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Post by Slam_Bradley on Sept 21, 2020 11:51:36 GMT -5
Thanks for all the info, Cody! I know we have to suspend disbelief at times. I mean, the first Columbo episode was in, what, the late 60s? And the final one aired in 2003, yet he was a lieutenant that whole time. Not only is that a long career in and of itself, but I can’t believe he wouldn’t have been given a promotion in that time. To be fair to Columbo, there isn't a whole lot of "up" for him to move in most US police departments. Basically Captain, Deputy Chief of Police and Chief of Police. That may vary somewhat from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, but essentially if he wanted to work cases instead of being stuck behind a desk doing administrative work he was as high as he was going to get. |
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Post by EdoBosnar on Sept 21, 2020 11:56:18 GMT -5
(...) A detective show over here ( A Touch of Frost) featured a detective inspector - William Frost - who I think became the oldest TV policeman in history. By the time the final episode aired, I think the actor was 68. Real detectives over here can and do retire at 60 - or sometimes earlier. (...) Yeah, I've seen a few episodes of that show; never really got into it, among other things because it was so odd seeing Del Boy (and Pop Larkin!) playing a cop. |
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Post by Deleted on Sept 21, 2020 11:57:11 GMT -5
Thanks for all the info, Cody! I know we have to suspend disbelief at times. I mean, the first Columbo episode was in, what, the late 60s? And the final one aired in 2003, yet he was a lieutenant that whole time. Not only is that a long career in and of itself, but I can’t believe he wouldn’t have been given a promotion in that time. To be fair to Columbo, there isn't a whole lot of "up" for him to move in most US police departments. Basically Captain, Deputy Chief of Police and Chief of Police. That may vary somewhat from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, but essentially if he wanted to work cases instead of being stuck behind a desk doing administrative work he was as high as he was going to get. That is a good point because I think he loved his work. Can’t imagine him as a captain or deputy chief, allocating work to others. |
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Post by codystarbuck on Sept 21, 2020 21:07:30 GMT -5
Thanks for all the info, Cody! I know we have to suspend disbelief at times. I mean, the first Columbo episode was in, what, the late 60s? And the final one aired in 2003, yet he was a lieutenant that whole time. Not only is that a long career in and of itself, but I can’t believe he wouldn’t have been given a promotion in that time. A detective show over here ( A Touch of Frost) featured a detective inspector - William Frost - who I think became the oldest TV policeman in history. By the time the final episode aired, I think the actor was 68. Real detectives over here can and do retire at 60 - or sometimes earlier. I accept suspension of disbelief, but a lot of military shows/movies do appear to imply they are aiming for accuracy. That’s interesting that you get two shots at promotion - and then you’re out. Do you have to go for promotion, though? Can you not choose to stay at the lowest rank for your whole career? Incidentally, a naval show aired over here (one season) called Making Waves. The commander of the ship in that series, Commander Martin Brooke, was a helicopter pilot but he was given command of a ship. In fact, in one episode, a lieutenant commander (engineering) got sacked - but before he was dismissed, he said to Commander Brooke, “What would you know about commanding a ship? You’re just a flyboy!” Yeah, I've seen Touch of Frost. It played here, on Mystery, on PBS. David Jason, of Only Fools and Horses and the voice of Danger Mouse. Married him off at the end, then killed his best friend. With Columbo, It is possible he maneuvered himself out of promotion or refused it; and given his case success rate, they would let it go. The US military does not allow that. Now, some things may have changed post-9/11; but, in my day, you had to be promoted to the next rank or you would be administratively discharged from the service. You had to have a minimum time at your present rank, before you became eligible for promotion. For instance, I had to serve as an ensign for 2 years, before I was eligible for promotion to LT (JG), which I was. I then had to have 2 years at LT(JG), before I became eligible for promotion to LT. That was the first time your record comes up for review by a promotion board. LT (JG) was pretty much automatic (though mine was delayed a few months while I dropped weight). You become eligible early, but might not be promoted at that time. Your record is then reviewed again at the normal review time and it is either promotion or you are out. You get two shots at it, at each level of rank. I decided to resign my commission, at the end of my 4 year commitment, as that was more than enough for me. So, I submitted my resignation at the time I was becoming eligible for early promotion to LT. Had I satyed in and been promoted, I would have gone to my next duty station, at a shore command, then back to sea again, as a department head. Then, towards the end of that tour, I would probably become eligible for LCDR, for the first go round. I would go to a shore command again, or possibly post-graduate school. I would then go to sea again, if promoted to LCDR as the XO of a supply department, on a larger vessel (probably a repair ship or supply ship). Then, back to shore and eligibility for CDR, and, if promoted, back to sea as the CO of a large supply operation. After that, it would be shore and aiming for CPT, and CO of a supply center or other large supply operation. After that, it's retirement or make flag rank and there was only one admiral in Supply Corps. For regular Line Officers (those who run and command combatant ships), it is similar, except, after your Department Head tour on a ship and shore duty, you would be next assigned as an Executive Officver of a ship, then shore and back to sea as the Commanding Officer of a ship, then make Captain and run a squadron and try to make admiral and rise to a fleet command. Submariners were pretty much the same, but aviators were a bit different. First tour is as a pilot, second sea tour is probably XO of a squadron, then CO of a squadron, then Air Group on a Carrier, then Commanding Officer on a carrier. Flyboys do command aviation ships: aircraft carriers, assault ships with aircraft, etc. Then they go for Flag rank (admiral). I do believe that helicopter pilots do command ships in the British navy, after their rise through the ranks. Again, the primary duty for those ships is the launch and recovery of combat aircraft. |
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Post by codystarbuck on Sept 21, 2020 21:28:38 GMT -5
What he is referring to is the Carrier Onboard Delivery aircraft, or COD planes; the C-2A Greyhound.  In recent years, they have been looking to replace them with either the V-22 Osprey tiltrotor or a modified S-3 Viking anti-submarine patrol aircraft (which is flown off of carriers). Tiltrotor seems to have backing, as they continue to justify the massive expenditure on that thing for the last 30 years. I did a paper in one of my grad school classes on the V-22 Osprey. This would have been late 1991. Even then it was a text book example of government waste. Absolutely nobody outside of Boeing, Bell and Congress wanted the damn thing. While I was serving, it was considered a death trap and some Marine squadrons were busted falsifying maintenance records (probably under orders) to make their performance look better. The truth of things was it didn't have the lifting capacity of the SH-53, but had greater speed. The transition from hovering to forward flight, as I recall was one of the most dangerous moments. Thing is, experiments on those types of aircraft went back to the 60s. Out in the surface Navy, we had the AEGIS Weapon System, which was on the Ticonderoga-class cruisers and the new Arleigh Burke destroyers. It used a phased array radar to identify and designate targets for surface to air missiles. The radar was electronically directed, rather than a rotating dish that projected the beam. We saw a demonstration, as a midshipman, of the control station in the Combat Information Center. It had a rollerball controller, like an arcade game and it was rather like playing Missile Command, Problem was, the radar was often down, or some other elements of the system and you were constantly ordering emergency repair parts to get it operational. We had what was known as Casualty reports (or CASREPS), whenever a piece of equipment was down, which inhibuted your ability to carry out your mission (engines, navigation radar, fire control systems, etc). The most CASREPed system in the US Navy, in the early 90s was the AEGIS Weapon System. A close second was the Close In Weapon System, which is the R2D2 looking mini gun station, that you see firing in the Wonder Woman 84 trailer...  The radars were very twitchy. In that trailer, you see them being used as an offensive weapon. They are only for defense, designed to destroy inbound missiles. They also show them mounted in tandem and the are usually only mounted as a single weapon or one forward and one aft, on a big ship. They use a spent uranium projectile, with a very dense mass, to destroy the missile. However, as was shown in the first Gulf War, when the round hits a target, uranium dust in released into the atmosphere and there was a strong link between spent uranium munitions in the Gulf War and Gulf War Syndrome and the cancer rates of people living in the battle zones of that war. There were also links to experimental vaccines taken against potential chemical weapons. There has been a fight going on ever since the war, much like the fight to recognize Agent Orange health issues, with the Vietnam Era Vets. |
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Post by driver1980 on Nov 21, 2020 12:13:10 GMT -5
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Post by driver1980 on Nov 24, 2020 7:03:14 GMT -5
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Post by codystarbuck on Nov 25, 2020 0:01:35 GMT -5
Must be something up with your link; whenever I click on it, it doesn't take me anywhere. I know the Navy "Heroes" who worked with him on the first one had few kind words about him. Guess he finally grew up. |
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Post by driver1980 on Nov 25, 2020 8:38:47 GMT -5
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