Last month the Washington Times covered an article by former Secretary of the Navy John Lehman entited “Is Naval Aviation Culture Dead?”:

[He] wrote that the swagger and daring of yesterday’s culture has given way to a focus on integrating women and, this year, gays.

Pilots constantly worry about anonymous complaints about salty language, while squadron commanders are awash in bureaucratic requirements for reports and statistics, he added.

“Those attributes of naval aviators — willingness to take intelligent calculated risk, self-confidence, even a certain swagger — that are invaluable in wartime are the very ones that make them particularly vulnerable in today’s zero-tolerance Navy,” said Mr. Lehman, who led the Navy in the Reagan administration.

Lehman’s article was published in the US Naval Institute’s Proceedings.

The Times article recalled this year’s controversy over CAPT Owen Honors, as well as the “morale” patch circulated by Naval aviators.

Said one defender:

Jon Ault, a retired F-14 Tomcat pilot, said Mr. Lehman is publicly airing what a lot of fliers think but can’t say.

“This country needs the ‘hot shots,’ the warriors, the big egos, the guys who are awarded medals of honor for running into, not away from, conflict.” he told The Washington Times.

“As much as people hate us during peacetime, and as much as they love the daring bravado during times of strife, the need for such men will always be there.

“If we continue to suppress the warrior spirit, there will be no one left to defend the Constitution of the United States and we shall perish as a nation.”

In several areas, Lehman’s article is an interesting treatise on the fighter pilot culture, much of which is discussed in the fighter pilot traditions on this site.  He belittles the “de-glamorization” of alcohol, defends the hail-and-farewell, and even mentions “dead bug” in reference to the Friday night bar gathering.  He notes with some regret the death of the Officers’ Club, the drive to “Turn Warriors into Bureaucrats,” and laments the advent of the “one-mistake” Navy (noting some  famous Admirals would never have influenced the future successful Navy in today’s culture).

The fighter pilot culture (or that of the “naval aviator”) is certainly one of controversy, whichever side of the debate upon which you might fall.