The Weapons Systems Operator of the F-15 that was shot down in Iran is reported to be a colonel. Without getting political, why would such a high ranking officer be in a combat mission like that? Bear in mind, just about everything I know about the military comes from Hollywood or here.
To get actual combat duty on his record, not just sitting at a desk giving orders in theater. That means a lot to career military.
So is this normal procedure or is it more like a higher ranking official helping a friend out?
The dude joined the Air Force to be a weapons operator, and he has a lot of experience doing that. Why wouldn’t he be doing what he’s trained and practiced in?
Being a colonel mostly means that he’s career military with a lot of experience. Up until about that point, rank mostly depends on years in service.
I think I may have asked something like this long ago:
Is there a rank where officers stop being in combat and stay behind the lines? (if this is a hijack say so and I will post in another thread but this kinda feels like what the OP is asking about…a high ranking officer being out in the battle)
In the Air Force, it’s usually when you get your first star (Brigadier General).
But some general officers fly alert missions that could become combat missions as commanding flag officer in an airborne command post. Not the same, but technically a general officer in a warplane, and not as a passenger.
Not a hijack IMHO.
Regardless of his rank, he still has to maintain qualifications. This would be the case even if there were no combat missions to fly.
Is this the military equivalent of continuing education? Is it likely that his commanding officer has to maintain qualifications too?
It’s not continuing education. There’s a list of tasks or competencies each position (pilot, weapons officer, RIO, etc.) must demonstrate and each task must be demonstrated within a specified time after the last such demonstration. The officer making the unit’s flight schedule takes all of these into account to ensure all flight personnel complete their competencies.
If the weapons officer outranks the pilot, the pilot is still the PIC (Pilot in Command) of the aircraft. That’s the case even if the weapons officer is the unit commanding officer.
And, yes, the commanding officer must maintain qualifications.
The military will fly non-pilots somewhat regularly, whether that’s a celebrity, a local news person in the days before an airshow in town, or even military members as a reward (especially aircraft maintainers) but they would never do that in a combat zone.
Fighter pilots have to go thru SERE (Search, Evade, Resist, Escape) training, which the colonel effectively used.
Weapons Officer is a member of the crew.
The commander of the Israeli Air Force, Maj. General Tomer Bar, flew an F-15 on a bombing raid over Teheran on March 7.
The only reference (other than copy from it) was Trump’s post about a well respected … colonel. He doesn’t know military ranks from previous posts; the back-seater WSO could have been a Lt. Colonel, an O-5, not a full bird O-6. I defer to any better reference and better facts will come out after the fog lifts.
In a twin-seater, is it the pilot calling the shots and telling the WSO what to do “Okay, we’re about to start the bombing run, get those LANTIRN and Sniper pods ready to illuminate target” or the WSO tells the pilot, “Fly us thirty degrees northwest so I can start bombing?” Ditto question for Apache helicopters and other such crew.