlecreek.com> wrote:
https://www.usni.org/magazines/proceedings/2026/july/why-carrier-air-wings-need-sixth-hsc-helicopter

MGBrattland Sent via the Samsung Galaxy S23 5G, an AT&T 5G smartphone

_______________________________________________
Helobubbas mailing list -- helobubbas@helobubbas.com
To unsubscribe send an email to helobubbas-leave@helobubbas.com
_______________________________________________ Helobubbas mailing list -- helobubbas@helobubbas.com To unsubscribe send an email to helobubbas-leave@helobubbas.com
_______________________________________________
Helobubbas mailing list -- helobubbas@helobubbas.com
To unsubscribe send an email to helobubbas-leave@helobubbas.com