TBS 2-67 Cruisebook_Updated_7Jan23

Second Platoon
in how to deal with some of its quirks.
Not too keen he was on my taking this "offensive"
approach he listened to what I had to say for a short
period of time. "Sir, the Harrier flies like an A-4 in
regular flight but with a lot more power in your hands.
However, when in slow flight nozzles down, like in a
landing approach, it can be tricky especially in a
crosswind situation. You can't keep the nose
pointed down the runway and dip the wing into the
crosswind like you can with an A-4. You have to keep
an eye on the weather vane and try to keep it straight
ahead using the rudder pedals. Wings level. All the way
to touchdown, whether in a roll-on landing or in a
hover to vertical landing. I know that goes against
everything you learned years ago but it's this way in
this jet. You let the vane get too far left or right and
the plane will flip and crash and you will die." At that
he burst out of his chair and told me that was all
"b*$^#hit". "No plane can fly like that. I have been
flying jets for 20 plus years and I know better . Now get
the hell out of my office and go help get these jets
flying.!!" I told him okay, thanks for giving me the
time, and asked him to think about it and ask Major
Gibson, who was the Operations Officer and had over a
thousand hours in the Harrier, if what I said has merit.
The next week he called me into his office and told me
that he had just gotten back from the Group CO's
weekly Commanders' Meeting and he had to give me
up. I was being transferred to VMA-542 down the
street.
Turned out to be a good deal for me. 542 had been
flown into the ground, so to speak, by its previous CO
and had difficulty getting enough UP aircraft to fly a
training schedule. I was assigned to the Aircraft
Maintenance Officer, Maj. Bill Spicer, and it turned out
to be another great opportunity to do a good job and
help put them back in the air. With their capability at
that time to rarely get more than 2 aircraft up to fly a
training schedule we set to work to remedy that
situation. Five months later we put 25 Harriers into the
air at the same time and made a low altitude fly-by of
the airbase at 100 feet above the runway.
Gangbusters!
In October 1977 while still at VMA-542 and having just
returned from a Yuma Deployment (we took 20
Harriers out there) the major's selection list came out
and I was passed over. Bad day in BlackRock for me, for
sure. All that work and no reward. Why? My CO at
VMA-513, the first Harrier squadron, had been
marking our fitness reports in a manner he thought
would urge us to improve our "demeanor" in our jobs.
Some guys are naturally "quiet" and just go about their
jobs. Some guys are more open and inquisitive and ask
questions, bring up ideas that might enhance or
improve how things get done. I am the latter.
Unfortunately for me, the selection board saw that
trait as "not a team player". I swallowed my pride and
made a trip to HQMC to sit down with 3 board members
and examined my jacket with them. A Colonel and two
Majors. The Colonel saw right away one of the reasons-
I “hadn't been to AWS”.... Long pause...and “spent too
much in the FMF, no significant staff time”. I let it sink
in and after several more candid and cultural remarks I
thanked them for their time and well-informed candor
and took my leave, headed back to home base. Then I
learned I had to leave my job at VMA-542 and take a
2‐68