Army, SOCOM to take on daily drone missions.

MSgt Private RallyPoint Member — Sun, 30 Aug 2015 12:47:13 -0400

Do to the drawdowns, the Air Force has struggled to keep up with the missions. And even though we are now planning to spread the mission out to the Army and SOCOM. Are you concerned that it may eventually be turned over to contractors. Under my understanding, contractor mission as of now are only unarmed flights. This just continues to show how much we are taxing our depleted force. And still we continue the drawdown. For me it is scary to watch what our serving members are going through. All units are just being stretched to the maximum and I just hope we can hang on to the morale and well being of our troops.
http://www.militarytimes.com/story/military/pentagon/2015/08/17/daily-drone-expansion/31855831/

Response by CSM Michael J. Uhlig made Aug 30 at 2015 2:21 PM

CSM Michael J. Uhlig — Sun, 30 Aug 2015 14:21:43 -0400

I'd be willing to operate one when I retire, in theater as long as it would contribute to the success of the mission and help keep our service members alive! I'd appreciate you sharing any information concerning operating these as a contractor (preferably forward) that you could share MSgt Private RallyPoint Member.

Response by LTC Stephen F. made Aug 30 at 2015 2:24 PM

LTC Stephen F. — Sun, 30 Aug 2015 14:24:21 -0400

Personally MSgt Private RallyPoint Member I would rather see Army and especially SOCOM take on the daily drone missions that are "assigned" to DoD than consultants which had been mentioned in a previous discussion.
Both Army and SOCOM have vested interests in the success of the daily drone missions from both an information gathering perspective and targeted kill missions.

Response by CW4 Private RallyPoint Member made Nov 20 at 2015 9:15 AM

CW4 Private RallyPoint Member — Fri, 20 Nov 2015 09:15:03 -0500

The Air Force exists partly because the Army is unwilling to accept that not everyone wearing a uniform needs to be a world class athlete, or even in shape for that matter. The Army has been conducting drone missions for well over 15 years, maybe even 20 years. We do use contractors in our missions. Most of the contractors were prior operators that learned how to fly as 15Ws, deployed and saw how much the contactors were making, left the Army and came right back to the same deployed location as a contractor making 3 times as much. Even with the contractors, the Army is flying these missions cheaper than the Air Force does. As more Army people realize where the money is and that they can do the job they enjoy without all the CSMs running around whining about PT belts and EyePro, the more we'll transition into that kind of Army. Bagram already has more contractors than military personnel.