4 minute read
Chairman’s Brief
GOUGE that Was and Always Will Be WRONG!
By RADM D.H. “Dano” Fillion, USN (Ret.)
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Sea Story: As a brand-new Naval Aviator in 1986, during my first week at HS-1 (the H-3 FRS at the time), my classmates and I were at the JAX O’Club, on a Friday afternoon with Ensign Bars and gold wings on our flight suits. Life was good. That night, for the first time, I heard that (1) “Helo Pilots don’t have callsigns,” (2) “a #2 ticket in the Air Wing is the best a Helo Guy can do,” and (3) “a #2 in the Air Wing trumps a #1 in HSL and HC on a board.” Truth be told, at that time, I really had no idea what the comments about #1 or #2 tickets meant - and it was Friday at the O’Club!
The aviator who shared the three bullets of gouge to our group of newly winged aviators was a Helo Department Head (DH), so we listened in awe. At the time, he knew what he was talking about, he was not lying to us. Thankfully for a group of legends in our community, men and women who fought back and paved the way, none of the gouge I heard that night remained accurate and all of it was dispelled and changed! PAST INFORMS THE PRESENT!
As an Ensign, I could already dispel the first piece of gouge since my future squadron, VC-8 in Puerto Rico (a composite squadron of A-4s and H-3s), had already contacted me to let me know that if I got a call sign at the FRS, I could not put it on any name tags because I would get a callsign once I got to my new squadron. And low and behold, after arriving at VC-8, I earned the callsign “Dano.” Unfortunately, the story behind that is not fit for this esteemed publication, but now that I am retired, if interested, see me at Symposium, it is a surprisingly good story!
As my career in the Navy progressed, I heard more and more bad gouge. Often, it was not some DH, but a very senior Admiral, who despite being a good guy, believed that his gouge was 100% accurate - when it was not. At an NHA Symposium as a Lieutenant, the Airboss was asked when there was going to be a Rotary Wing CAG? The frustrated (in my opinion) Admiral, with a very forceful delivery, stated, “There will never be a Rotary Wing CAG, period!” Admittedly, I am taking you down a road you have traveled before, but it is to stress to all of you young warriors in uniform, and respectfully to our Helo Flags, that we need to still be asking the questions and through sustained superior performance, make it harder for anyone to believe any gouge that limits a Rotary Wing Aviator’s potential! The gouge that was wrong during most of my career does not exist anymore. PAST INFORMS THE PRESENT!
“There will never be a Helo Commodore who makes Flag… there will never be a Helo Pilot who commands a carrier... and there will never be a Helo Pilot who becomes CAG! There will never be a Helo 4-Star… there will never be a Helo VCNO.” All statements I’ve heard. All bad gouge. Why? Because the folks in the Past Informed the Present by doing what every board precept states being the “Best and most fully qualified.” Leadership is what qualifies folks, regardless of community, to senior leadership positions!
You have heard me say this while I was in uniform, and now that I am not, one of you reading this will be the Airboss someday; that is GOUGE you should take to the bank! Like so many of these things that were not available to the Rotary Wing Community while I was growing up, I shared the list of things that allegedly would never happen, and we proved them wrong–all those items got put in the shiitake mushroom can!
You - the young aviators, AWs from all rotary platforms, maintainers, and the families who support you - are the ones at this moment who can make a difference. Make it count for your generation today, so in the future you all will be the PAST that INFORMED the PRESENT!
As always, I am, V/r and CNJI (Committed Not Just Involved), Dano
