by CAPT Lonny K. McClung, USN(Ret), President, The Tailhook Association
Those of you who were in Reno for Tailhook '96, will probably recognize a lot of what I'm about to share, but it is so critical to the future of our organization that it needs repeating. Your Board of Directors spends considerable effort to make sure that we are good stewards of the funds you have entrusted to us. The challenge today is as great as at any time in the history of your Association.
For the past few years, we have been forced to operate without the strong support of industry that we enjoyed for years. Due to the emotion surrounding the events of five years ago, most of our friends in industry over the years continue to express verbal support for our Association, but many have concerns about possible sanctions against them from those within the Washington establishment if they support us openly. The message seems to be that industry will back us when the Navy officially and openly recognizes us again.
Over the past year I have talked with a number of the senior active-duty aviation flags on the subject. We find, almost without exception, that they are sympathetic to our cause and recognize the contribution of our organization toward enhancing junior officer morale. But based on a perceived threat to the career of any senior officer who openly supports the Association, they are unwilling to step forward on our behalf.
The problem apparently points toward the civilian and politically appointed leadership. We are all aware of the lack of support for the military and Navy from the current administration, and it appears that a change in the political landscape will be key to a change in the Navy's future relations with our Association. That is why a strong, supportive membership base is so critical to us.
As I work with our current situation, I'm reminded of a really tough time my Phantom squadron faced during its 1971-'72 Vietnam cruise in USS Constellation (CV-64). It was to be the first-ever sixmonth, portal-to-portal combat deployment, and it looked as if our return home would happen as scheduled. We were in Japan with hibachi pots, stereos and motorcycles safely loaded on board and within 24 hours of steaming home. We even detached a few of our aircrews for shore duty assignments in ConUS since the cruise was over—but it wasn't!
The next morning, instead of steaming east toward home, we offloaded all our goodies and headed south to the Tonkin Gulf for three more months of combat ops, tough enough that we won the Presidential Unit Citation. Due to some combat losses and the guys we detached, our squadron was so short-handed that we finished the cruise with borrowed and volunteer aircrews from the RAG and VX-4.
We finally steamed home to welcome our new aircrews we knew would be waiting on the pier for us, ready to jump into the five-and-a-half month turn-around before our next combat deployment.
What we found, however, was that the RAG was in a "funk." The RAG had not been able to provide FCLP bounce and initial carrier qualifications for our Cat II and seven nugget replacements. We had to take on that major task in addition to dealing with our individual squadron training, air wing ops at NAS Fallon and shipboard work-ups.
So how does all this apply to the Association today? That group of youngsters took our skipper's challenge and, despite their lack of experience, accomplished the carquals, went through work-ups in great style and performed superbly during our next 10-month cruise. Through one of the most extraordinary efforts by a group of young tigers, our squadron turned the tables on the competition and became one of the era's premier Navy squadrons. That extraordinary feat was possible only through the individual commitment of each member of that squadron.
That sort of commitment is exactly the same kind we need from each member of this organization—right now. The best way you can help is to find an ax-squadron mate, flight training roommate, friend or supporter of Naval Aviation who is not a member, and don't let them rest until you sign 'em up as a member. We will persevere only if we as a group want to individually commit ourselves to this Association and make it happen.
It is especially important to involve more of our active-duty junior officers in our Association. We need your ideas on doing better in that effort. I spend a lot of time on airplanes traveling back and forth across the country, and always have a membership application handy for tailhook types who are airline pilots. You'd be surprised how many will sign up, and often all you have to do is ask. The keyword for 1996-'97 is membership. As one of my skippers once said, "Let's make it happen! Tailhookers can do anything they set their minds to."
On a new subject, we had a most productive July Board of Directors meeting that included a visit from VADM Jerry "Thunder" Unruh, USN(Ret), currently president of the Association of Naval Aviation. He has done extraordinary work on behalf of Naval Aviation. After leading the letter-writing charge to have the Senate Armed Services Committee "Tailhook Filter" removed from the Navy's promotion system, he has been working behind the scenes at the highest levels on a number of other issues that we care a lot about. The Board joins me in saying that VADM Unruh is not only a member, he's a great friend of Tailhook. We as a Board strongly support and will continue to work with ANA. The two organizations differ in their purpose and charter-- while we are a fraternal organization and they are a lobbying organization, there is a place, mission and need for both. It's important that we have the perspective of both organizations in supporting Naval Aviation. A vote for ANA is not a vote against Tailhook, and vice versa.
Thanks for the opportunity to serve as your President. We have a strong, effective Board and an impressive group of new members joining them. As always, we solicit your thoughts.
Press on.